The Jamestown Foundation, 10/4/16:
The End of the Line for the Trans-Siberian Railroad?
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 159
October 2016 marks the centennial of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad (Trans-Sib), Russia and the world’s longest railroad line. Yet, no special celebrations are planned—in part due to Russia’s current economic difficulties, but also because that fabled railroad may be reaching the end of its usable life. In recent decades, the Trans-Siberia rail line was done in by corruption, the lack of a reliable legal culture in Russia, and the emergence of less expensive and more reliable alternative transportation networks between Asia and Europe.
The absence of any commemoration of the Trans-Sib anniversary is striking given Russians’ penchant for marking almost any “round” anniversary. But even more significant is that on this anniversary, the Russian authorities have announced they are putting off plans to reconstruct both the Trans-Sib and the related Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad for another year. More surprising still, some Russian commentators are saying that spending on either would be throwing good money after bad because these lines will never carry the amount of cargo and number of passengers Moscow has long insisted they are capable of (Versia.ru, October 3).
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