A Digital Railway to Be Built in Russia’s Amur Region – A Landmark Project for the Coal Industry
The first phase of the railway linking the Ogodzhinskoye coal deposit with the Baikal–Amur Mainline was commissioned in May 2025. The newly opened section stretches 72 kilometers, and it is designed as a next-generation railway for Russia’s coal sector.
A Great Coal Route
Once fully operational, annual shipments from the Ogodzhinskoye deposit are expected to reach 7 million tonnes of coal. A total of 71 railcars will be deployed on the route. The overall length of the railway from the deposit to the Fevralsk station will be 140 kilometers. Development of the deposit is being carried out by Ogodzhinskaya Coal Company, part of the Elga group.
This project addresses an urgent logistical challenge. During seasonal thaws, even heavy machinery struggles to operate as unpaved roads turn into rivers of mud. Industry experts agree that, in terms of scale and significance, this dedicated railway effectively corresponds to a federal-level infrastructure project.
A wide range of modern IT solutions is being incorporated into the project. Based on experience from previously implemented assets operated by the company, including the Elga–Ulak freight railway line, digitalization has already delivered a 20% increase in productivity for transport operations.
Rail transport within the Elga consortium is handled by the service company Elga-Trans. Its automated transportation management system is built around a digital control platform. In practice, the system aggregates and processes data from onboard locomotive equipment, station-based sources, and external industry resources. Data exchange with locomotives relies on GSM radio channels and satellite communications, ensuring stable connectivity even in remote areas.
As a result, the company has increased the speed of managerial decision-making, improved traffic safety, and raised overall transport efficiency. The system also incorporates options for future capacity growth. Digital tools now track locomotive fuel efficiency and consumption, creating the basis for end-to-end accounting and tighter fuel control.
An interactive map is updated in real time, showing the current situation across railway tracks, passing loops, and loading and unloading points. At any moment, dispatchers have access to dozens of train parameters, including speed, total coal weight, and the technical condition of the locomotive. All collected data is archived.
Development and deployment of the customized digital system took around 18 months. It is now fully operational on the Elga–Ulak railway, while additional functional modules are being prepared. As construction of the Pacific Railway continues, a privately funded Elga project, elements of the system are being rolled out step by step across new sections.
Report From the Construction Site
Signaling, centralization, and block systems have already been installed along the route. Ballasting and track alignment work is ongoing, while construction of a coal loading station is proceeding in parallel. At the deposit, a coal processing complex consisting of seven plants with a combined capacity of 32 million tonnes per year is scheduled to be launched by 2028. Construction of the first processing plant, with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year, began in April last year.
The development project for the Ogodzhinskoye coal deposit has been included in Russia’s long-term coal industry development program through 2030. Following the completion of processing and logistics infrastructure, a modern mineral resource cluster is expected to be formed in the region.
Technical Modernization and Expansion
The Ogodzhinskoye deposit is the largest in the region, with estimated resources of about 1.5 billion tonnes of coal across multiple grades. Last year, 1.5 million tonnes of coal were mined and shipped from the site. Stable production volumes are being supported by ongoing technical modernization and equipment upgrades.
Across Russia’s Far East, expansion of the raw material base is underway. Coal production is increasing in Yakutia, the Amur Region, and Chukotka. In the Amur Region alone, coal output reached 1.93 million tonnes between January and May 2025, up 27% year on year.
In 2025, Elga began construction of a second track on the Pacific Railway, connecting the Elginskoye deposit with a dedicated port in Khabarovsk Krai. Earthworks and embankment reinforcement have already been completed along 531 kilometers. Once the second track is commissioned, line capacity is expected to increase from 30 million to 50 million tonnes of coal per year. Including passing loops, the total length of the railway will reach 626 kilometers.
