Russia and China signed an agreement in Beijing to jointly build a new railway line across the border between the countries.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
This involves the construction of a second railway branch between Russian Transbaikalia and Chinese Manchuria in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia. The project involves the creation of a separate Chinese-standard track.
The Russian Ministry of Transport stated that the new line should increase the routeʼs capacity by 11 million tons of cargo per year by 2030. This will allow almost 50 more pairs of freight trains to be launched daily.
The Zabaykalsk-Manchuria crossing is considered the largest railway crossing between Russia and China. Currently, cargo has to be transshipped there due to different track widths: Russia uses the 1,520 mm standard, while China uses the 1 435 mm standard.
During Putinʼs visit, the countries also signed about 20 documents on cooperation in the fields of transport, agriculture, and veterinary control. The parties also agreed to extend the visa-free regime between the countries until the end of 2027.
- Putin began his visit to China on May 19 and ended on May 20. The day before, the US President Donald Trump paid an official visit to China from May 13 to 15 for the first time in 9 years — the last time he was in Beijing was in 2017.
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