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Murmansk-Vladivostok undersea fiber optic cable laying begins in Barents Sea

The Polar Express’ first line between Teriberka and Amderma is due to be commissioned in 2022

MURMANSK, August 9. /TASS/. Laying of the fiber optic communications cable through the Arctic, between Murmansk and Vladivostok, dubbed Polar Express, began in the Murmansk Region’s Teriberka on the Barents Sea, Advanced Technologies Management CEO Alexei Strelchenko said on Friday.

"Today, we begin undersea works to lay the fiber optic cable in the Barents Sea," he said. "The starting point is in Teriberka, and then the works will continue eastbound in the Barents Sea."

According to him, earlier, the company’s specialists have laid the first four kilometers of cable in Teriberka’s coastal area - by making horizontal drilling. On Friday, the company planned to connect that part with the undersea cable. The undersea cable is laid at the depth of up to 1.5 meters - to secure it from sweepers and anchors.

The first part, about 400 km long, which was produced at the company’s recently commissioned plant in Murmansk, was uploaded on Thursday, August 5, onto a special vessel, which can lay more than 12 kilometers of cable every day. The line’s laying will involve nine vessels: four exploration vessels, three supply vessels and two cable-laying vessels, namely the Northern Wave and the Yauza.

The Polar Express’ first line between Teriberka and Amderma is due to be commissioned in 2022. A station with necessary equipment in Teriberka has been built. "Presently, we are working on a similar station in Amderma (the Yamalo-Nenets Region)," the company’s CEO said. "There we plan to try using wind generators as alternative energy sources."

The Polar Express undersea fiber optic communications line through the Arctic is 12,650 km of six-pair optic fiber cable with the capacity of up to 104 TB/sec. The project’s cost is 65 billion rubles ($884 million). The project’s due term is 2026.

The shortest fiber optic line between Europe and Asia will be an alternative to the satellite communication in the northern latitudes. It will offer reliable and affordable communication and the high-speed Internet in the Russian Arctic. The Polar Express is a digital component for development of the Northern Sea Route and its infrastructures, for the oil and ecology projects in the Arctic. The Polar Express project was announced at the Transport of Russia exhibition in November, 2020.

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