Translated material
"Sapsan" stands on the spare track
The Sapsan high-speed train began to ply Mazh Moscow and St. Petersburg in December last year, after undermining the Nevsky Express. A train car, which develops a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour, is produced by the German concern Siemens. Express tickets cost from two to six thousand rubles. Since December last year, law enforcement agencies recorded over 10 acts of vandalism in relation to high-speed train : it was thrown with stones, ice and metal rods, as well as, according to the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, put on the way of the express of huge snow women, which was forced to resort to emergency braking.
Vandalism on railways always existed, but representatives of law enforcement agencies that RIA Novosti referred to the Sapsan were associated with the fact that several trains were canceled between the settlements on the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway due to the express.
The media also report on the technical problems in the operation of a high -speed train: perhaps the wheels can hardly transfer Russian rails and low air temperature. Here's how Sapsan and Vandalism, the press service of the Russian Railways Olga Vnukovskaya , commented on the technical condition of Sapsan and the cases of vandalism:
- Of course, there are a number of such facts, and law enforcement agencies are engaged in their investigation. In fact, there were minimal changes in the schedule: they canceled one train in each direction, so that people can simply protest against progress. As for the technical problems with the trains that the media write about, I can say,
"Sapsan" fully complies with all the norms and standards of the Russian Federation. From April 5, two more flights are introduced in the direction of Moscow-Sanct-Petersburg and St. Petersburg-Moscow. Thus, Sapsan will make five flights between Moscow and St. Petersburg. And in the future it will begin to run between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.
The technical condition of the Sapsan express and the prospects for the introduction of high -speed trains throughout Russia I discussed with the head of the independent trade union of the locomotive teams of railway workers Evgeny Kulikov :
- As for the wheels, indeed, according to the workers serving these trains, the wheels wear out and the wheel vapors are rolled out, they grind. It is possible that these problems arise due to the distance between the axes of the wheeled pairs and the distance between the rails. But at the same time, I must say that in the train itself no problems are felt. For a simple person, this is like with a "Lada" to transfer to "Mercedes": the smoothness of the course is much higher, comfortable, warm, comfortable, comfortable chairs. Unless the service remained the same, Soviet and, at the same time, expensive.
- Are there any prospects for launching high -speed trains throughout Russia, what do you think?
- I believe that so far it is unrealistic. Between Moscow and St. Petersburg we have the most direct section of the path in Russia. Other directions are curved climbs on which it will not be possible to develop a speed of 250 km/h. In addition, in the direction of Moscow - St. Petersburg, freight trains practically do not run, they all go around, which cannot be done, for example, by the Trans -Siberian Railway. To skip the Sapsan, you need to not let any trains for an hour or two, and there is no way to let the loads with the other way - there are no parallel ways.
The publication "Kommersant" believes that while the launch of Sapsan has not justified itself from a financial point of view: with reference to one of the top managers of Russian Railways, the newspaper writes that the transportation of the line in January decreased by 13%. In addition, the cost of preventing railway tracks is high. In total, 15 billion rubles were spent on the preparation of the Moscow -St. Petersburg route, 9 billion planned to allocate 9 billion on the Moscow -Nizhny Novgorod line. Even despite the high cost of tickets, investing in high -speed trains will pay off at best in 15 years, Kommersant concludes.