Denis Muratov at Skorostny Magistrali speaks about the Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed rail link

Denis Muratov, managing Director of Skorostny Magistrali, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, has been speaking about preparing the project to build a Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed rail link.

“We plan to begin preparing the tender to construct this high-speed line in March 2011 and announce the tender itself in December 2011,” said Denis Muratov.

He explained that by December 2011, it is planned to complete the necessary commercial and financial calculations, harmonise European and Russian standards and prepare for the reservation and purchase of the land across which the line will run.

On behalf of Russian Railways, the company Skorostny Magistrali is now finalising the draft concept of the High-Speed Rail Link-1, which will include the following key issues:

• socio-economic effects of creating High-Speed Rail Link-1. This will enable the Russian Government to decide on funding for the project
• the project’s financial and economic model
• the possibility of the tender winner to use technical standards adapted to Russian conditions
• technical aspects, including the level of passenger traffic, optimum route, schedule for the project lifecycle and the functional requirements of a high-quality infrastructure
• the general scheme of the project implementation based on public-private partnership mechanisms

According to Muratov, the optimal scheme for constructing High-Speed Rail Link-1 is a contract for the whole life cycle of the project, an approach which has already shown its worth elsewhere.

In accordance with this approach, the winning contractor must carry out the design, construction, financing and operation of all the infrastructure of High-Speed Rail Link-1 throughout the 30-year life cycle of the project. The customer, in the shape of a public partner, will make periodic payments for the service provided under the contract during this period. The public partner can also compensate part of the infrastructure construction costs.

The tender will be fully transparent and open for all participants and include full documentation and a draft agreement with the infrastructure provider.

High-Speed Rail Link-1 will enable trains to cover the 660 km between Moscow – St. Petersburg in just 2.5 hours, operate up to 42 pairs of trains a day at speeds up to 400 kph and carry up to 8 million passengers a year. Due to the complex terrain and large number of water crossings on the line, 256 structures (72 km) will be constructed.