On July 27 Oleg Belozerov, CEO and Chairman of the Russian Railways Board, reopened train movement on the two-track railway line, part of the TransSiberian Railway that was damaged by a flood.
‘The water in the small river rose almost three meters and damaged a pylon of the bridge. The climate is changing, the river has changed its course, which has resulted in the emergency. Preliminarily we estimated it would take 2.5 days to restore one track and 5 days the other one to fully resume operations. In fact, the repair works were completed almost 1.5 day earlier than planned. Train movements has been resumed, and we start sending the trains that had to be delayed. People were working day and night to repair the bridge,’ Belozerov commented.
He said a new bridge will be built to provide a reliable long-term solution. The new bridge is expected to be constructed within 6-9 months.