HST Design Documents to Be Finalized by End-July

In a month design and technical documents on the Moscow - Kazan high-speed mainline will be finalized, the Gudok quotes OAO RZD First Vice President Alexander Misharin. The documents will then be reviewed by Glavgosexpertiza, the federal expert authority that has to approve any construction documents.

In July 2016 OAO RZD will start the pricing audit of the would-be high-speed mainline. The price reduction initiatives are already in place - OAO RZD attracted Deutsche Bank for preliminary technical and technology audit, which allowed reducing the price of the railway construction. However, most of the work is performed by the Russo-Chinese consortium.

“Solutions proposed by our designers will allow not only reducing the price but also speeding up the high-speed railway construction”, Mr. Misharin said. “Under the design, different operational modes are implied. The first one is “classic” - up to 400 km/h. The second one is ”night mode” with speeds operated at 250 km/h. The third one is “freight”. If the Moscow - Kazan project is successful, OAO RZD will consider establishing speed operation in the Russian South”.