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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good evening.

As you know, the annual Railway Congress took place last week. At the event, our colleagues emphasised the importance for Russia’s Far East and the country in general of keeping the effort to develop the so-called Eastern Operating Domain’s railway network going. This once again demonstrates just how important the work carried out as part of this large-scale comprehensive project is.

Let me remind you that since 2013 we have consistently expanded the Eastern Operating Domain’s throughput capacity. The first stage included laying and upgrading over 5,000 kilometres of tracks, as well as building and renovating bridges, tunnels, traction substations and facilities for the locomotive fleet. This enabled us to increase the annual throughput capacity on the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway to 144 million metric tonnes in 2021. However, we aimed for a higher target of 157 to 168 million tonnes per year. Some projects included in stage one have yet to be completed.

The year 2021 also marked the start of the second stage, which will run through 2024 with a target to increase shipments along these railways to 180 million tonnes per year.

Today, I would like to ask you to deliver progress reports on the implementation of stage one and stage two, and whether all the objectives we had for this year were fulfilled.

Let me reiterate just how important the eastern section of our railway system is, which I know you understand. Over the past years, there has been a significant increase in shipments, and this momentum continues, which means guaranteed demand for shipments on these railways for years to come. Accordingly, we need to have a clear vision for the third stage and its parameters for developing the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway, including deadlines, destinations and exact metrics for increasing their throughput capacity.

I would like to draw the attention of our colleagues in the Government and the Russian Railways to the fact that the railway’s plans must be synchronised with the projections of freight forwarders, sea port owners, those involved in building the related infrastructure, including power generating capacity and distribution networks, as well as with the efforts to expand capacity at our border crossings. Not only do we have to achieve our targets, but also to build what we call reserve capacity in order to be able to quickly increase railway shipment volumes whenever needed.

Let me add that while building new facilities, we must not forget about maintaining the existing infrastructure to the required standard. There are issues in this regard too.

Today, I suggest that we discuss ways to tackle these objectives. Once again, the single most important priority for us is to provide for the effective development of the Eastern Operating Domain’s railway network by expanding its throughput capacity in a timely manner for the benefit of our country, all our regions and the national economy as a whole, which means for the benefit of our people. After all, new infrastructure means more jobs, higher household incomes, more business opportunities and opportunities for reshaping cities and villages.

I suggest that we get down to business as per our agenda. Mr Belousov has the floor. Go ahead, please.

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