Sino-Russian cross-border railway bridge to be built

BUILDING a cross-border rail bridge between China and Russia is expected to begin in late January 2011 since the Russian side proposed the river ice will be thick enough at one metre to support construction operations, reported Xinhua.

Some 3,000 metres long, the Tongjiang rail bridge will link Tongjiang port in northeast China`s Heilongjiang province to Russia`s Leninskoye in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast to establish a direct rail link between the two countries.


A Chinese team of more than 20 workers have been dispatched to site for an inspection on behalf of the Harbin Railway Bureau, said director for the construction of the bridge Wang Jin.


China will invest an estimated CNY2.02 billion (US$300 million) in the railway bridge, with a cargo transport capacity of 21 million tonnes a year.


After completion, it will become the third railway that links China and Russia. The other two go through Suifenhe on the east border of Heilongjiang province and Manzhouli on the border of northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region.


China and Russia signed the agreement on jointly building the railway bridge in October 2008. Construction is part of the effort by Heilongjiang government in pushing for more trade with Russia.


In the first three quarters of the year, the import and export value of Heilongjiang rose 53.9 per cent year on year to $18.42 billion, according to the latest statistics from the local government, said Xinhua.