Russia Examines Rail Link to South Ossetia
02.10.2008 (11:32) | Reuters
Russia is considering blasting a railway line through the Caucasus mountains to link up with South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia over which Moscow and Tbilisi fought a war in August.Proposals for the link, reminiscent of an abandoned Soviet era plan, seem certain to anger pro-Western Georgia, which accuses Russia of annexing South Ossetia and a second Moscow- backed region, Abkhazia. Russia recognised both as independent states in September after a war that saw Russian forces sweep Georgian troops from South Ossetia and push into core Georgia.
"This initiative has been assigned to us," said the president of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin. "We have looked at various possible projects."
"Today we have a project that would build a connection from the Russian railway network to the South Ossetian railway network and on to (the regional capital of) Tskhinvali," Yakunin told a press briefing.
The project involves building 140-150 km (90 miles) of railway lines and the construction of four tunnels to take it through the Caucasus mountains, he said.
Asked by a reporter if the project was motivated by politics or economics, Yakunin said: "Railway men don't just talk about infrastructure, they act to bring nations together. In the countries of the former Soviet Union it has always been this way."
The Soviet Union planned in the early 1980s to build a railway through the Caucasus Mountains from Vladikavkaz in southern Russia to Tbilisi in Georgia. The line could have linked up with an east-west railway through Georgia linking the Black Sea with the Caspian in Soviet Azerbaijan.
Yakunin made it clear the line would take a different route through the high and craggy terrain, which has always been a stark hindrance to commerce and trade in the region.
"There was one really old project from the Soviet days that we considered. After review we realised it is very expensive and very hard to realise," he said.
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