Russia plans railroad link to Japan

Russia Today reports on a plan to build a bridge from Sakhalin to the Russian mainland:

The marine link between Sakhalin and mainland Russia is already overloaded and is working close to full capacity. It can even be held up by bad weather for up to a month.

So with the cargo turnover expected to grow, the region desperately needs a firm railway connection between the two points.

The idea of building a fixed link here is about 80 years old, and in the 1940s a failed attempt was made to connect the island via a tunnel under the sea. Now the government and Russian Railways are reviving the ambitious project, considering either a tunnel, a railway bridge or a seawall 6.5 kilometers long.

But whatever option they go for, huge finance will be needed. The cost of a seawall is estimated at $US 8 billion, while the bridge, the most expensive option, will cost more than $US 10 billion – five times Sakhalin’s annual budget.

There are plans to build a connection to Hokkaido after the Russia-Sakhalin link is completed, but since construction work on the first phase of project isn’t expected to begin until at least 2015, it will be many years before any Japan link can be built.