ST. PETERSBURG, June 23. /TASS/. The Northern Latitudinal Railway's cost is estimated at 800 billion rubles ($10 billion), but this investment cannot be effective with current cargo traffic, Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov said in an interview with TASS at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"We continue working on the Northern Latitudinal Railway. Its estimated cost exceeds 800 billion rubles ($10 billion), and so far there is no sufficient cargo traffic to make such investments reasonable," the minister said.
Investments in new railway approaches will be effective with development of freight traffic along the Northern Sea Route and inland waterways, he continued. "Over time, with the growth of cargo transportation along NSR and inland waterways, the meridional cargo traffic will also grow, as well as the transportation in the North-South direction, not only West-East, and with the growth of such meridional transportation, investments in new railway approaches will become reasonable," he added.
Earlier, ministry's representative Ilya Chernov said the Northern Latitudinal Railway's cargo base to be brought to NSR port will amount to 25 million tons by 2032.
In November 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced the Northern Latitudinal Railway project in Yamal had been suspended and construction could be resumed after the Eastern Polygon and the Murmansk Railway Hub projects.
The Northern Latitudinal Railway is 686 km long. Investments in the project are estimated at more than 230 billion rubles ($2.9 billion). The railway should become an element of a unified Arctic transport system and infrastructures that ensure development of the Russian Arctic's natural resource potential. The Northern Latitudinal Railway was supposed to connect the Northern and Sverdlovsk Railways to be an element of a unified Arctic transport system and infrastructures that ensures the development of the Russian Federation Arctic Zone's natural resource potential. Additionally, the project could take part of cargo from the Sverdlovsk Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway, thereby allowing for shipment of new types of cargo.
About the forum
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) ran on June 18-21. This year, the event's theme was "Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World." The Roscongress Foundation was the event's organizer. TASS was the forum's information partner.