MOSCOW, December 4 (Sputnik) – Russia's new project of a transport mainline from the island of Sakhalin in the country's far east to Europe will be able to compete with China's Silk Road Economic Belt, Andrei Skoselev, TransSakhalinInvest (TSI) chief executive, told Sputnik Thursday.
"One should treat all projects fairly, but, of course, for us it is a race. Our project is more remarkable not only in terms of patriotism, but also in terms of geopolitics and macroeconomic effects," Skoselev said.
TSI is a Russian firm in charge of the project, called Transsib-2, which aims to link the East and Europe.
29 September 2014, 14:21 GMT
"First stages of the project include replacement of the track on Sakhalin's railroad, building a direct railway between the island and Khabarovsk Region, and building ports in southern parts of Sakhalin. Then we plan to link the new track to Transsib-1 [railway] and Baikal-Amur Mainline, with an extension to Surgut," Skoselev added.
He stressed that TSI has already discussed the options of building a tunnel under La Perouse Strait between the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido in order to link Russian and Japanese railway systems.
Transsib-2 will be used for freight transportation only, which could help to avoid technical delays. It will take 10 days to ship cargo from Beijing to Rotterdam. Total cost of the project is estimated at $150-200 billion.
