SIMFEROPOL, January 20. /TASS/. The first hundred trains that ran on the newly-opened Crimean Bridge have transported 85,000 passengers, the Crimean Bridge information center told reporters on Monday.

"One hundred passenger trains crossed the Crimean Bridge in just under a month. They transported 85,000 passengers. The peak traffic was observed on January 3 — 2,800 people went under the railway arch. The one hundredth train was the one travelling from Sevastopol to St. Petersburg. It crossed the Kerch Strait on January 19 at 23:10 Moscow time," the statement reads.

Since the railway traffic was officially launched, the Crimean Bridge is crossed daily by 2-4 Tavriya long-distance passenger trains that connect Crimean cities and towns with Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver, Ryazan and a few others, the information center noted. "The intensity of bridge traffic will only increase as the number of year-round and seasonal routes of transporting companies expands," the statement adds.

The center also clarified that the railroad is operating as normal. "Automation systems are working on the bridge which communicate with the command post (electrical centralization) on the Kerch side. Officers on duty are tracking the schedule of trains live, correcting their speeds and train intervals," the statement underlines.

The 19-kilometer Crimean Bridge, the longest one in Russia and Europe, links the Taman Peninsula (Russia’s Krasnodar Region) and the Kerch Peninsula (Crimea). The bridge consists of two parallel rail and car roads built concurrently. It ensures an uninterrupted transport link between Crimea and other regions of Russia. The vehicle section of the bridge opened in May 2018.

The construction of the railway part of the bridge was officially completed on December 18, 2019. On December 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the official opening ceremony of the crossing. The railway bridge will open to freight traffic in July 2020.