Sides Of Russian-Chinese Amur Bridge Set To Be Connected On March 20-23 - Chief Engineer

The Russian and Chinese sides of the railroad bridge, which is set to create a direct link between the settlement of Nizhneleninskoye in Russia's Jewish Autonomous region and China's northeastern border city of Tongjiang across the Amur River, are expected to be connected on March 20-23, a chief engineer on the project told Sputnik

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) The Russian and Chinese sides of the railroad bridge, which is set to create a direct link between the settlement of Nizhneleninskoye in Russia's Jewish Autonomous region and China's northeastern border city of Tongjiang across the Amur River, are expected to be connected on March 20-23, a chief engineer on the project told Sputnik.

"Russia is expected to finish the installation of the last 132-meter-long [433-feet-long] steel bar on March 20-23, which will mark the official connection of the two sides of the bridge," the chief engineer said.

He added that the construction works were expected to be completed in July, which will allow authorities to put the bridge into commission by the end of the year.

The bridge will be over 2,200 meters long, with the Chinese side totaling almost 1,900 meters in length and the Russian side reaching around 300 meters. China finished the construction of its side of the bridge back in October 2018, around four years since the works began.

The capacity of the bridge, which will allow Russia to ship its iron ore concentrate from the Jewish Autonomous region to China by the shortest route possible, is expected to reach 21 million tonnes a year, with the freight traffic continuing all year round.

The cost of construction of the Russian side of the bridge, which began in the summer of 2016, is estimated at 9 billion rubles ($140 million).