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High-speed rail in Russia

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High-speed rail is emerging in Russia as an increasingly popular means of transport, although the development of such rails is moving at a slower pace than in the rest of Europe.

Experimental trainsets built in 1974

Two experimental high-speed trainsets (designed for 200 km/h operation) were built in 1974: locomotive-hauled RT-200 ("Russkaya Troika") and ER-200 EMU. The RT-200 set made only experimental runs in 1975 and 1980 and was discontinued due to unavailability of the ChS-200 high-speed locomotive- they were only delivered later. The ER-200 EMU was put into regular service in 1984. In 1992 a second ER-200 trainset was built in Riga. Both sets continue their service until nowadays.

Operational

  • The Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway is Russia's highest speed railway with a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).[1] The first upgraded 250 km/h service using Siemens Velaro RUS (Sapsan) trains went into service on December 26, 2009.
  • Helsinki - St. Petersburg: 200 km/h high-speed service using Karelian Trains Class Sm6 (Allegro) trains started on December 12, 2010, cutting down travel time from 5.5 hours to 3.5 hours. The trains go 200 km/h on most of the Russian part, and 220 km/h on a short stretch in Finland.
  • Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod route. The high-speed traffic in Nizhny Novgorod began in July 2010[2]. Two Sapsan trains makes shuttle trips between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow and one between Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg. The latter route takes 8 hours and 30 minutes, versus the previous 14 hours. [3]

New lines in consideration

Russia has the following lines in consideration or under construction:

  • Moscow-Kaliningrad: high speed line plan existed previously.
  • Moscow-Sochi route: Recently, serious talks with JR East and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan for Shinkansen for the Moscow-Sochi route (for Sochi's successful bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics).
  • Transiberian Railway : Russia is in preliminary talks with Japan for long term plans to replace the trains on the Transiberian Railway with a Shinkansen derivate. It would be likely to allow 200 km/h.
  • New Moscow-St.Petersberg High-Speed Line: In February, 2010, RZD announced that it will unveil proposals in March, 2010, for a new "European standard" high-speed line between St.Petersberg and Moscow. The new line would be built to normal Russian gauge and would likely be built parallel to the existing line.[4] At an event on April 1st, it was announced that the new Moscow-St.Petersberg high-speed line would allow trains to run at speeds up to 400 km/h. The total journey time would be cut from 3h 45m to 2h 30m. The new line is expected to make extense use of bridges, tunnels and viaducts. Finance will be provided by a public-private finance vehicle. The line is expected to carry 14 million people in its first year. Representatives from many other high-speed lines will be consulted, in a effort to avoid construction delays and design flaws. [5]
  • Creation of breaks-of-gauge between 1520 Russian gauge and 1676 Indian broad gauge without any other gauge intervending: at Norilsk, Yakutsk, Okhotsk, and in southeast Kyrgyzstan, central Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan.
  • Extension of 1520 Russian gauge lines: to Europe and Middle East.

According to RZhD Director Vladimir Yakunin, Russia will have several high-speed railroads by 2012 - 2014.[6]


References

  1. ^ First high speed train Sapsan arrived in St Petersburg from Moscow.
  2. ^ Sapsan reaches Nizhny Novgorod
  3. ^ "Technical safety of 'Sapsan' high-speed train ensured 100% - Russian Railroads". Retrieved 2010-01-24. (dead link dec 2010)
  4. ^ http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/russia-to-announce-high-speed-line-plan.html
  5. ^ http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/rzd-launches-moscow-st-petersburg-high-speed-line-project.html
  6. ^ "High-speed railroads to appear in Russia by 2014 - Yakunin (Interfax)". Retrieved 2007-08-18.
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