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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes part in the opening ceremony of the Big Novorossiisk Tunnel on the North Caucasus Railway after major reconstruction

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Vladimir Putin delivered a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony.

Then a freight train, emerging through the 1.5km tunnel, cut through the traditional red ribbon in place of scissors.

Reconstruction of the Big Novorossiisk Tunnel, built at the Krasnodar-Novorossiisk line in 1888 and destroyed twice during the Second World War, took about a year. According to experts, the repairs and upgrade have increased the tunnel's capacity threefold. It will be able to accommodate up to 150 pairs of trains per day.

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks at the opening ceremony of the Big Novorossiisk Tunnel:

We are celebrating a very pleasant event today. The Novorossiisk Tunnel was initially built back in 1887, mostly by convicts who worked day and night, 16 to 17 hours per day. It was built in record time, it's true: it took just two years to complete. Nearly all of those workers died. And so, the tradition of using forced labour in our country began, unfortunately, not with the Stalin era, but even in pre-revolutionary times.

This time, we worked on this project, which is very important to the direction and infrastructure of the country's south, in a methodical way, calmly, but with high standards of quality using the latest construction techniques. And we achieved excellent results. First, we built a new tunnel and put a framework in place for renovating the old one. As a matter of fact, it was more than just a renovation; it was a new construction project. We have built a new modern infrastructural facility that meets all the requirements of the 21st century. It is instrumental in the development of the country's south, of the Novorossiisk seaport and of the entire infrastructure of Russia's southern regions.

This is far from the last of our construction plans in the country's south. We need to build a new port in Taman. We need to develop railway transport, build new highways and access roads to the Novorossiisk port. We are doing this kind of work all across the country, in European Russia, in Siberia and in the Far East. Today, we open the Novorossiisk tunnel to traffic. But this very day, we are also opening the Kuznetsov tunnel connection in the Far East. It is a very important area of work, which will allow us to increase capacity on the Baikal-Amur Railway and reveal its true potential, to make better use of the Trans-Siberian Railway and substantially increase cargo transport to the ports of the Russian Far East.

The work that you accomplished in a calm and orderly manner over the past six years, with good quality and on time, deserves the highest praise. I would like to thank you for this work and congratulate you on its completion. Thank you very much, and congratulations. I think we can declare that the new tunnel is now open for traffic.