Russia's High Speed Train is On Track

Russia has an excellent track record in recent years when it comes to transport and logisitics projects the multi billion dollar rail and metro network in Moscow with 2 brand new lines and a new outer circle have transformed the movement of pasengers in the capital and reinforced Moscow's position as the world's premier metro and pasenger untigrated transport system. Then the new Moscow- St Petersburg motorway has been completed and bypasses all the cities on the 700km journey offering a wonderful straighford driving experience for cars and trucks. Now lets talk about the Moscow St Petersburg high speed rail link that was announced earlier this year.

The construction of the “White Gyrfalcon” (Bely Krechet)  which will be the first Russian hight speed train to run on its newt high-speed railway, is going according to plan. This was reported by the Head of the Sverdlovsk Regional Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (SRUIE) Dmitry Pumpyansky at a special session of the International Forum "Transport of Russia".
So what is it ?
Its a High Speed Railway (HSR) It will have an electrified double track railway line designed for trains travelling at speeds of  between 200 to 400 km/h. linking the cities of Moscow-St. Petersburg HSR1.

The railway It will pass through the territory of six Russian oblasts or regions: to connect cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, plus the cities in regions including Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver and others in  the Moscow Region.

According to Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, the journey time between Moscow and St Petersburg will be reduced from 4 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes, the journey from Moscow to Tver will take only 39 minutes and from St Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod 29 minutes.
In addition, trains will run more frequently - every 10-15 minutes, with a total of 12 stops along the route. The line  will also be dedicated to passenger traffic only,. 

Russian Railways announced the completion of the design for the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway. The total length of the line will be 680 km and the maximum train speed will vary between  250-4000 km/h. It is planned to create two types of carriges - "Business" and "Standard". The first will include higher service classes, and the "standard" which will include five service classes: business, economy, family, tourist and bistro.( Bistro  I suppose that means the bar car where you can drink away and see the  Russian countryside  pass by in the blink of an eye with a large beer pivo and a shot of vodka)

Now even the design of the track is inovative  It has already been decided that the tracks will be built using ballastless technology.According to Roman Pivovar, Deputy General Director of the State Research Institute "Natproektstroy", the permissible subsidence of the track should not exceed 15 mm during its entire service life, i.e. 50 years or more.

The weight of a reinforced concrete structure designed to ensure the track stability is 740 tonnes. Twelve factories will be built to produce them along the entire route. According to Roman Pivovar, more than 30 thousand people will be involved in the construction of the  infrastructure facilities.
The contract for the production of the first two test trains for the HSR-1 was signed by Russian Railways in April of this year. The contractor is the Ural Locomotives company (Sverdlovsk Region, part of the Sinara - Transport Machines holding). The total contract amount is 12 billion rubles, the delivery date is by the end of March 2028. In total, 41 trains are expected to be built for the HSR-1.
The train will be equipped with a computer vision system, anti-collision system, autonomous GoA3 control and so on. Two new production halls with a total area of 60,000 m2 and a test room are currently being built at the UL factory, and a chain of subcontractors for these high-speed trains is being created; there was no mention of Chinese industry's participation, although "cooperation with friendly countries is not excluded".

The production of the trains is due to start in the first quarter of 2026, more than 150 component suppliers have already been selected for the project, and the trains are due to be completed by the end of March 2028. It will be interesting to see how the coincidence of train production and the construction of the new HSL can be reconciled, and whether, for example, the Sapsans diverted from the current Moscow - St Petersburg line, which in turn will gain more capacity for freight traffic, will initially operate on it.
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The cost of the entire HSR-1 project, including the construction of infrastructure and the production of rolling stock, is 2 trillion 349 billion roubles. This makes it the largest infrastructure project in the country.

"Normally, concessions of this kind are financed by the state, but here it is the other way round. 75 per cent of the funds are not state funds, and the state funds invested will be returned to the state in full," said Alexander Vedyakhin,Deputy Chairman of   Sberbank. Of the total amount of 1 trillion 241 million roubles, there are loaned funds: a syndicate for the creation of infrastructure (960 billion roubles) and a syndicate for the creation of rolling stock (281 billion roubles). In addition, 300 billion roubles from the National Welfare Fund will be invested in the project.

It should be noted that in August last year it was reported that the Sinara - Transport Machines holding was looking for a site in Moscow to build a plant for assembling the high-speed trains. It was also planned to start construction in 2024. It is clear that such a large company means highly skilled jobs and significant tax breaks. It is therefore not surprising that Moscow as a subject lobbied for the production to be located on its territory, especially as the city is seriously investing in the high-speed rail project. The Moscow government also has a 30% stake in the capital of the train developer - the Engineering Centre for Railway Transport. 60% - RZh, and the remaining 10% - Sinara Group.
According to Dmitry Pumpyansky, more than 30 thousand units, parts and components are needed to assemble the White Krechet high-speed train. Moreover, 1200 of them have never been produced in our country. As a result, the proportion of imported components in the train will be no more than 15-20%. About 300 companies across Russia are involved in the project, and about 40 of them, including Ural Locomotives, are located in the Sverdlovsk Oblast. These companies have been involved in the production of high-speed trains for about 20 years and have built up their expertise, which gives the project a certain head start.

"It is impossible to build such a technologically new platform from scratch in two or three years," says Dmitry Pumpyansky.

Now the mayor of  Moscow  Sergei Sobyanin also said that the capital would contribute financially to the project.
"The Moscow government will carry out all the instructions of the Russian president on the implementation of the HSR-1 project and will ensure the integration of the entire city transport infrastructure with the future high-speed train stops planned at the Leningradsky, Rizhskaya, Petrovsko-Razumovskaya and Zelenograd-Kryukovo city stations," he said.

The Mayor stressed that tens of thousands of new jobs will be created in the areas adjacent to the high-speed railway, and the best construction and engineering resources of our country will be involved in building the infrastructure and trains. As a result, the quality of life of more than 30 million Russians will be significantly improved.
According to Vitaly Savelyev, Minister of Transport, the creation of high-speed lines in the country will increase the capacity of the railways, relieve congestion at airports and contribute to the growth of domestic tourism.

According to his report, presented at a meeting on the creation of the HSR, the construction of a separate passenger line for the HSR will help return freight traffic to the main route between Moscow and St Petersburg, which will have an additional effect of 30 million tonnes of freight in 2030, bringing the total volume to 74 million tonnes. In addition, passenger traffic between St Petersburg and Moscow will increase by 35% to 43.4 million passengers by 2030, of which 23 million will be on the HSR. This will have an impact on the reduction of aircraft loads, as the outflow of air passengers will be 14% - 3.2 million people should switch to the HSR.
The government noted that the opening of the HSR will also ensure job growth, an increase in tax revenues and the formation of industrial clusters in the area where the railway passes through all areas.
 The Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, speaking at the Forum's plenary session, also touched on the high-speed rail project, stressing its importance for improving the country's connectivity and the economy as a whole, and reminding of the need to stick to the project's implementation schedule.