INVESTORS are considering plans to extend the Pacific Railway, Russia’s first modern private railway, to serve the Tunguss coal basin in Siberia, according to Dmitry Demeshin, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai in the far east of the country. The 531km Pacific Railway is being built by mining company Elga at a cost of Roubles 147bn ($US 1.76bn). Construction was officially launched on September 4 with a ceremony attended online by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Forming the third main line to serve the far east of Russia, alongside the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal - Amur main line, the Pacific Railway is expected to carry 30 million tonnes of freight next year, according to Elga. And as Demeshin told Russian state news outlet Interfax, plans are already in motion to extend the railway further westwards.