First St. Petersburg-Sevastopol Passenger Train Crosses Crimean Bridge - Video

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The first passenger train from St. Petersburg to Sevastopol has crossed the Crimean bridge linking the peninsula to mainland Russia.

Reaching its final destination in Sevastopol early on Wednesday morning, Russian Railway's No.7 "Tavria" became the first train to make the 1,700-mile journey from St. Petersburg to the largest city on the Crimean Peninsula.

The railway section of the bridge now joins the road bridge opened in May 2018, both of which were inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin with ceremonial crossings. At 18 kilometres (over 11 miles), the bridge is the longest in Europe.

По Крымскому мосту прошёл первый пассажирский состав

Поезд № 007А "Санкт-Петербург − Севастополь" отправился с Московского вокзала Санкт-Петербурга 23 декабря в 14.00 и прибыл в Севастополь 25 декабря в 9.25.

Он преодолел ж/д участок моста за 20 минут pic.twitter.com/xeWEJAB7Ob

— Ватобот™Прохоров|Official (@probybnist) December 25, 2019

Crimea rejoined Russia in the spring of 2014 when over 97 per cent of the voters backed reunification in a referendum that was conducted in compliance with international law. Since then, Russia started constructing the bridge over the Kerch strait to rejoin the peninsula with the country's mainland.