Traffic resumed through the Kiparisovsky Tunnel on the Far Eastern Railway, which was commissioned by the SK MOST Group of Companies ahead of schedule after a major reconstruction effort. JSC STROY-TREST is the general contractor of the project, and the repair work was done by LLC Tonnelny otryad No. 12 of Bamtonnelstroy.
Mikhail Gutnikov, General Director of JSC STROY-TREST, congratulated, during inauguration, the residents of Primorye, railway workers, and construction workers on the successful commissioning of the project, which is of high importance for the region, and handed over a symbolic key to the tunnel to Mikhail Zaichenko, President of the Far Eastern Railway. Aleksandr Sinkin, Director of the Far Eastern Territorial Department of the Federal Railway Transport Agency, Sergei Maksimtsev, Director of the Far Eastern Infrastructure Agency of JSC RZD, Igor Metlinsky, Director of LLC Tonnelny otryad No. 12 of Bamtonnelstroy, Aleksandr Yakovlev, General Director of Design and Survey Institute Bamtonnelproekt, Vladimir Rybakov, Head of the Khabarovsk Team of the Directorate for Complex Reconstruction and Construction of Railway Transportation Projects, Aleksey Gubarev, Head of Administration of the Nadezhdinsky District, Primorye Region, and other officials took part in the ceremony.
“The Kiparisovsky Tunnel was commissioned two months ahead of schedule due to the high efficiency and quality provided by the construction and railway workers,”
– said Mikhail Zaichenko, President of the Far Eastern Railway.
The freight traffic bound to the Primorye ports has increased and is growing. With the opening of the Kiparisovsky Tunnel, the throughput capacity of the Ussuriysk – Vladivostok railway section increased by a factor of 1.5.
“The Kiparisovsky Tunnel was built in the tsarist times. Even if such installations were built back then to serve for centuries to come, a century later it was time the tunnel had to be brought to modern standards. In addition, the old tunnel could not be used for shipping large-size cargo. This is why the tunnel had to be converted from a double-track tunnel to a single-track tunnel in order to increase its throughput capacity,” explained Sergei Maksimtsev, Director of the Far Eastern Infrastructure Agency of JSC RZD.
The builders of LLC Tonnelny otryad No. 12 of Bamtonnelstroy started the large-scale reconstruction of the old 944.63-meter-long installation in September 2013.
The work on continuous welded track installation, upgrading of the approaches to the tunnel, replacement of the drainage systems, waterproofing, and outside drainage, contact network, power supply, signaling, and communications systems was done in a year. As a result of the reconstruction, the old Kiparisovsky Tunnel was converted from a double-track tunnel to a single-track tunnel. Coupled to a new tunnel that was built in the year 2000, the tunnel will ensure safe and guaranteed traffic at the maximum speed without size restrictions. According to experts, the reconstruction of the old Kiparisovsky Tunnel will allow for a significant increase in freight traffic, including shipments bound to Japan, China and other the Asia-Pacific countries.
