Sino-Russian train route to start in September

A new train route, connecting Suifenhe in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China and Vladivostok on the east coast of Russia, may become the first international railway line to link Russia with a local Chinese terminal.

Vladivostok is also one of Russia’s main gateways to North and South Korea, Japan and the US. The route is expected to be launched in late September this year, according to a report in the China Daily.

Both Suifenhe, which is a tourist and border-trade city of 60,000 people, and Vladivostok, also a popular tourist destination with a population of 700,000, are expected to benefit from the new train route.

The international train route will make access significantly easier between the two regions and is expected to benefit trade as well as tourism. Border trade between Russia and China reached $3.79 billion during the first five months of the year, which is up by 43.4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

By the end of this year cross-border sales volumes are expected to shoot past the $10 billion mark. Last year’s total for trade over the border between the two nations was $8 billion.