OREANDA-NEWS  The builders of the railway part of the Crimean bridge laid 19 of 38 kilometers of rails in both directions from Taman to Crimea, told reporters the Head of the Contracting organization of the construction of the Crimean bridge Yevgeny Chibyshev.

"Almost 19 kilometers of rail grid of 38 laid on the Crimean bridge. That is, we reached the equator," Kondakov said, commenting on the process of laying the grid with a special laying crane. The process takes place on the Taman side in the direction of the Crimea on two future tracks.

He noted that the seams between the sections in the future will be welded, forming a 440-meter seamless whip. Between these lashes, 84 sets of special equalizing joints are installed, which will create a "velvet path" and relieve stresses in the metal of the rails due to the temperature difference, the engineer said.

The rail grid is laid on the spans of the bridge through a layer of waterproofing, polystyrene and geotextiles, which will protect the metal structure spans from corrosion. Rain moisture through drainage channels will be displayed in the trays and get into the local sewage treatment plant which is already installed at the bridge, said Chebyshev.

The railway is designed for the movement of trains weighing up to 7100 tons in the temperature range from -27 to +57 °C.  Capacity - up to 47 pairs of trains per day. Taking into account a certain operating mode, heat-strengthened rails of the R65 type of Russian production are laid on the bridge. In total on two ways about five thousand tons of rails and 76 thousand reinforced concrete cross ties will be laid, builders reported.

The bridge to the Crimea from Krasnodar Krai is the longest in Russia, its length is 19 kilometers. The beginning of the movement of cars was originally planned for December 2018, but the work was completed ahead of schedule. The President of the Russian Federation opened the automobile part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait on May 15, 2018, the traffic was started the next day. The opening of train traffic on the railway part of the bridge is scheduled for December 2019.