MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin calls to broaden capabilities of Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur railways for economic development of regions.
"We must exploit our transit potential, it is tremendous: our country is located in Asia and in Europe and we should efficiently use it. We need to expand capabilities of Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways to have it exactly this way," Putin said on Wednesday.
"If we stay at the current level of our capabilities, it will be a serious test for the economy and it will not be capable of developing in certain regions. If we succeed, the economy of Russian regions will develop more actively," the head of state said.
Russia will be able "to export more goods produced in regions, including mineral resources" along with development of these main lines, the Russian president said.
"If our Trans-Siberian railway has greater capacity, we would definitely have new enterprises mining coal and carrying transportation to ports of the Far East," the president said. Russia’s foreign trade is growing in the eastern direction, Putin said.
"However, capacities are not enough so far. We will do this [develop the capacity] and traffic will grow along with internal tasks [completion]. Furthermore, we need to shift to innovative ways of freight transportation, improve service quality and safety of traffic, and introduce new forms of control over carried goods," the head of state noted.