Russia positive on TSR, TKR projects

Russia is willing to participate in proposed projects to link the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) with the Trans-Korean Railway (TKR), Russian vice railway minister Aleksandre Chelko said in a briefing Sunday.

In outlining Moscow`s plans for the TSR and the development of the Korea-Russian relations in the railway sector, the Russian official underlined the necessity and appropriateness of linking the Russian railway and Korean cross-border railway systems.

In his opening remarks, the Russian vice railway minister stressed that the scheduled Feb. 27 visit to Seoul by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit with President Kim Dae-Jung would provide impetus for efforts to link the TSR and the TKR. To that end, he said, tripartite talks among Russia and South and North Korea are expected to be held on restoring the Kyongwon (Seoul-Wonsan) Railway and allocating fund for the project.

Disclosing that his government has obtained North Korea`s guarantee of the safety of South Korean transport-related personnel while in the North, he explained that a plan was underway to train some 1,500 North Koreans at the Russian railway college in order to enhance the North`s railway technology.

Russia sent a fact-finding team to the North last year and completed analysis of the condition of the Kyongwon cross-border railway and potential cost of its modernization. He also said that Russia recently established a representative office in Pyongyang and is making preparations for TSR-TKR links.

The 9,028-km TSR runs from Vladivostok in the Far East through Moscow and connects with major cities in Europe. If the two railway systems are linked, they are expected to emerge as the transportation hub of the Northeast Asian region. Of Korean enterprises, Hanhwa Group is known to be positively studying its feasibility.

Yonhap