On 5-6 July, Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin paid a working visit to Libya. Yakunin’s itinerary included talks with the head of Libyan railways, Said Rashid, on the status of the project to build a railway line from Syrt to Benghazi and a tour of a construction base site in the town of Ras Lanuf.

The contract to build a railway line from Syrt to Benghazi was signed on 17 April 2008 in Tripoli, and the work began on 18 December 2008.

The Syrt-Benghazi project is about building a modern high-speed (250 km/hour) broad-gage (1435 mm) railway line along the shore of the Mediterranean to connect two major Libyan cities and, in future, to form part of an international transport corridor across northern Africa.

The project will involve building 30 railway and 23 road crossings, as well as 67 major stations and 23 platform stations (for passengers, freight, freight and passengers, and operational needs).

The contract has a total value of €2.2 billion.