A joint Sino-Russian company was set up in September 2014 to oversee construction of the 2.2km rail link between Nizhneleninskoe, Russia, and Tongjiang, China, and work started in China in December 2014.
The two countries will jointly fund the project with the Chinese portion estimated to cost Yuan 2.6bn ($US 419m). Russia's share will be significantly less as its section is only 315m long.
The rail link is expected to be completed by December 2016 and is forecast to carry up to 21 million tonnes of freight a year.
