Primary construction work has been completed on the first cross-border passenger tram linking China and Russia. The project is expected to be finished by the end of this year, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The tram, a cableway connecting Heihe, Heilongjiang province, with Blagoveshchensk, Russia, across the Heilongjiang River, will significantly improve cross-border travel efficiency.
The project is a landmark cooperation project joined by China and Russia. Construction began in July 2019, with the Chinese terminal on Daheihe Island in Heihe and the Russian terminal in the riverside area of central Blagoveshchensk.
Speaking at a business conference on Sunday, Zhang Qijun, deputy director of the administrative committee of the Heihe area of the China (Heilongjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, made the announcement of the main structure's completion and laid out its projected schedule. The towers and supporting structures are now in place. Steel cables now span the river, linking the two border cities.
The 970-meter tram will operate with two cabins, each capable of carrying 110 passengers, said Cao Xinhong, chairman of Heihe Jinlonggang Construction and Development Co. Designed to move at speeds up to 12 meters per second, it will reduce the cross-border journey to 6 or 8 minutes and handle up to 2.6 million passenger trips annually in each direction.
