Between January and August of 2024, rail freight traffic between Russia and China amounted to 117 million tonnes. That is a growth of 8,7 per cent compared to the same period of 2023. To facilitate even more rail freight between the two countries, Russia has ambitious plans for its Far East infrastructure.

Russian Railways presented the numbers, and says that it will continue to develop infrastructure on the way to China to facilitate more future growth on the route. Western sanctions have forced Russia to redirect its trade flows towards China, but the existing infrastructure is not sufficient to keep up with demand.

Putin wants to electrify all of the BAM

To mitigate that issue and grow China-bound freight, Russia quickly approved the third planned stage of long-term infrastructure upgrades on the Far East railways last week, which will see large-scale investments to boost throughput capacity.

However, Putin has come out with even more ambitious plans than those approved earlier. Russia’s president wants to electrify all of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), a 2,000-kilometre railway that leads to China and Far Eastern ports. Some electrification works are already ongoing, but a complete upgrade would lead to costs totalling more than 660 billion rubles, according to Russian media.

For example, Kommersant writes that those 660 billion rubles would be needed “even without considering the potential expenditures on technical connections, difficulties with the delivery of materials and growing costs over time.” Putin did not specify who would finance the project.