December 20, 2007 (LPAC)--Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, said Dec. 15 that the company will invest 113 billion rubles (about $40 billion) in the Far East through 2015, the Vladivostok Times reported Dec. 18. This includes 50 billion Rubles to reconstruct the Trans-Siberian line. The Railways will also open the second section of the bridge across the Amur River and begin construction of a tunnel under the river.

Other projects include the Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan rail link, and the Owne - Vysokogornaya railway, on which a new Kuznetsovskii tunnel is being built. RR Company intends to build new railway lines in the region for freight, especially minerals. There will also be a high speed line, to link Vladivostok, Artem, Ussuriisk, and Khabarovsk, the Vladivostok Times reported.