SEOUL, March 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) presented in the South Korean capital its plans for development of the Eurasian transport corridor on Friday.

“We are placing a great emphasis on this project since it complies with the Government’s strategy up to 2030 and with courses of railway transport development on the Baikal-Amur Mainline, the Transsib [Transsiberian Railway] and reconstruction of the Transkorean Railway,” Senior Adviser to RZD’s President, Director General of the Russian Railway Research Institute Boris Lapidus told Itar-Tass.

All the planned projects, he added, would be aimed at additional transportation volumes, development of investment cooperation and modernization of Russian railways. Broader ties in Eurasian transportation is “one of priorities in our cooperation”, said Lapidus.

Speaking of the planned cooperation between Moscow, Seoul and Pyongyang on the Korean Peninsula, he said that Russia had made the first step and helped North Korea restore the Hasan-Najin railway line.

As part of the second stage, the sides are developing a coal terminal in the port of Najin, which is becoming an additional window on the Transsib for the Korean Peninsula. Further steps will be contingent upon mutual understanding and cooperation between South and North Koreas.

“Undoubtedly, such projects require great efforts and investments, including from abroad. In this respect we primarily pin our hopes on South Korea as our close neighbour and an interested partner,” said Russian Ambassador to South Korea Konstantin Vnukov. “It is important that views of our countries’ leaders on these issues largely coincide.”

As early as last September, South Korean President Park Geun-hye shared her hope to take a trip “from Busan to Europe” to G20 summit in St. Petersburg. It is no secret, said the Ambassador, that cooperation on joining Korean railways with the Transsib was a topic of deep discussion at Russian-Korean summits in St. Petersburg and Seoul.