MOSCOW, July 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s transportation minister said Friday that 562 billion rubles ($17 billion) was the “optimal option” for funding to upgrade two vital railroads that stretch across Siberia to ports in the Far East.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad, which spans 9,300 kilometers (5,800 miles) from Moscow to the Pacific coast, as well as the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which zigzags across Siberia and the Far East, are expected to gain 55 million tons of capacity from the upgrades, currently slated to take place until the year 2018.
Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov told journalists on Friday that about 300 billion rubles ($10 billion) for the project would come as part of an investment program of state railroad monopoly Russian Railways.
Another 110 billion rubles ($3 billion), he said, would come as a direct investment of government funds, while about 150 billion rubles ($4 billion) would be provided by the oil-revenue-supported National Welfare Fund.
