(The following Associated Press article was published in the 1-3-03 online issue of the Austin American Statesman.)
MOSCOW –Russian officials celebrated the full electrification Wednesday of the legendary Trans-Siberian railroad line, the world’s longest track.
“The line can now work as a unified system,” Viktor Popov, chairman of the Far Eastern section of the 5,758-mile line, said at ceremonies at the Ruzhino station in Russia’s Far East, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The Far Eastern section of the line runs 4,660 miles and carries more than 30 percent of all Russian exports. Officials said they hoped the electrification would boost traffic on the Trans-Siberian railway by up to 40 percent.
“The completion of this grandiose project is a huge contribution to the development of the Russian Far East,” said Sergei Darkin, governor of the Primorye region, according to ITAR-Tass.
It took 74 years to finish installing the equipment that allows electricity-powered trains to run along the entire line, from Moscow to the Far East. The last, 109-mile section was finished this month.
The Trans-Siberian railway celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. Russia has said it wants to link the line with a railway being rebuilt between North and South Korea.