TASS-FACTBOX. On May 5, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced the opening of traffic on the second railway track of the Crimean Bridge. TASS has assembled all of the key facts about how the Crimean Bridge was restored after the terrorist attack on October 8, 2022.

Crimean Bridge

The Crimean Bridge connects the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea to the Taman Peninsula in the Krasnodar region. The bridge passes along the dam and the island of Tuzla, crosses the Kerch Strait (between the Azov and Black Seas), skirting Cape Ak-Burun from the north, and enters to the Crimean coast in Kerch. The transport crossing with a total length of 19 km consists of parallel automobile and railway routes. The bridge was built after the reunification of Crimea with Russia, automobile traffic was launched on May 15, 2018.

Terrorist attack

On October 8, 2022, at about 06:00 a.m., a truck exploded on the Crimean Bridge; as a result of the explosion seven fuel tanks of the train caught fire. The ensuing fire covered an area of 750 square meters. Two spans of the road section going from Krasnodar to the Crimea partially collapsed. Four people were killed: a truck driver and three passing drivers in cars. The Investigative Committee of Russia initiated a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Terrorist act"). In connection with the incident, a government commission was created, headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.

Restoration works

Passenger car traffic (first on one lane of the surviving part of the automobile bridge) was restored ten hours after the explosion - at 4:00 p.m. on October 8. At the same time, the authorities began mandatory inspections of vehicles. Around 8:00 p.m., trains began to run along the least damaged track.

The day after repair work began, car traffic on two lanes was restarted. The Kerch ferry crossing was reopened, which had been out of service since 2020.

On October 10, Marat Khusnullin said that the railway part of the bridge would require replacing two railway spans damaged by the fire.

On October 13, 2022, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree appointing Nizhneangarsktransstroy LLC the sole contractor for the restoration of the automobile part of the Crimean Bridge. Construction was to be completed no later than July 1, 2023.

On October 24, 2022, the same company was appointed as the sole contractor for the procurement of the Crimean Railway for the design and restoration of the railway tracks of the Crimean Bridge. It was originally planned that traffic on the second railway track would be launched before September 15, 2023.

On October 25, 2022, all the steel structures required for the repair (1,200 tons) were delivered to the Crimean Bridge. Their assembly began at a special site.

On December 5, 2022, traffic was launched along the road part of the bridge towards the Crimea. On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a car across the bridge.

In December, work began to dismantle and replace the highway spans running towards Taman.

On January 31, 2023, the replacement of all four damaged spans of the second road part of the bridge towards the Krasnodar Region was completed.

On February 23, 2023, traffic on both parts of the road bridge resumed ahead of schedule.

On March 9, 2023, the installation of the first span of the railway part of the bridge was completed.

On March 23, 2023, President Vladimir Putin approved allowing small trucks and empty trucks on the bridge.