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According to Russian media reports of November 15, in late October a train with 20 open coal cars, a passenger car, and a baggage car departed from the Elga coking coal mine in South Yakutia and crossed the recently completed 531-kilometer Pacific Railway to the port of Elga in Cape Manorsky on the Okhotsk Sea, where construction is underway. Port Elga, under construction at Cape Manorsky in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Although four other cars are said to have been derailed during the journey, it still marks the full completion of the new “Pacific Railway” project in the Russian Far East, which will be fully operational next year.

The 531-kilometer-long Pacific Railway will begin construction in 2021. The line is designed as a single line and includes 18 branch lines. It is privately capitalized by the Elga Group (Elga) and is dedicated to the development and export of its Elginsky coal mine (Elginsky) in South Yakutia. The railroad is expected to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2025, with an annual freight capacity of 30 million tons initially and 50 million tons in the near future.

Schematic diagram of the Pacific Railroad

The railroad opens up new routes for Yakutia's coal exports, relieving pressure on the now overloaded Russian Far East, thus freeing up more capacity on the two main lines, the Bay-Alpine Railway (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (Trans-Siberian).

In addition to the construction of a special railroad for coal transportation, the Elga Group is building a new port of Elga at Cape Manorsky near Chumikansky in the Khabarovsk Territory.

First Bulk Carrier Arrives at Elga Port to Load Coal

According to information released by CCA Analysis on November 16, the first bulk carrier has arrived at the Port of Elgar coal terminal. The terminal is under construction and is the terminus of the Pacific Railroad.

The port is 30 kilometers northeast of the town of Chumikan. According to the design of the port project, four berths will be built. According to reported sources, the construction of the port's berth 1 has been completed and technical equipment has been installed. berth 2 is 90% complete, berth 3 is 35% complete and berth 4 is 20% complete. The port is designed for an annual capacity of 30 million tons initially and 50 million tons in the long term, with the ability to handle four Panamax vessels of up to 85,000 DWT simultaneously. Icebreaking assistance is planned for winter voyages via two icebreakers.

The port will be able to accommodate the transshipment of coal exports from the South Yakutia coal mine being developed by the Elgar Group. Elgar's South Yakutia opencast coal mine produces high-quality coking coal and is one of the largest coking coal deposits in the world, with resource reserves of up to 2.2 billion tons.

South Yakutia opencast coal mine

In 2022, Elga will produce more than 20 million tons of coal, and the second stage of the mine's expansion will increase production by about 130%. Last year the Russian government approved the second stage of the expansion of the Elgar South Yakutia Elkinsky open-pit coal mine, expanding its coal production capacity to 45 million tons per year.

In January-October 2024, Elga produced 19.9 million tons of coal, 4.7 million tons more than in the same period last year, an increase of 30.9%.