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Mechel Announces Spur-Track to Elga Deposit
06/24/2008 - Mechel OAO holds a ceremony together with Transstroy Engineering Corporation ZAO, celebrating a new railway spur-track that will connect Mechel’s Elga deposit with the Baikal-Amur mainline.
Mechel OAO recently held a ceremony together with Transstroy Engineering Corporation ZAO, celebrating start-up of a new railway spur-track that will connect the company’s Elga deposit with the Baikal-Amur mainline.
Construction of the spur-track to the Elga deposit started in February 2008 after Mechel signed the contract with Transstroy Engineering Corp. for design and construction of a spur-track to connect the Verhny Ulak Station of Baikal-Amur Mainline with Elga coal deposit (Yakutia). The contractors were previously rebuilding an auto-road near the track, including subgrade formation, track superstructures and engineering structures on 60 km of railway which was built by the Ministry of Communication Lines before 2002. Design, engineering and prospecting works as well as construction divisions mobilization were also held there.
The railroad will have a total length of approximately 315 km. Its design comprises about 420 engineering structures, including 194 bridges, and its annual throughput capacity after completion of all construction stages will be approximately 25.0 million tonnes. Commissioning of the railroad for permanent operations will be expected to commence before September 30, 2010. Mechel is planning to invest about US$1.3 billion in this project, which is in line with its capital expenditure program for 2008-2012.
"Construction of the spur-track to the Elga deposit is one of the first great scale projects being implemented by a private business,” commented Mechel CEO Igor Zyuzin. “Concurrently with the railroad, Elga deposit development will start. This would enable Mechel to transport coal from the Elga deposit since the first stage of construction completion.
As part of the celebration, the first section of the rail track was set at the 60th kilometer landmark to the Elga deposit. Igor Zyuzin, CEO of Mechel, and Ivan Kuznetsov, General Director of Transstroy Engineering Corp. ZAO, cut a symbolical red ribbon and gave the command to set the first section. A silver section symbolizing the beginning of the railroad construction was also set during the ceremony.
“Building up of this spur-track is in line with the national ‘Strategy of Railroad Communications in Russian Federation to 2030’, and will make its contribution to the development of Far East Region and Siberia,” continued Zyuzin. “At the completion of the Elga deposit development project, Mechel would increase the Baikal-Amur Mainline density load with more than 20 million tonnes, create additional employment and develop the railroad's infrastructure in the Far East, that would be beneficial for the region's economy as well as the Russian economy.”
Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, unites producers of coal, iron ore, nickel, steel, rolled products, and hardware. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
