"Polar Express" is a proposed

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

12,650 km long

submarine communication cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and car ...

connecting

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

and

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

by traversing the

Northern Sea Route The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (, shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route about long. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region. Ad ...

with planned total capacity from 52 to 104 Tbit/s. The cable was proposed on October 26, 2020, by decree of the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

and the project realization was started on November 18, 2020, by Morsvyazsputnik, a subsidiary of Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transportation of Russian Ministry of Transport.

History

The cable will connect

and

along the shortest route between

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, which will create an alternative to

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

communications in northern latitudes. This will help meet the growing needs of online trading,

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

technologies and processing of large volumes of data, providing a reliable and affordable

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

connection. It was planned to begin laying the cable from two opposite ends simultaneously, with the goal of completing the construction by 2026. The planned cost of the project is 65 billion rubles. A plant was built in

for the production of

. On October 27, 2022, the first section of the

fiber-optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

communication line was completed, the cable was installed in Amderma. In December 2022,

Rostelecom Rostelecom (Ростелеком) is Russia’s largest provider of digital services for a wide variety of consumers, households, private businesses, government and municipal authorities, and other telecom providers. Rostelecom interconnects all ...

built for its own purposes the " Anadyr –

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is located in the Far East of the country and lies along the coast of Avacha Bay by the Pacific Ocean, nearby Khalaktyrskoye Lake. As of the 202 ...

" fiber-optic line, thus duplicating the "Polar Express" network link planned for 2026. Duplicating submarine communication cables may be useful due to the potential accidental damage by ships. On November 1, 2023, the concept of creating a trans-Arctic telecom operator was developed. However, the proposed concept was later asked to be clarified. In 2023, a coastal station was built in Dikson (

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...

), work is underway on the section from Amderma to Dikson. Other fiber-optic communication projects, such as "

Synergy of Arctic Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts (i.e., a non-linear addition of force, energy, or effect). The term ''synergy'' comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία ' f ...

", are planning to connect to the "Polar Express". On November 25, 2023, the project layout was presented at VDNKh as part of the exhibition "Russia in Motion". ITMO has organized a pilot production line for domestic optical

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

s (

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

s) for submarine communication cables. In

Tiksi Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; , ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Bulunsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the shore of the B ...

, in 2025, a fiber-optic connection will be provided to Arctictelecom from the coastal communication station, the construction of which under the "Polar Express" project should begin in 2024.

Specifications

The system uses a specialized submarine cable with 6 pairs of optical fibers and a conductive element to power optical amplifiers. These pairs of optical fibers have different purposes: * two pairs are used for the main connection on the route "

( Teriberka) –

", with a length of 12,650 km; * two pairs are used to create four independent branches to intermediate objects at various points, such as Amderma, Dikson,

Pevek Pevek (; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Pèèkin'' / ''Pèèk'') is an Arctic port types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay (pa ...

, Anadyr,

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...

; * two pairs are used to create a backup connection for future development of the entire network. Total capacity planned from 52 to 104 Tbit/s.

References

{{reflist

External links

"Polar Express" project description on the website of "Morsvyazsputnik"
полярныйэкспресс.рф
�— official webpage * Map
Communication networks in Russia, 2023

Submarine Cable Map
Submarine cables Telecommunications in Russia Submarine communications cables in the Pacific Ocean Submarine communications cables in the Arctic Ocean