We are talking about the construction of access roads to the cross-border Zabaikalsky grain terminal. Only 3 km of tracks will make it possible to multiply the export volumes.
Glavexpertiza agreed on the construction of access railway lines to the grain terminal, which was opened in 2022 during the Eastern Economic Forum.
The terminal is located on the border of the Trans-Baikal Territory and Manchuria, and therefore is ideal for exporting grain to China through it.
Moreover, many adjacent regions, in particular the Trans-Baikal Territory itself and Siberia, are major producers of agricultural products.
Railway will significantly speed up the process
A big problem is the discrepancy between the gauge of Russian and Chinese railways — 1520 and 1433 mm, respectively.
Access roads should solve this problem and provide the possibility of prompt reloading of grain from wagons with a wide gauge to wagons using a narrow one.
The main advantage of the new scheme will be unhindered and fast through passage of trains from Russia to China.
As a result, it is planned that the construction of a relatively small section of the railway track — 3343 meters — will increase the volume of exports to 8 million tons of grain per year, and subsequently even more — up to 20 million tons.
All this could have serious economic consequences, since Russian grain will be able to compete with American and Canadian grain.
“Our project will increase the volume of exports of grown grains, legumes and oilseeds with minimal logistics costs.
It is a key element of the investment project “New Land Grain Corridor” to China and the countries of Central Asia, within which it is planned to build a network of nodal linear elevators in the Siberian, Urals and Far Eastern federal districts,” said Artem, head of the railway service of Zabaikalsky Grain Terminal LLC. Kozyrev.
How will the construction go?
Two Russian companies will be engaged in laying the tracks: Zabaikalsky Grain Terminal and Russian Railways.
The total investment in the terminal will amount to about 9.5 billion rubles, and over 300 jobs will be created. Including, these are the costs for storage tanks, equipment, a fleet of special equipment and locomotives.
The list of crops that will be actively transported in this direction includes soybeans, rapeseed, wheat, oats, corn and barley.
