Russian Railways has fulfilled its obligations in building the transportation infrastructure for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi

This was stated by Vice-President of Russian Railways Oleg Toni, speaking on December 13 at the State Duma roundtable on “Results of the Preparation for the XXII Winter Olympic Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi.”

The event, chaired by President of the Olympic Committee of Russia Alexander Zhukov, was attended by State Duma deputies, the Federation Council members, representatives of the government, sports federations, and executives involved in preparing infrastructure for the Olympics.

As Vice-President of Russian Railways Oleg Toni noted, rail transport played a serious role in preparing for the Winter Olympic Games. In 5 years Russian Railways implemented 10 projects in Sochi. The first of them included freight terminals for receiving incoming building materials in the region. Up to 14 million tons of cargo per year was unloaded here.

For the convenience of residents and guests of Sochi, the Adler-Sochi Airport railway line was constructed as an alternative to congested roads. During the Winter Olympics, this line will carry up to 60% of the passengers from the airport.

To increase the capacity of the Tuapse-Sochi railway line, which runs along the coastline of the Black Sea, 30 km of additional track has been built. As a result, during the construction and mass delivery of cargo, no failures in the movement of passenger trains were noted.

Stops at Dagomys, Khosta, Matsesta and Sochi were reconstructed and made fully compliant for use by people with disabilities.

In the Cape Vidniy resort, sleeping quarters were built which will also accommodate guests at the Olympics.

The largest project of the company was the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana combined highway and rail road. It is designed to carry up to 20 000 people per hour, including 8 500 by rail and 11 500 by car.

“Over the 5 years of this project, 37 km of bridges and overpasses and 29 km of tunnels have been built, about 200 000 tons of metal constructions has been installed, 2 million m3 of reinforced concrete has been laid, and about 8 million m3 of soil has been moved. There has been nothing like this in the country since the BAM was constructed,” said Mr. Toni.

In 2011, Russian Railways was awarded the International Tunnelling Association award for applied technical solutions for the most complex construction: tunnel complex number 3.

The road passes through a national park, so special attention was paid to environmental issues.

From 2009 to 2013, on account of Russian Railways, a total of 3 million units of young marketable fish were released into the Mzimta River. To save plant flora, forest-development projects were implemented with a total area of 194 ha containing compensatory measures for

The maximum preservation of the existing natural complex of rare and endangered plant species. In 2009-2012, work was done on compensatory planting and transplanting more than 70 000 individuals of plants found in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation on endangered species.

According to Mr. Zhukov, residents and visitors of Sochi have been able to enjoy the rail service connecting not only the different areas of the coastal cluster, but also the mountain cluster.

Recall that, since November 1, 2013, Lastochka EMU operate on the line to Krasnaya Polyana and the Olympic Park. About 135 000 passengers traveled in the first month on the route Sochi-Adler-Krasnaya Polyana.

As part of the infrastructure preparations, a Lastochka maintenance depot was built and four major railway stations were completed, including at the Adler stop, one of Russia’s major transport hubs. During its construction, a number of innovative and resource-saving technologies were employed.

According to Mr. Toni, in all, Russian Railways fulfilled the government’s program. However, railway infrastructure is a complex mechanism that requires the careful adjustment of all systems, which builders now do together with operators.