The fourth meeting of the Russian-Chinese working group on high-speed lines was held yesterday in Chengdu (China). According to the press service of the Gorky Railway (GZD), the meeting participants agreed to start work on preparing a list of products required for the creation of high-speed rail lines, the production of which can be localized in Russia (80% of all materials, as well as modern high-speed rolling stock, should be produced on the territory of our country). The Chinese side also confirmed its intention to invest 250 billion rubles in the project and provide loans for 150 billion. The specially created Silk Road Investment Fund and the China Development Bank can take part in the financing. The final organizational and legal model for the implementation of the project will be agreed before the end of 2015.
The news has already sparked heated discussion on the City Forum website. "Thus, Pyra, Lesnaya Polyana, Gnilitsky Dvoriki, Stroiteley and Sartakovo villages are being demolished. There won't be enough money to buy the land," he wrote. GribNik. "We have a garden in Doskino, the brain is boiling. Letters signed by Medvedev came to the chairmen of all nearby gardens - do not interfere. There is panic in gardening," she added DARA. "The bridge will be designed new," - said railway worker. "Where's the specifics?" - asked Blackpool.
Anatoly Lesun said at a press conference that agreements in principle have already been reached with the regions on the route. “A week ago, representatives of High-Speed Lines OJSC, which is the customer of the project, met with the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Valery Shantsev, at which we finally decided on the passage of the route. Where exactly the route will pass will be clear after the design work and the implementation of the land surveying project, but the main directions are clear to us, ”quotes Anatoly Lesun newspaper "Kommersant". In addition, the parties agreed on the location of stations and transport hubs in the region: high-speed trains will stop five times in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. In addition to the Moscow railway station in Nizhny Novgorod, the Nizhny Novgorod airport and Dzerzhinsk, stops are planned in the village of Niva on the border of the Nizhny Novgorod region with Chuvashia and near the village of Polyanki on the border of the Kstovsky and Lyskovsky districts of the region.
Kazan is one of the largest cities in Russia and the most significant industrial centers of the country. Therefore, the issue of modernizing transport communication between this settlement and the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, is very relevant. This is due to the increased intensity of passenger and cargo transportation in this direction. Railway Moscow - Kazan, which is planned to be built in the near future, is designed to largely solve this problem.
Transport problems
At present, the capitals of Russia and Tatarstan are connected by the values of the M7 "Volga" Moscow - Kazan. By car, you can drive it from one end to the other, spending a good half of the day. The path of the highway passes through the cities of Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod. This route is an integral part of the Moscow-Ufa highway. At the same time, it is part of the European road E22.
Throughout its distance, the Moscow-Kazan highway (km 820) has a fairly high-quality hard surface. At the same time, due to traffic congestion, it often has to be repaired.
In addition, the cities are connected by the Moscow-Kazan railway, which dates back to 1897. In 1960 it was electrified.
Currently, the existing transport arteries between Moscow and Kazan fulfill their tasks only partially. Due to the high intensity of traffic on them, as well as due to their technical characteristics, they cannot provide high-speed communication between these two large cities.
Solutions
The real solution to the problem of overcoming the high time costs on the way between the two cities could only be the Moscow-Kazan high-speed road. There were two ways to implement this idea: the construction of a motorway or a modern railway line. The latter option was preferable, as it would allow getting from the starting point to the final point in a shorter period of time.
So the society gradually approached the idea of creating the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railroad.
Project idea
Until now, there is not a single high-speed railway line in the Russian Federation. For the first time, Alexander Sergeevich Misharin spoke about the creation of such a project. In 2009, he proposed to build a similar railway line between Moscow and Yekaterinburg. This was not a novelty for him, since he had previously served as Deputy Minister of Railways.
In 2010, Alexander Sergeevich formalized his proposal into a specific project. Misharin's idea was supported by the government of Tatarstan. But at this stage, the dialogue took place only at the regional level, since the federal authorities had nothing to do with it at that time.
Development of the idea at the federal level
At the federal level, the idea of building the first high-speed railway in Russia was put forward in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He stated this in Sochi. It was announced that in the near future the construction of such a grandiose project as the Moscow-Kazan high-speed highway was planned. At the same time, Vladimir Vladimirovich said that in the future it is possible to consider the option of extending the road to Ulyanovsk and Yekaterinburg.
The direct implementation of the project was entrusted to the previously mentioned Alexander Misharin, who by that time had become the first vice-president of Russian Railways OJSC. At the end of 2013, he was appointed general director of the Russian Railways subsidiary JSC High-Speed Lines, created specifically for the construction of the road.
The construction period of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed line was scheduled for 2014-2018. That is, the work should have been fully completed by the upcoming world football championship in Russia.
Planned path of the route
The high-speed highway Moscow - Kazan will pass through the largest cities of the upper Volga region. At the same time, it is still planned to lay it far from significant concentrations of settlements so that this factor does not reduce the speed characteristics of the highway. For the same purposes, the Moscow-Kazan railway will run along the most direct route.
The highway will originate in Moscow, then it will go down 180 km to Vladimir, after 247 km it will enter Nizhny Novgorod, from which it will go 240 km to Cheboksary. The road will end in Kazan, to which another 136 km will stretch.
Thus, the high-speed highway Moscow - Kazan will appear before us with a total length of 803 kilometers.
Comparison of the new route with the existing railway
Now let's find out how much from Moscow to Kazan is the path along the current railway. Its length is 1170 km. Thus, as a result of the project, the distance between cities will be reduced by as much as 367 kilometers.
The gain in time will be much greater. If it took 14 hours and 7 minutes to travel along the old railway, then the new Moscow-Kazan high-speed highway will make it possible to do this in just three and a half hours. That is, the time savings will exceed 3.5 times.
Financial aspects
The initial cost of the project for the construction of the highway to Yekaterinburg was estimated at 2.5 trillion rubles. Then, when it was decided at the first stage of construction to bring the road only to Kazan, the total construction costs were significantly reduced. At the moment, the preliminary cost of the project, announced at the beginning of 2014, is 949 billion rubles. However, the designers understand that this is a very conditional amount. Taking into account inflation, it can be significantly adjusted and by the time construction is completed, it can significantly exceed one trillion rubles.
The bulk of the costs are borne by government agencies. In particular, the federal budget, national welfare. However, it is also planned to attract money from private investors and commercial enterprises to a large extent for the implementation of the project. This form of cooperation is called public-private partnership. Loans from banks and other financial structures will also be one of the sources of financing.
Initially, it was planned to attract foreign investors as well. However, European companies were forced to refuse cooperation due to EU sanctions against Russia. Negotiations are currently underway with China to participate in financing.
Project implementation
At the moment, the Moscow-Kazan expressway is only at the design stage. The actual work on its construction has not yet begun. But this is a future perspective.
The design work is carried out directly by the technical bureau of OAO High-Speed Lines, and is approved by the Scientific and Technical Council of Russian Railways.
Currently, the timing of the project has been significantly shifted. So, initially it was supposed to start construction in 2015, and in 2016 to launch the first branch of Nizhny Novgorod - Cheboksary, completing the construction of the road in 2018. But for now, some members of the Russian government and those directly involved in the project are saying that construction work is likely to start only in 2017, with the full high-speed Moscow-Kazan highway to be operational by 2020.
Criticism of the project
A number of economic experts, including members of the government of the Russian Federation, are very doubtful about the final one. They say that the costs are too high, and the total passenger traffic will not even reach the value indicated in the plans. In particular, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the construction of the Moscow-Kazan highway was premature.
At the same time, many public figures do not deny the national significance of the project, which contributes to an increase in the level of comfort of movement between the capitals of Russia and Tatarstan.
There are also doubts that, in view of Western sanctions and the beginning of crisis processes in the country's economy, it will be possible to find all the required financial resources for the implementation of construction. In this regard, the prospects for putting the Moscow-Kazan highway into operation even by 2020 look very problematic.
In addition, there are supporters of the construction of a new highway between these two cities. Their main argument is the high intensity of cargo transportation in the direction Moscow - Kazan. By car, you can transport not only people, but also goods, and the planned railway line is more designed specifically for passenger transportation.
prospects
The main tasks that the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway is designed to solve are to reduce the intensity of vehicle traffic on existing transport routes between these cities, increase the level of comfort for passengers and reduce travel time.
It is planned that the carriages of the trains traveling in this direction will be divided into four classes: economy, first class, business class and premium. According to preliminary calculations, the price of an economy class ticket from Moscow to Kazan will be 2,300 rubles.
If the project for the construction of the highway is successful, it is planned to extend it to Ulyanovsk and Yekaterinburg. In addition, Chinese investors expressed their interest in building a route all the way to Beijing. The government of Russia and China has already signed a joint memorandum on plans for such a grandiose construction.
But these are already prospects for a much more distant future. At the moment, the successful implementation of the project for the construction of a high-speed railway line between Moscow and Kazan is on the agenda.
According to Alexander Romanenko, Director of the Department of Transport and Road Facilities of the Administration of the Vladimir Region, several residential buildings in the village of Staroe Perepechino, Petushinsky District, fall into the zone of passage of the high-speed railway line (HSR).
The head of the "transport" department of the Vladimir White House assures that there is no social tension in those areas of the Vladimir region where the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway will pass near residential buildings. On the contrary, Alexander Romanenko predicts the active construction of new residential neighborhoods near the VSM stations:
“The projects are ready and passed the examination. There will be 4 stops: in the area of Petushkov, Vladimir, Kovrov and between Vyazniki and Gorokhovets. We are gradually approaching the most important event - the construction of the highway.
We will work with them on all entrances to the VSM stations. Russian Railways is also designing access roads to these territories. After all, for example, in Gorokhovets, the VSM station will appear in a bare field. As I understand it, due to this, new microdistricts will be developed in Vladimir. Definitely between the Globus hypermarket and the station is about 5 kilometers - this territory, I think, will become the largest microdistrict of the city of Vladimir. We find compromises, built the schemes of these roads.
There is no social tension. In all the municipalities that will pass along the route of the high-speed railway, representatives of the Russian Railways came, showed a video, and came with maps. All highways will be in noise barriers. If you look at everything as a whole, not a single house, except for one settlement in the Petushinsky district of the Vladimir region, affects the high-speed railway.
3 or 4 houses in the village of Staroe Perepechino fall into the HSR zone - these are also residents of the Vladimir region, they have their own interests, they can also be understood. But the designers did not manage to get around everything, because 251 kilometers of the highway will pass through the Vladimir region. And it turns out that only in one settlement only the edge hurts. We tried our best to bypass all landfills, all water intakes, houses. Unfortunately, it happened.
As for the villages of Novoye and Oslavskoye in the Suzdal region, people were warned not to build in this zone. I don’t know what people hoped for and continued to erect housing with super activity. I don’t know what the citizens hoped for, maybe they want more money, after all, there were registration bans, but the citizens are trying to build. I don’t know, maybe they want to earn money, get compensation.”
As a reminder, to inform and consult residents of the Vladimir region, High-Speed Railroads JSC during the summer: the first one took place on June 15, the other two are scheduled for July 13 and August 10 from 11:30 to 15:30.
The representative of the railway company, Anton Aleksandrov, told Zebra TV that in the Vladimir region there are about 5,000 sections in the high-speed highway, 30% of which are privately owned by individuals and legal entities. If the lands fall into the permanent allotment zone, then the plots will either be bought out or withdrawn for the needs of the state.
The representative of High-Speed Lines also informed that in the long-suffering village of Staroe Perepechino, "a small enterprise whose buildings or warehouses will have to be demolished."
Massive project moved one step further
The Glavgosexpertiza of Russia has approved the project for the construction of a section of the Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg high-speed highway from the capital to the city of Vladimir. A message about this yesterday appeared on the official website of the institution. The experts studied the project documentation and came to the conclusion that it complies with all regulations, and the cost estimate is not overstated.
The Vladimir and Moscow segments of the HSR, 172 km long, are assigned to stages No. 3 and No. 4. As part of the third stage, preparatory work will take place on this section of the highway, and then, at the fourth stage, the construction of the branch itself, overpasses and stations will begin. Four stations for high-speed trains are planned in our region - in Petushki, Vladimir, Kovrov and Gorokhovets, but only the first two will be built at this stage of the project. Stations will also appear in Orekhovo-Zuyevo and Noginsk.
According to the website of Glavgosexpertiza, the station complex in Petushki will occupy an area of 81 hectares and will be designed for 200 passengers. In Vladimir, only 66 hectares are allocated for the facility, but it will already be able to accommodate 1,800 people.
As for overpasses and traffic interchanges, according to the project, the construction of the following related facilities is envisaged:
- in the Petushinsky district - two overpasses, as well as an overpass across the river. Shitka, bridges over the river. Kirzhach, Black, Tanka, etc.;
- in the Sobinsky district - railway overpasses on the Nazarovo-Stukovo highway and on the R-57 - M-7 highway (Kolchugino-Vladimir);
- in Vladimir - a road overpass on the Mosino-Volosovo highway. Later, a railway overpass will be built near Vladimir at the intersection with the Bogolyubovo-Vtorovo highway.
In total, in the 33rd region, 25,688 hectares of forests will be cut down for the sake of the high-speed railway (in terms of area - 98 Druzhba parks), 200 bridges, 20 flyovers, 10 viaducts, 7 animal ducts and dozens of cattle drives will be built. The total length of the regional section will be 247 km, along the territory of Vladimir - 5 km. Citizens will be able to get to the capital in an hour. Designers estimate that high-speed trains will carry 5.1 million people a year and run 40 times a day in each direction.
HSR station in Vladimir
Recall that last year the projects of four HSR stations in region-33 were considered at the town planning council in the White House. However, the officials did not like the submitted sketches, and they were sent for revision. In particular, it was noted that access roads were not worked out, a sufficient number of parking spaces were not provided, and the appearance of the objects did not fit into the surrounding landscape.
And the Vladimir authorities have already begun to prepare for the construction of a high-speed highway and even ordered a new version of the general plan, in which the development of the city will be adjusted taking into account this object.
