Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway

Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway
Moscow Railway Station in St. Petersburg (1851) is the northern terminus of the line.
Overview
Type	High-speed railway
System	Russian Railways
Status	mostly passenger service
Termini	Leningrad Railway Station, Moscow Moscow Railway Station, Saint Petersburg
Operation
Opened	1851
Owner	Russian Railways
Operator(s)	Russian Railways
Character	Passenger and freight
Rolling stock	ER200
Technical
Line length	649.7 km (403.7 mi)
Track gauge	1,520 mm (5 ft 0 in)
Operating speed	200 km/h (124 mph)

The Moscow to Saint Petersburg Railway is a 649.7-kilometre (403.7 mi) railway running between the two largest Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and through four oblasts: Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad. It is the leading traffic artery for the whole of the north-west region of Russia, operated by the Oktyabrskaya Railway subdivision of Russian Railways.

Overview

Siemens Velaro RUS in waiting hall of Moscow Terminus (St. Petersburg)

The current maximum speed on the Moscow-St. Petersburg line is 250 km/h (155 mph); the fastest train takes 3 hours and 30 minutes. The Siemens-built Velaro RUS train, aka Sapsan, operates on this line since 2009, but running below their speed capacity (300 km/h (186 mph)) because of difficulties upgrading all the tracks. For this Sapsan project, Russian Railways spent nearly $1 billion for its eight Siemens Velaro trains.

Since 1931, a famous train, called the Krasnaya Strela ("Red Arrow"), has operated on this line, leaving Moscow (Leningradsky Rail Terminal) at 23:55 daily and arriving in Saint Petersburg (Moskovsky Rail Terminal) at 07:55 the next morning and vice-versa.

The railway is relatively congested, which means that only a few high speed trains can be run each direction and day. Therefore there are plans of building a new parallel high-speed railway allowing up to 400 km/h, at an estimated cost of 696 bn roubles and an estimated completion in 2018.

Major stations

Major stations situated on the railway include (south to north) Klin, Redkino, Tver, Likhoslavl, Kalashnikovo, Vyshny Volochyok, Bologoye, Okulovka, Luka, Malaya Vishera, Chudovo, Lyuban and Tosno.

History

Wood burning locomotive on the Nikolaev Railway, ca. 1858

Leningrad Railway Station (1851) in Moscow, the southern terminus of the line

The railway is the second oldest in the country, behind a short line connecting Saint Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. This railway was a pet project of Pavel Melnikov (1804–1880), an engineer and administrator who superintended its construction and whose statue may be seen near the southern terminus of the line, the Leningradsky Rail Terminal in Moscow.

The idea of a railway connecting the two capitals gave rise to a prolonged controversy with some reactionary officials predicting social upheaval if the masses were allowed to travel. It was decided that only the affluent would be allowed to use the line; every passenger was to be subjected to strict passport and police control.

Nicholas I of Russia, after whom the railway and the termini were named between 1855 and 1923, issued an ukase ordering its construction on February 1, 1842. It was built by serfs at a cost of heavy loss of life, a fact bemoaned by Nikolay Nekrasov in his well-known poem The Railway.

The line was finally opened after almost 10 years of construction and a great deal of financial machinations, on November 1, 1851. The first passenger train left St Petersburg at 11:15 and arrived in Moscow at 9pm the next day – 21 hours and 45 minutes later. When completed, the line was the longest double-track railway in the world.

Myths

The Tsar's Finger

For many years the line was completely straight apart from a 17-kilometre (11 mi) bend near the city of Novgorod. This became the subject of an urban legend stating that when planning the project, Tsar Nicholas (who reputedly, exasperated by the bickering of officials arguing over the route, selected the route by taking a ruler and drawing a straight line between the two cities on a map) accidentally drew around his own finger on the ruler. The planners were supposedly too afraid to point out the error and constructed the line with the bend. In reality, the line was originally built without the curve. Known as the Verebinsky bypass, it was constructed in 1877 to circumvent a steep gradient that caused severe problems for steam locomotives. Trains heading to St Petersburg would pick up so much speed that they could not stop at the next station, while those heading for Moscow could not get up the hill without the assistance of four locomotives. It has been suggested that the late 19th century writer Nikolai Grech originated the story about the Tsar's finger being responsible for the curve.

In 2001, after 150 years of continuous use, the bend was finally straightened out, reducing the entire length by 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). At that period, a high-speed rail line (the first in Russia) was planned to be constructed along the same route, but the project was eventually shelved amid ecological protests and concerns about the fragile environment of the Valdai Hills.

Whistler

A bridge model of similar design to the Canton Viaduct at the October Railroad Museum in St. Petersburg

In 1842 Tsar Nicholas I summoned George Washington Whistler to work as a consulting engineer on the Moscow-St. Petersburg Railway. Whistler designed a unique bridge for the Boston and Providence Railroad in 1834 known as the Canton Viaduct and is said to have designed two similar bridges on the Moscow – St. Petersburg Railway but this has never been confirmed. There is a bridge model of similar design to the Canton Viaduct on display at the Oktyabrsky Railroad Museum in St. Petersburg.

Incidents

2007 explosion

On August 13, 2007 an intercity passenger train heading to St. Petersburg from Moscow derailed shortly before reaching Malaya Vishera after a bomb explosion. There were 30 injuries and no deaths, and railway traffic was blocked in both directions for a few days. Two men from the Ingushetia region of North Caucasus, Salambek Dzakhkiyev and Maksharip Khidriyev, have been charged in relation to this incident. They have been acquitted in January 2010 on the terrorism charge, but sentenced to prison terms on related charges. The court decided they delivered the explosives to the person who actually planted them and who was the leader of the terrorist cell, Pavel Kosolapov (who was still at large at time of the trial), but were not aware how it was going to get used. Dzakhkiyev and his defense lawyer, Magomed Razakov, were convicted of trying to bribe the investigator as well. Dzakhkiyev overall was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, Khidriyev received 4 years, Razakov - 2 years 2 months. The acquittal was held up by the Supreme Court in March 2010.

2009 explosion

Main article: 2009 Nevsky Express derailment

On November 27, 2009 four cars from train No. 166 derailed while travelling between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The derailment was a terrorist act caused by the detonation of 7 kilograms (15 lb) TNT equivalent. At least 27 people were killed and 96 injured. In a secondary explosion on November 28, directed at investigators, Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee, was injured and hospitalised.

The incident was reported to have similarities with the 2007 explosion on the same railway line.

Timetable

There are 32 direct express train services daily from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, from which the following are a selection.

Train No.	From – Via – To	Moscow	S. P.	Duration	Comment
	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	06:45	10:30	3h 45m	"Sapsan", the fastest among the direct express trains.
	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	07:00	10:55	3h 55m	"Sapsan"
	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	16:30	20:25	3h 55m	"Sapsan"
	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	19:45	23:30	3h 45m	"Sapsan"
032V	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg – Helsinki	22:50	06:02	7h 12m	The international trains also runs through this line
054Ch	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	23:40	08:35	8h 55m	The slowest among the direct express trains.
002A	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	23:55	07:55	8h 00m	"The Red Arrow" sleeper train.
004A	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	23:59	08:00	8h 01m	"The Express" sleeper train.
038A	Moscow – Sankt Peterburg	00:30	08:48	8h 18m	"The Megapolis" sleeper train.

There are many more sleeper trains not mentioned in the table. The international trains to the nearby countries, such as Finland and Estonia, pass through this line.

The line runs only an absolutely unavoidable minimum of freight trains. However, with only one track in each direction (with the exception Moscow to Zelenograd which has 3 tracks), expresses are still often delayed by slower local commuter trains. Introduction of Sapsan service saw massive changes in suburban train timetables with some trains now having long stops at passing loops to allow overtaking and others cancelled, causing resentment of citizens of towns and settlements along the line.

The 4th track between Moscow and Zelenograd is now under construction, and there are plans to build the 3rd track between Zelenograd and Tver.

External links

• "Views of the Nikolaev Railway", circa 1858, courtesy of SMU library archives