The engineering design of the Northern Latitudinal Railway has been completed in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area. The main investor in the project is Sweden-based Rise Capital company, said Dmitry Kobylkin, the area's governor.

"All the project documents for the Northern Latitudinal Railway are ready. We are prepared to start the construction at any time. Rise Capital has already covered the engineering expenses of the main Bovanenkovo-Sabetta section," Kobylkin was quoted as saying by TASS.

When asked about the Northern Latitudinal Railway project at a news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Sabetta port, currently under construction (the Yamal LNG project), should have good logistics, including railway logistics. He said the new railway line would relieve the Trans-Siberian and the Baikal-Amur railways. Putin also said budget funding for the project had to be considered more thoroughly and suggested attracting foreign investment.

Governor Kobylkin in turn said that the bridge across the Ob River near Salekhard was the most complicated part of the project. "Its approximate cost is 70 billion rubles, and it will pay back in 35 years. This sum was included in the project and in the targeted federal program. Today it is being revised, and the financing might be rescheduled," Kobylkin said.

The project's preliminary cost estimate is 190 billion rubles.

The Northern Latitudinal Railway is a 707 km railway line designed to link the Northern and the Sverdlovsk railways and to provide access to the Sabetta seaport via the Yamal peninsula.