RUSSIA: The 531 km privately owned Pacific Railway connecting the Elga coking coal deposit with a port at Cape Manorsky on the Sea of Okhotsk was officially opened by President Putin via video link on September 4.
Mining company Elga Coal Co has invested 140bn roubles in the railway, which has been built in accordance with non-public use infrastructure standards. The first trains began operating in test mode during 2024.
The fleet includes 3TE25K2M and 3TE28 main line locomotives supplied by Transmashholding and Sinara TEM14 shunters, as well as 7 000 open wagons with a 25 tonne axleload.
Work began in April on double-tracking the route to increase its capacity from 30 to 50 million tonnes per year.
