MOSCOW, April 03. /ITAR-TASS/. A direct railway and ferry service to the Crimean peninsula will open by mid-April according to the instructions issued by the Russian government at its meeting in Simferopol on March 31, the press service of the Russian Cabinet reported.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Russian Transport Ministry jointly with the Russian Railways company and other interested organizations to open a direct railway and ferry service to the Crimean peninsula in two-weeks time, it said.
Medvedev also instructed the respective federal services to regulate transportation tariffs charged by the Kerch railway and ferry service as a subject of natural monopolies.
At the same time, Sevastopol transport companies have appealed to Russian Deputy transport minister Nikolai Asaul, asking to help build an automobile bridge across the Bay of Sevastopol, "which will considerably cut the expenditures on transport in the city," the Sevastopol transport managers said. The bridge construction across the Bay of Sevastopol might be included in one of Russia's federal programs. An approximate cost of the bridge construction across the Bay of Sevastopol is 17 million roubles ($484 704).