Borisoglebsk border station discussed in ministry

Deputy Minister of Transport Aleksey Dydenov discussed the progress of the reconstruction project with key officials at a meeting on Friday, the ministry’s website reads.

The Russian station at Storskog-Borisoglebsk, the only border-crossing point between Russia and Norway, is projected to handle 100 vehicles per day. On peak days there are 150 vehicles, including busses and trucks, and up to 300 passengers, so the current station is not dimensioned for today’s traffic, the officials say.

A reconstruction of the border-crossing point will include increasing the number of traffic lanes both out from Russia and in to Russia. This can only be done by expanding the plot. 15,000 cubic meters of rock will be blasted and moved from one side of the plot to the other, the report says.

The participants in the meeting discussed plans for development of the station in the period to 2018, but did not mention any exact time frame for when the work will start.

Norway is also planning to reconstruct its side of the border-crossing point, but so far only smaller amounts of money have been allocated to the project. In November 2015 a government appointed expert group concluded that there is no need for urgent facilities. One of the main arguments for why Norway should await reconstruction of the border checkpoint, was that there are uncertainties about Russia’s plan for its checkpoint.