The SUEK Group has commissioned the first connecting rail spur line between the Toki freight yard and the Vanino terminal station. This is part of the group’s programme to upgrade and expand railway infrastructure at its Vanino Bulk Terminal in the Khabarovsky region of eastern Russia. The expansion of the railway infrastructure began in April 2013.

The rail line is 3.5 km long and includes all necessary infrastructure, such as a highway overpass, a parallel road and power supply.

The connecting spur line is part of the programme to increase the annual loading capacity of the Vanino bulk terminal to 24 million t.

The new connecting spur line between the terminal and the Russian Railways network will increase railcar flows, while eliminating track routing and allocation issues on the national rail lines. The start of operations reduces loading bottlenecks by enhancing the efficiency and capacity of the Toki yard and allowing the full use of the Vanino Terminal loading capacity. The terminal now accepts an additional 120 railcars, which effectively doubles its daily volume.

The launch of the second phase of the upgrade programme will enable continuous unloading operations and will eliminate bottlenecks. With an initial capacity of 12 million tpy, the first and second parts of the upgrade programme will allow the terminal to process 24 million tpy of coal.

The upgrade of the SUEK Group’s Vanino Terminal rail infrastructure is in parallel to Russian Railways’ project to develop the Eastern portion of its network. As part of this program, the upgrading of dozens of rail stations and junctions has already permitted a significant increase in network capacity and product flows.

Edited from press release by Harleigh Hobbs