From Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2.5 hours

From Moscow to St. Petersburg via rail transportation there are 649.7 kilometers.

 Russia will receive high-speed railway line Moscow – St. Petersburg in 2018. According to experts, the price of a one-way ticket for a high-speed train could reach $100. The expected passenger traffic is forecast at 12.8 million passengers a year, and the construction cost of the line will reach approximately 700 billion rubles.
General Director of the company “Skorostnye Magistrali” Denis Muratov said that the proposed fares will be in the area of ​​one hundred dollars. Currently, the RZD is finalizing the concept of the road, and the next step is the approval by the Ministry of Transport. According to preliminary estimates, total project cost will amount to approximately 1.5 trillion rubles, Fontanka.ru reports.
The high-speed railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow will commence its work by the beginning of the FIFA World Cup 2018. Competition for the design, construction, financing and operation of the roads will be announced in December of this year. It is not ruled out that investors from Germany, Spain, France, China and South Korea will participate in the project. Current representatives of the consortium are CNCR and CSNN from China, the German Deutsche Bahn, and Korean Hyundai Construction. These structures will form the pools of national contractors. In addition, according to Muratov, Spanish ADIF conducted negotiations about a possible participation in the project.
According to head of “Skorostnye Magistrali,” “this is not surprising, since there is no company that we need in Russia at the moment.” Foreign investors were even provided with some of the technical requirements and bidding documents to enable them to prepare for the tender.
According to the newspaper Vzglyad, the main road to link the two capitals will be a completely new railway line running in parallel to the existing Oktyabrskaya railway (OZD). At the same time the train station complex will remain the same. In St. Petersburg new trains will be departing from the Moscow Railway Station, and in Moscow from the square of ​​the three train stations.
Muratov said that “railroad Moscow – St. Petersburg in terms of budgetary effect within 30 years of the estimated lifetime will earn approximately 300 billion rubles, while at least 2-2.5 times more money will be required for its construction. However, in terms of various combined factors that include savings in carbon emissions, the impact on people’s lives, and the overall socio-economic impact, it will amount to over 1.5 trillion. ”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently spoke about high-speed railway in preparation for the World Cup. On April 22, speaking in the Duma, he mentioned that so far such railways exist in three directions: Moscow – St. Petersburg, Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg – Helsinki. The Prime Minister said that it is necessary to take additional measures to develop high-speed traffic. He instructed to finalize the concept of the transport services for 2018 World Cup no later than May 15, 2011.
Senior Vice President of the company Valentin Gapanovich said that it will be a comprehensive document covering all forms of transportation. In particular, he noted: “This is a very large and expansive document developed by our Institute for Economic Development. It covers all modes of transportation – intermodal transport, air transport, railway transport. Unfortunately, we will not disclose it in full, but after May 20 when this large document is provided to the Ministry of Transport, it may be subject to more detailed discussions.”

Post Source:http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/29-04-2011/117745-moscow_petersburg-0/