The first stage of construction works on a high-speed line will start in the first half of 2018.
The date of the beginning of the construction works was announced by the First Deputy General Director of JSC RZD Alexander Misharin during his interview with RIA Novosti at the Russian Investment Forum Sochi-2018.
“We expect that we will proceed to land withdrawal and preparation of the territory for construction in the first half of the year,” Alexander Misharin said. “The design of HSR is being completed. The positive conclusion from technological audit service has been obtained and the expertise is ongoing.”
The government is currently considering the first pilot section: whether it will be from Moscow to Vladimir or right to Nizhny Novgorod. The company has been tasked to calculate the cost of these two sections. Most likely the decision will be made at the end of March or beginning of April. In General, RZD is considering this as a part of the Eurasia international transport corridor from Beijing to Berlin.
In December last year, Valentin Gapanovich, the Senior Advisor to the General Director of Russian Railways said that the company had already chosen a 35-km section between Orekhovo-Zuyevo and Vladimir for certification of the rolling stock and infrastructure. Valentin Gapanovich confirmed to Gudok that this section is being elaborated and will be entered into the existing infrastructure and will be built in the first turn.
“The section meets all the criteria for certification. The train will enter the section at a speed of 300 km/h, accelerate to 410 km/h and then it slow down to 160 km/h to enter the regular infrastructure,” Valentin Gapanovich says. “Moving at a speed of 410 km/h for 2 minutes is enough to test and assess the compliance of the necessary components.”
In the future, the Moscow-Kazan HSR may become a part of the Moscow – Beijing High-Speed Line which will cost about 7 trillion rubles and a part of the Silk Road project which will connect China with the markets of Europe and the Middle East.
China intends is read to provide 20-year loan of 400 billion rubles for the Moscow – Kazan HSR project and more than 100 billion rubles as a contribution to the authorized capital of a special project company.
Furthermore, within the frameworks of the investment forum in Sochi, JSC Russian Railways, JSC Gazprom, JSC Sinara Group and ZAO Transmashholding signed a program of joint actions for implementing an agreement regarding the use of natural gas as a motor fuel. The agreement was signed by the companies in June 2016. In accordance with the program, JSC RZD is planning to increase the fleet of mainline gas-turbine locomotives and shunting gas-turbine locomotives fueled by compressed natural gas and in total from 3 up to 22 by 2023.
The information on the features of the Moscow – Kazan HSR designing process you can find on the 2nd page in an interview with the First Deputy General Director of JSC "Mosgiprotrans" Maxim Sukharev.
By Sergey Pletnev
Source: Gudok
