Aisen Nikolaev, the President of the Republic of Sakha, Sergei Nosov, the Governor of Magadan Oblast, and Vasily Shimokhin, the General Director of Sakha-based Yakutian Railway, have signed a cooperation agreement setting out a strategy for the implementation of the 1,600 km Nizhny Bestyakh – Magadan line. The construction of the line is to take place in three phases, with the first 400 km section from Nizhny Bestyakh to Khandyga to be opened in 2035. According to studies by the Institute of Economics and Transport Development of Russian state railway RZD, the line is expected to transport up to 19 million t of freight annually, 16 million t of which will be exported coal.
