This train is angry

Traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg at a speed of 200 km/h, the inhabitants of the capital incite class hatred among those who live along the railway

On Sunday morning, residents of the city of Bologoye wake up from a warning about the approach of high-speed Sapsan trains. One rushes to Petersburg, the other rushes to Moscow. It is similar to the game "Guess the melody". The announcement of a train to the northern capital begins with five notes from the song "Listen, Leningrad", and in the opposite direction - from the song "Moscow Evenings". They say that in clear weather, music can be heard for several kilometers.

This is the most insignificant claim that sounds against the railroad. For those who live between the two capitals, the Sapsan launched in December last year created a lot of problems. They now have nothing to ride on - the only convenient and cheap train "Youth" has been cancelled. Trains are being cancelled. Crossings have been closed somewhere, but new bridges are not being built.

The ambitious project sparked class animosity. Everyone is dissatisfied with him: from a grandmother in the village of Spirovo, who is forced to climb over a fence with a bicycle, to the governor of the Tver region, Dmitry Zelenin, who has to negotiate with railway workers. Residents express their protest by throwing anything at the Sapsan. “When a luxurious life flies by that you will never get into, it causes rejection,” Governor Zelenin concludes. To bring down the wave of anger, Zelenin ordered preventive conversations with residents. And residents are afraid that this week will get even worse - since April 5, the total number of daily flights between the capitals has increased from six to ten.

"YOUTH" DO NOT RETURN

Back in the 70s, everyone who lived along the Oktyabrskaya railway considered themselves lucky, recalls Sergey Alekseev, deputy head of the Likhoslavl district of the Tver region. It's no joke, it was possible to go by train to Moscow for sausage. Now it's the other way around - a favorable location in the past brings only trouble.

On the table of Bologovsky district administration official Alexander Belikov is a paper signed by Tver Tserenov, head of the transport department of the Tver region. It says that since December there has been an increase in social tension along the Oktyabrskaya railway. At the same time, officials in Bologoye say that they are still lucky when compared with other regional centers. Firstly, a chic pedestrian bridge was built for the launch of the Sapsan, reminiscent of the creations of Norman Foster. Secondly, many passenger trains stop at their junction station. But still, they will not be able to replace the lost "Youth".

The Yunost train is a running motif of complaints that are heard along the Oktyabrskaya road. He walked during the day and stopped in all regional centers, performing the function of interregional communication: you sit down somewhere in Novgorod Uglovka and reach Likhoslavl in Tver. A ticket from Bologoye to Moscow on "Youth" cost about 300 rubles. In December, the place of "Youth" in the schedule was taken by "Sapsan". “But he will not replace her,” Governor Zelenin sympathizes with the residents. The daily Sapsan stops only in Tver, Vyshny Volochek, Bologoy and Okulovka.

“There are tickets left to Moscow for only 3600 rubles - this is a business class,” the cashier says impassively to a young man at the station in Bologoye. For many locals, this is half the salary. It is possible, however, to leave in three hours by train Petersburg-Kislovodsk, but it is not daily and, moreover, it does not stop either in Vyshny Volochek or in the next regional center of Spirovo. The railroad didn't seem to take that into account. “The laziness of the relevant employees. It would be possible to calculate everything in advance and, having changed the schedule, leave Yunost,” Governor Zelenin believes.

"Youth" was canceled without warning - at the box office they simply stopped selling tickets for it. “But when the introduction of Sapsan was planned, no one said that trains would be canceled,” complains the mayor of Bologoy Igor Gavrilov. City Hall trembles as trains pass by its walls. “At least we did explanatory work. People would have endured it more easily,” continues Belikov, a district official. Last Tuesday, a picket was held near the district administration in defense of the constitutional rights of citizens. It was arranged by the secretary of the district committee of the Communist Party Dmitry Fisenko. True, he believes that Russian Railways is not deliberately inciting class hostility, clearing the way for the luxurious Sapsan at the expense of cheap trains and electric trains.

WEAPONS OF THE PROLETARIAT

Not only stopped walking "Youth". The trains have gotten worse. Some have been cancelled, others have had fewer stops, and they have also started running late. But the most important thing is that electric trains are now idle at the stations for a long time, passing the Sapsan.

For example, the son of the vice-mayor of Vyshny Volochok, Sergei Nikitin, returns home from Tver every evening. First, his train gets up at the Kalashnikovo station. Skipping "Sapsan", it costs 45 minutes. Starting this Monday, another Sapsan will catch up with her - and she will have to stand in Osechenka for another half an hour. As a result, the trip will take almost three and a half hours, and before it was two and a half. “They confirmed once again that they don’t care how we live here. They did not monitor anything, - the vice-mayor sighs. - As decided, they launched it, but they could take into account the interests of the periphery.

His family does not even live in Vyshny Volochek itself, but a little further, next to the Leontievo platform. It was there that the first stone was thrown at the Sapsan. Or rather, a piece of ice. It happened on January 12th. The attacker was caught. He did not hide that it was revenge: they say, a high-speed train knocked him down with an air wave, and he, offended, was not too lazy to wait for the next one and attacked him.

Leontievo became the center of the partisan movement. Another attack near a nearby platform took place at the end of January. On this occasion, the governor has already convened a security council. The head of the transport department, Tserenov, speaks of three or even five documented cases of aggression against the train. The head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, also drew attention to the avengers. Without specifying exactly where this happened, he said that on the path of the Sapsan, local residents erected a giant snowman. Zelenin laughs: he has not heard anything like that from the police. And Tserenov says that he sent a paper to the regions: it is necessary to explain to the population that it is impossible to stand in the way of progress.

The governor, of course, is not against high-speed trains, but he is dissatisfied with the railroad workers. They took and canceled the day train - schoolchildren cannot return to their villages in time, they freeze on the platforms. At home, they could only throw stones at chickens, but here they can also throw them at Sapsan - residents are hinting at this. “If the leadership of Russian Railways is constructive, then some officials simply lie to their faces. For example, they say that electric trains have not been canceled. And this is for me, the governor, who can check everything,” Zelenin gets angry. It seems to him that even in the trains that have not been canceled, discontent is brewing. “A beautiful, luxurious life is past,” Zelenin repeats again, describing the feelings of passengers on dirty and cold electric trains.

In Vyshny Volochek, even earlier than in Bologoy, an advertisement for a CPRF rally was broadcast on the local radio. But there "Sapsan" is outraged by "United Russia". Businesses are standing. Traveling to work has become uncomfortable. There was also a morning high-speed train to Moscow - it was also removed because of the Sapsan, says Vice Mayor Nikitin, now you can only take a ride towards Moscow in the dead of night. "Everything is for the sake of this train," the head of the city duma, a member of United Russia, Boris Fokin, is angry. “A revolutionary situation is emerging,” Vladimir Solovyov, adviser to the deputy, picks up. “The whole region was put on a transport starvation ration.” He recalls that once the inhabitants of Vyshny Volochok blocked the Moscow-Petersburg highway. The vice-mayor corrects: after all, now it is not so painful. It's just embarrassing.

ONLY HIS

The district centers more distant from Moscow, Spirov and Likhoslavl, were even more unlucky. After the cancellation of "Yunost", you can leave from there only on the messenger. However, in Spirov this loss was eclipsed by another misfortune - they closed the ground crossing. The railway cuts Spirovo into two parts: three thousand inhabitants - on the left, three thousand - on the right. This happened even under the tsar, says the head of the Spirovsky district, Viktor Yudin. He takes his coat and goes to Sovetskaya Street, divided in half by the railroad, to show us how bad life has become under Sapsan. We approach the gate, which was simply welded together with the launch of the high-speed train. People are climbing over the fence in front of the head of the district. “Grandmothers climb with bicycles - they lift each other up, they throw bicycles over,” Yudin laughs. “They will wait, we will disassemble their rails to hell,” one of the grandmothers replies.

Every day, workers from the factory that makes bottles for Baltika beer climb over the fence, as well as everyone who needs to go to the post office, hospital or administration. According to Yudin, this is about one and a half thousand transitions per day. “We proposed an option - to make a ground crossing with an alarm and a traffic light. They say it’s impossible under the new regulations,” recalls the head of the district. Although they did not touch the ground crossing in Vyshny Volochek. There are two elderly railway workers on duty. “Appeared, appeared,” they notice on the horizon “Sapsan”. A few seconds later, he whistled past.

"It's completely silent. Only hiss. Like a hurricane swept through, ”the head of the Spirovsky district describes his impressions. Ordinary railroad workers say that when the Sapsan flies at a speed of 200 km / h, you can not get closer than five meters. And the width of the platform is four sixty, they specify philosophically. And they remember how at the station in Tver a woman was thrown by a stream from a flying Sapsan. He, of course, buzzes warningly, but only there is very little time left after this beep.

The people are disturbed by rumors about the mass casualties of the Sapsan. In Likhoslavl, officials gossip that the day before, a guy was buried in the city, who was sucked under a train. The mood is similar in other regional centers. “There are rumors in the city that almost every flight is a dead person,” Solovyov from Vyshny Volochyok dramatizes. “Of course, people are afraid of this train,” says Alekseev, deputy head of the district. In Likhoslavl, they even came up with an offensive nickname for the train - “White Death”. Although both Governor Zelenin and all local leaders assure that they know nothing about the deadly statistics on Sapsan. And the guy who was buried in Likhoslavl, they say, left a suicide note.

DON'T SPIT ON THE LITTLE

The head of the Spirovsky district, Yudin, says that he corresponded with Russian Railways for a long time and asked to build a new bridge on the site of the closed crossing. From Moscow they answered: firstly, the investment program for 2011-2012 has not yet been approved, and secondly, it is better to take money not from the Russian Railways budget, but on co-financing terms. “There is no money, and in general they say, solve problems yourself. That's where the hurt and pain is. Once again, they didn’t give a damn about the little ones, ”Yudin worries. Zelenin says it will be difficult to get a new bridge built - Spirov already has one. Moreover, until now, the plans of the Russian Railways included two bridges per year for the entire Oktyabrskaya road (four in this one). “These are crumbs,” the governor said. The leadership of the Oktyabrskaya Railway did not comment on this topic to Newsweek.

Tver has its own problematic "Youth" - this is the name of the microdistrict, around which the railway makes a loop and forms a dead place. The highway passes over the rails along the so-called Humpback Bridge. In this place, residents cross the path - a folk trail leads to a hospital and a technical school. But the bridge supports block the view, and it is simply impossible for potential victims to notice the approaching Sapsan. People have died at this crossing before. Now two railroad workers with a sheepdog are on duty on the rails. Nearby on a tree is a yellow sign with the Sapsan schedule. But people go in a continuous stream, without even looking at the schedule. “Son, there is no road for us. How many people were slaughtered, it’s impossible to count. But you have to go, ”an elderly employee of the hospital, Lydia Fedorovna, groans. Students of the technical school explain that they will not cross the bridge, because the cars will immediately splash with mud, and far away.

Governor Zelenin also talks about the summer cottage suburb of Tver, where firefighters or ambulances can stand at the crossing for forty minutes, because these are the safety requirements of Sapsan. "It's not good at all," he angrily. Especially if, as Yakunin promised, they launch eight Sapsan in each direction. Tserenov clarifies that it is possible to build an underground or overground passage only in three years, because all expenses must be covered by the investment program. “We need to explain to people: be patient for three years. Then there will be some calm,” the official believes.

Last week, deputies in Likhoslavl vigorously discussed the next topic - the construction of a new expressway. The city is afraid that the builders will forget to make a branch in their direction. The director of the local road company, Zado Jndoyan, even offered to write a letter to the Kremlin, just in case, so that they would not be forgotten. Public hearings on this topic have already been held in neighboring Bologoy. And in Tver, an official from the mayor's office, having learned about the new fear of regional centers, gloomily jokes: “What, they are afraid that they will forget to make a fork? Then they'll be sure to forget."