An exit is planned for coal

The Mohe government has approved a pre-feasibility study for the construction of a combined road-railway bridge between Dzhalinda and Mohe. The expected freight flow through the transport corridor will reach more than 20 million tons per year. 

The construction of the 94.8 km Chanyin - Lianyang railway in Heilongjiang rovince, passing through the Mohe village, is envisaged in the Railway Development Program until 2035. The bridge from Blagoveshensk to Heilongjiang is necessary for coal exports.

The potential cargo flow through the Dzhalinda-Mohe transport crossing is estimated at more than 20 million tons of steam and coking coal per year.

Analysis of the potential cargo volume is very important in view of the turn of foreign trade to the East and the measures planned and ongoing for the Eastern Polygon, says Leonid Vardomsky, Doctor of Economics, Professor and Head of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

As Vasily Shimokhin, General Director of Yakutia Railways, previously reported, the existing shortage of coal in the three neighboring Northeast China provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning) is 10, 12-14 and 8-9 million tons, respectively. 

"China has positive experience in using Russian (Yakutian - Ed. note) coals and is interested in their import. The new route for supplies has a number of advantages compared to the logistics chains used today. There is a high demand in China for liquefied natural gas, oil and gas processing products, timber cargoes, agricultural products, container transportation in export-import-transit directions," he concluded.

According to Denis Semyonkin, Deputy Chairman of the Association of Railway Rolling Stock Operators, the Dzhalinda-Mohe combined bridge project is attractive to Yakutian Railways because the transported coal will not compete with the same nomenclature from other regions for throughput capacity. Transportation will take less time than shipments via the Trans-Siberian Railway and further to ports in the South, Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai.

According to the expert, building a bridge is only half the job. It is necessary to set up an appropriate infrastructure. 

"The point is that the Skovorodino-Reina railway line is a single-track section, so its carrying capacity is low. As far as I know, the Chinese side has no suitable railway on that bank from the village of Mohe to the Amur, where the bridge will be built. In addition to the construction of the bridge, we need to strengthen and develop the infrastructure on the Trans-Baikal Railway. The same applies to China," Denis Semenkin told Gudok.

As estimated by the expert, the implementation of this project will take up to five years in total.

According to Yakutian Railways, the Chinese side is interested in resuming the operation of the Dzhalinda-Mohe road-water crossing point until the bridge is completed. The partners are ready to launch it in summer. 

Russian Railways is ready to increase traffic through the crossing points with China, Alexei Shilo, Deputy General Director - Head of the Center for Corporate Transport Service (CFTS) of the holding company, said at the beginning of the year. 

"Today we have quite good reserves for transportation at two checkpoints - Kamyshovaya and Nizhneleninskoye - Tongjiang. The main problem is the contractual relationship between our suppliers and Chinese consumers. If all price issues are settled, we can add (trains) to these checkpoints," the company's top manager said.

Victoria Eletina