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North Siberian Railway concept to be presented next summer

The project's cost is unclear yet, head of the Siberian Federal District's Interregional Association Gennady Guselnikov said, adding those would be trillions of rubles

© Evgeny Epanchintsev/TASS

NOVOSIBIRSK, October 12. /TASS/. The concept of the North Siberian Railway to link the Trans-Siberian Railway with the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is planned to be presented at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in the summer of 2024, said Gennady Guselnikov, head of the Siberian Federal District's Interregional Association, participating in the work on the project.

"This is a task Siberia has been struggling to develop when discussing the plan [for the Siberian Federal District's development strategy]. The Association's Chairman Sergey Tsivilev [Kuzbass' Governor] has ambitious plans, and we want to present the project concept no later than at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (traditionally held in June - TASS)," he told TASS.

The Siberian Federal District needs another route, different from the Trans-Siberian Railway, he continued. "According to all calculations, even after the Eastern railway direction is upgraded, our big cargos will not fit. The Siberian economy is locked within its limits, and we have large-tonnage cargoes - grain, fertilizers and coal, thus we need access to the Northern Sea Route," he said.

The new railway's one of lines will lead to the Arctic, and experts now eye it may exit to the shores of the Gulf of Ob in Yamburg or to the port of Sabbeta. The railway's another line will run towards China across Siberian regions. The project's cost is unclear yet, he continued, adding those would be trillions of rubles. The work on the concept, including the task to estimate the economic effect for settlements along the railway, will feature specialists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Siberian State University of Railways and Communications.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to work jointly with the Kemerovo Region, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Railways Company (RZD) to consider building the North Siberian Railway.

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