(CNN) — A new bridge that will link Russia and China’s railway systems was completed on August 17, 2021, seven years after its much-heralded groundbreaking.
The structure’s full name is the China-Russia Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye Bridge. It connects Tongjiang, a city in China’s far northeastern Heilongjiang province, with Nizhneleninskoye, a town across the border with Russia along the banks of the Amur River.
This means that China’s northeast railway network can now be connected with the Russian Siberian Railway.
Workers celebrate laying the final pieces of track on the bridge.
Yuan Yong/VCG/Getty Images
The bridge is 2,215 meters (7,300 feet) long and has been seven years in the making. Both countries held groundbreaking ceremonies in February 2014. The bridge structure was finished in 2019, and the final piece of track laid on August 17.
The majority of the bridge — 1,886 meters (6,200 feet) — is on the Chinese side.
The new railway bridge connects Nizhneleninskoye in Russia with the border city of Tongjiang in Heilongjiang.
Zhang Tao/Xinhua/Alamy Live News
The Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye Bridge is the latest project completed under China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which aims to, among other things, connect Eurasia through infrastructure.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has stated a goal to make it possible to go from China all the way to London via rail, which makes this bridge a critical next step in a longer journey across the continent.
According to China National Radio, with the completion of the bridge, the railway transportation distance from China’s Heilongjiang province to Moscow via Tongjiang will be shortened by 809 kilometers (500 miles), cutting 10 hours of transportation time. The bridge can reportedly handle 21 million metric tons of cargo per year.
CNN’s Shawn Deng contributed reporting.
