Speed traffic to the East: expensive but promising

28.02.2010 (20:59)

By the end of last year Russia had got its first high-speed railway line. Thus, in December 2009, the first stage for a high-speed passenger service between Moscow and St. Petersburg was completed. The next stages are: Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod, as well as starting traffic on the route between St Petersburg and Helsinki.
Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer of Russian Railways JSC, tells us where else high-speed routes will appear.

- Mr Gapanovich, the following four projects are being realised currently with different success: Nizhny Novgorod - Moscow - St. Petersburg, HSL Moscow - St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg - Helsinki and Moscow - Sochi. When is a preparatory work to design other high-speed lines scheduled?

- High-speed links will appear in the near future on international routes: Moscow - Krasnoye - Brest - Berlin - Brussels, also between Moscow and Kursk, Moscow and Smolensk, and others. Railway sections in Siberia are under consideration, in order to link such powerful industrial centres as Novosibirsk and Omsk, Novosibirsk and Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk and Barnaul. Speeds up to 160 kph will be developed there. In fact, infrastructure there is already almost ready, but so far there is no appropriate rolling stock. In addition, such lines as Moscow - Ryazan, Moscow - Kazan, Moscow – Saratov - Volgograd and Moscow - Samara are under consideration as the most required routes.

Because of the economic crisis, RZD considers the possibility to produce speed and high-speed rolling stock in Russia. However, our domestic transport engineering sector is not yet able to master the production of high-speed trains completely on its own.

Along with this development program, it is planned to open high-speed traffic in the Far East, on the sections Ussuriysk — Vladivostok and Ugolnaya - Artem - Primorsky-1, but it is so expensive, that it is not found appropriate to realise this project only at the RZD's expense. A small passenger flow will not provide a return on capital investment either in rolling stock or in infrastructure.

- What mechanisms are already used to implement these projects, I mean either financial mechanisms (as PPP, private investment or public subsidies) or institutional (domestic or foreign contractors, PPP, RZD)? How did the financial crisis alter this work?

- PPP mechanism is currently effective, which is based on budgetary allocations from the Investment Fund of The Russian Federation (the project "Organization of High-Speed Passenger Train Service on the Section of St Petersburg - Buslovskaya").

It was planned to finance high-speed projects involving a federal target program. An investment share in the railway cargo transport tariff could be a source of investment, as well as a direct participation of the State too.

The crisis made considerable alterations in the project funding, including the federal budget. Financing for construction of the following lines has been either reduced or postponed: Prokhorovka - Zhuravka - Chertkovo - Bataisk (part of the project for a high-speed passenger line between Moscow and Adler), designing high-speed railway line between Moscow and St. Petersburg and the project to remove cargo traffic from the high-speed line St Petersburg - Buslovskaya.

President of RZD approved the concept of life cycle contracts when large-scale rail infrastructure projects are implemented, and this issue is currently being worked out by the related RZD departments.

Life-cycle contracts are widely used worldwide for the construction of large infrastructure projects. The meaning of such contracts is that a contractor builds sites either at his own expense or using borrowed money, and a customer (federal agencies or local administration) will pay for using these sites in future. The main advantages of the life cycle contracts are: saving budget funds, short construction time, modern technologies, the fact that the built sites will match modern quality standards and a clear picture of how the invested funds will be returned.

The life cycle contract is intended for the construction of a high-speed railroad between Moscow and St Petersburg. The contractor within the framework of this particular life cycle contract will be a consortium of foreign construction companies experienced in building high-speed railway lines, manufacturers of rolling stock and banks which are to provide the project financing.

- How much work is remaining for RZD this year to fulfil a preparation stage for the speed service on the route St Petersburg - Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod?

- More than 1.5 billion rubles will be allocated in 2010 in order to further modernize the railway infrastructure on the route from Moscow to St Petersburg, and to ensure safety of trains and passengers. This amount will be used for the complex reconstruction of the railway station at the railway section Redkino - Tver, for the reconstruction of 18 platforms on the route from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, and the reconstruction of the Popovka traction substation. 103.8 km of the fence along the railway will be installed, and a pedestrian bridge at the Tosno station will be equipped with elevators. Also, discharging devices will be installed at 18 stations to prevent rolling stock from coming out on the railroad without authorisation. A number of routinery and situational additional activities, which were not included in the investment project "Organization of high-speed passenger service on the route Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod", are to be implemented in order to accomplish reconstruction works between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod in the first half of 2010, which will allow high-speed passenger trains running this distance for 3 hours and 55 minutes.

A program is worked out in the framework of development projects, which aims to complete required works on speed and high-speed passages, and first of all, to improve traffic safety and to reduce the danger of accidents in the citizens' travelling area. It is expected that railways will be reconstructed and strengthened, fences will be built along the rail line, pedestrian crossings will be equipped with sound and light signalling systems, and security will be additionally organised at those passages, which are currently unsecured.

Interviewed by Maria Shevchenko