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Kerch bridge will be designed for cars and trains

Underwater tunnel is optional - ministry

A view of the Kerch Strait (archive) AP Photo/Sergei Ponomarev, Gazeta

A view of the Kerch Strait (archive)

© AP Photo/Sergei Ponomarev, Gazeta

NOVO-OGARYOVO, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Transportation Ministry on Wednesday to launch the construction of two bridges over the Kerch Strait.

“We need there two bridges both for automobile and railway transportation,” Putin said addressing a session with the members of the Russian government.

Russian Transport minister Maxim Sokolov told the president that there was also a variant of constructing a transportation tunnel under the Kerch Strait.

The Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov at the same time separating Russia’s Taman Peninsula and the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea. The strait ranges in its width between 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), and is up to 18 meters (almost 60 feet) deep.

Transport minister Maksim Sokolov has also added that Russia’s transport links with Crimea are operating without disruptions.

According to the minister, currently there are seven pairs of passenger trains running between Moscow and Crimea. Also, there are three flights from Moscow a day. If it needed, the number of flights may be increased to fourteen, he said.

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