The development of the Arctic Operating Domain requires economic cost estimates and the adoption of a decision to build the Northern Latitudinal Railway; this work is already underway, said Deputy Prime Minister, Presidential Plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev.

Addressing a plenary meeting of the International Arctic Forum The Arctic – Territory of Dialogue in Murmansk, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin noted that Russia had to develop its Arctic Operating Domain on a par with the Eastern Operating Domain, including the modernization of the Northern Latitudinal Railway in the Republic of Komi and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area.

A concession agreement for building the Northern Latitudinal Railway was signed in October 2018. The new offshoot was expected to drastically shorten delivery routes between mineral deposits in northern areas of West Siberia and ports in the Baltic, White, Barents and Kara seas. Additionally, the project’s implementation should reduce the load on the southern route merging with the Trans-Siberian Mainline.

In November 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that construction of facilities along the Northern Latitudinal Railway in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area had been suspended, but that project implementation prospects were quite good. In July 2024, Russian Deputy Minister of Transport Dmitry Bakanov noted that Russian Railways might finance construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway from its own assets after 2025. In October, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev added that the corporation could implement the Northern Latitudinal Railway 1 and 2 projects only together with Russian Railways.