Rusty rails to horizon

The federal project for the construction of the Losevo -Kamennorsk railway , begun in 2009, was almost completed.

The aim of the project was to transfer the freight movement to the ports of Vysotsk and Primorsk to the Buslovskaya - Vyborg - Sosnovo - streams to free the current railway line for Allegro high -speed trains, launched in 2010. However, Allegro still fits into the previous schedule of the movement of trucks and suburban electric trains, and the rails of the new branch of Losevo-Kamennorsk rust: for some reason trains do not go along it.

The project was developed back in 2006 and suggested a powerful increase in cargo flow

The project was developed back in 2006 and suggested a powerful increase in the cargo flow: "The promising size of the movement on the site was determined by the project based on the data provided by OJSC" Institute of Economics and Transport Development ", and by 2020, up to 40 pairs of trains ... and by 2025 - up to 44 pairs ...". But then the 2008 crisis came, and in the next 10 years, the cargo flow, on the contrary, decreased by 10 times, and today nothing portends its increase.

But all this did not force to abandon the implementation of the project, for which the reserve “Vyaryamynselkya’s ridge” was actually destroyed - the road cut it in two, the large massifs of the forest were illegally cut down. It is clear that plans to create a large natural park in the center of the Karelian Isthmus can now be buried.

The construction of the road was accompanied by numerous protests by local residents and Petersburgers with cottages in those settlements through which the road passed - sometimes right along the summer cottages, some of which turned out to be cut off from local roads. For many plots seized for state -owners, people have not received compensation, the courts continue.

On the construction of the Losevo -Kamennorsk railway, which caused great harm to nature, which caused huge financial costs and infringed the rights of many people whose property was on the path of builders, we are talking with the owner of the house in the village of Losevo Dmitry Groshikov and the head of the projects of the regional public organization "New Ecological Project" Alekseyem Pohvin .

- Dmitry, why did you turn into an activist from an ordinary summer resident, why was your calm life in Losevo broke?

- There are activists, and there are those who protect their house from the invasion. We simply defended ourselves from the invasion of the railway.

The construction of the road was accompanied by numerous protests of local residents

-But the railway is, in fact, good ...

- Yes, this is one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transport, but not when the railway is 60 meters from your house. She was exactly at the level of our terrace. And now, going to the balcony to say hello to the sun, we primarily greet the railway workers - you can hear very well how they are breaking there.

“And while you see only workers, but not a train?”

-So far, yes-only some construction cars are traveling there. It all started with the fact that we were confronted with the fact - right in front of our house they would build a railway. Our protests did not stop them, built the road, demolished only those houses that stood directly in their way. Thanks to our actions, some people received pretty decent compensation.

Construction of the Losevo -Kamennorsk railway

- Why, thanks to your actions?

- At first, for example, a person was offered 2.5 million for his house, and after our rallies and protests, he received 7.5. But only those who fell into the area of the construction site received, and who was very close, like us, are still waiting for. It is pointless to sell the house so far - it is clear that it has fallen in price at least by half.

We are trying to sue the Federal Agency for Railway Transport , but we lost the courts. Now our lawyer has written in the SES and other instances that monitor the provision of normal living conditions. We were told in the courts that the protection against noise is provided, but we have a bridge opposite our house, on which noise protection is placed - we will deal with this, we will try to get compensation.

- And only you were in this position or are there still offended ones?

- On our street there are at least five more such houses.

- Dmitry, are you only worried about the proximity of the road? The village itself is in what condition-or nature has not suffered from the actions of the railway workers?

There was a green village, and a roadside pit became

-Of course, earlier Losevo was a quiet tourist village, where in the summer all kinds of buttoners were "lit", and now there is some kind of industrial zone-all sorts of abandoned shields, construction garbage, an unfinished drain, which, again, is filled with all kinds of garbage. There was a green village, and a roadside pit became.

- Alexey, how did you become the defender of the village of Losevo?

- For us, this story began, probably, in 2009. I mean the beginning of the implementation of the integrated investment project "Organization of high-speed traffic on the St. Petersburg-Buslovskaya"-the launch of Allegro trains between St. Petersburg and Helsinki. Then, from St. Petersburg to the Finnish border, it was planned to withdraw freight traffic from the St. Petersburg-Buslovskaya branch. There were several projects, including the construction of the new Losevo -Kamennorsk railway and the reconstruction of existing sections of the road from Sosnov to Losev and from Vyborg to Kamennorsk. In 2009, for the reconstruction of the Sosnovo-Losevo section, the forest was illegally cut down in the area of Pettyayarvi station in the reserve "Vyaryamynselkya Ridge". The prosecutor’s office connected there, and it was even possible to achieve penalties (however, symbolic). But most importantly, the work there was carried out without an agreed project, and the adjustment of the reserve for the construction of the railway occurred only two years later.

And then we were called the organizers of the Vuoksa festival, which takes place on the Losevsky threshold in the village of Losevo, they asked us to help local residents counteract the project for the construction of the road. And we helped - the truth, unfortunately, is not very successful. Then residents of other settlements began to contact us, through which the Losevo -Kamennorsk road under construction passed.

In the other site, Vyborg-Kamennorsk, a conflict situation also developed, there three years of work were actually carried out illegally, without the approved project and any permits. There, within the framework of one large project, there were many smaller ones, with different sources of financing. Reconstruction projects went through the Russian Railways, and there were most obvious violations.

In some places we managed to slow down the construction and force to comply with at least the basic rights of citizens

In some places we managed to slow down the construction and force to comply with at least the basic rights of citizens. For example, a catastrophic situation with railway crossings took shape on the Vyborg -Kamennorsk section - let's say to leave the Gvardoye village, you need to cross the railway twice, and for the far part of the village three times, and this despite the fact that all emergency and rescue services are in Vyborg. Russian Railways did not want to spend their money-after all, someday it would build a federal budget, and all crossings were left at the same level.

Alexey Travin

On the Losevo -Kamennorsk section there were federal funds, they had a lot of "jambs", but they followed the GOST more tough, and there is now an enchanting picture. You go along the dead forest road, suddenly the forest ends and you go to a piece of excellent asphalt, cross the rusty rails of the new road along the overpass - and after 50 meters the asphalt ends: what it was - it is not clear. That is, the desert panorama of the invalid railway, an overpass on the goat trail, and where the overpasses are vital, it was not even designed.

Part of the monument was simply destroyed by equipment

And there were a lot of problems there-some houses were close to the paths and fell under the resettlement, and somewhere the entrances to the houses were simply cut. The most difficult thing was that there was no concentration of problems and violations in one place - they were smeared along the entire length of these railway branches. Only in Losevo there were quite a few dissatisfied residents - and that is not enough for the authorities to hear them. In the small village of Ozerskoye near the old Kirshu, an architectural monument, a sandy quarry was dug. And archaeological research was carried out poorly. In the Neolithic parking area, archaeologists were forced to conduct emergency excavations - part of the monument was simply destroyed by equipment. For several years we helped local residents, wrote appeals, recorded violations.

- Dmitry, was it difficult for you to deal with the railway, unite with other victims?

- For me, this is the first experience of social activity. Something went very vigorously: for example, we managed to hold a rally, and our neighbor-businessman suddenly made an incredibly felt speech. We were invited even to some meeting of the Leningrad Region government, we met with our opponents-the builders of the road, but this did not lead to anything. The protesters dissolved, and the road was built.

-Recently, the New Gazeta wrote that the road is actually not needed, that this is just another grand “cut”.

- Maybe the road would be needed, but not in this option. For some reason, representatives of the authorities believe that they are smarter than specialists and even entire institutions, and they themselves decide everything. For example, the Urbanism Institute proposed a completely different option and noted that the selected option, on the contrary, was the most unsuccessful and costly - both in terms of means and in terms of environmental. Nevertheless, they chose him.

Maybe the road would be needed, but not in that version

The road is still not operated - most likely, it does not have such a severe need, there is simply no such dense traffic that should have been redirected. And the construction itself is most likely a way to get profitable orders.

- Alexey, do you agree that the road is not so necessary?

- During the active opposition of the project, this was the main point of our agenda. After all, many admitted that it was necessary not to plant speed on the existing old branch, it was worn out and does not withstand safety requirements, there are neither appropriate traffic lights, nor transitions. Experts said that for high -speed trains it is better to build a separate path - for example, in the form of a flyover over the existing ways. And the new branch plowed the entire north of the Karelian Isthmus, and the most untouched part of it.

But first, four options for passing the highway were developed, and all of them suggested the use of existing sections of the road, and the expert opinion showed that the selected option was the most ineffective, costly and painful for nature. And most importantly, the forecasts for cargo flow immediately were doubtful. They were given without taking into account the development of port capacities in the north-west of Russia and in Finland. And now, in response to the request of the same Novaya Gazeta, there are links to the same technical and economic justification of the 2007 project, which has now lost all meaning.

Construction of the Losevo -Kamennorsk railway

But the most important thing is when the project is at the completion stage, Russian Railways announced the refusal to endure the cargo yard from the Finland Station. But then the transfer of freight traffic generally loses its meaning - since the goods still remain in the center of St. Petersburg.

The new branch plowed the entire north of the Karelian Isthmus, and the most untouched part of it

At the same time, a lot of money was spent. According to initial estimates, the construction of only one site, Losevo-Kamenorsk, was estimated at 34 billion rubles, then this figure increased somewhere about one and a half times. About 20 billion were spent on the reconstruction of the other two sites - and this is not counting different other related projects. That is, the costs here-under 100 billion, and this is still without the cost of three overpasses that should be built at the expense of the budget, not believing that 12 overpasses that were supposed to appear were simply lost somewhere. But this is a densely populated resort area of St. Petersburg, the Vyborg direction with many roads, and when passing the Allegro high -speed train, crossings are closed for 15–20 minutes. These are tremendous inconveniences, huge traffic jams in Vyborg, one of the areas of which is simply cut off from the rest of the railway. And at the same time - not a single overpass, Russian Railways shifts responsibility to the federal budget, and the federal government does not allocate money until there is a project. And the project should make the Leningrad Region from its Kutz Road budget.

In general, colossal funds are spent on an ineffective project. The Losevo -Kamennorsk road was built for seven years, it was supposed to be introduced back in 2012, but it has not been introduced until now: rusty rails to the horizon. But even if it is launched, it is already clear that its workload will be much less than the declared.

Even while it was built, we had information about the meeting in the Ministry of Transport, where it was discussed whether to make this branch a single-stone one, because some of the cargo flow is about to go to the port of Ust-Luga. But the construction continued, the money was spent, and it seems that the project was not chasing the improvement of railway infrastructure, but some others. Everything that is possible was done crookedly, expensive, and this is not in demand. I somehow called correspondents from the Reuters agency-they conducted an investigation into money laundering in English banks, some funds that, according to them, were withdrawn through firms that worked contractors on the Losevo-Kamennorsk road .

- Dmitry, and you and your neighbors do not want to sue officials who drove the money like this?

The road is still not operated - most likely, there is no severe need in it

-The officials scattered like flies-began at some, ended with others, and everything was lumped. We are trying to defend our interests in normal legal ways, through the same courts, and to turn to some political structures, in my opinion, is useless. Let's see what comes of it. We only hope for decent compensation to buy a house in another place. We built a house to live near the lakes, and not near the cargo railway.

Dmitry Groshikov

One of our neighbors, the road generally grabbed a piece of the site, the bathhouse suffered. He received compensation - however, a third less than he wanted. And there is another person, Andrei, nicknamed Kosoy, not very wealthy, his house stood on the line of the road, and he was simply demolished. He is a simple man, and he was actually deceived, they did not give anything in return, he now lives with his neighbors, from where they can put him from at any moment-he lost some courts, won some, but still received nothing.

- Alexey, and according to your information, many such people - as the person that Dmitry is talking about?

- We are faced with the fact that it is difficult to find even lawyers who are ready to do these cases. After all, it is clear that the courts are either in Moscow, or in the Leningrad region, and that this story is for a long time, the opponents are strong, there is a lot of work, and there is a little money and the result is uncertain. People at first still hoped that the authorities would come and figure it out, and when this hope melted, they began to cool down. Such stubborn as Dmitry, a little, basically everyone dropped their hands.

When we treated requests to all sorts of official structures, to customers of construction, they were not at all configured for dialogue, including representatives of Russian Railways. They dismissed us, repeated the same arguments that boils for the fact that everything would be fine.

Official structures, construction customers were not at all configured for dialogue

In principle, all problems arose should have been solved at the stage of urban planning design. There is a federal scheme for the placement of railway transport facilities. When developing this scheme, the subject of the Federation should reflect all these federal objects, and already at the level of territorial planning schemes of settlements, planning and land surveying projects should be done, where all red lines are reflected - all objects of cultural heritage, reserves, residential areas, where it is clear what is built, what are the forms of property, what needs to be bought, and this documentation is the subject of contesting. Suppose they say to me: here in three years there will be a railway, and I say: it does not suit me, it violates this and that-and dispute it in court. Moreover, the builder of this road must prove that he cannot do without my site. And only then the design itself begins.

And here it turns out that there is a certain project, but how the road passes through the territory, often even those who build it do not know. For example, people received the decision to buy land for the construction of a government route when construction work has been going on for a whole year. К сожалению, это проблема не только этой дороги, но и большинства наших крупных инфраструктурных проектов, – сказал в интервью Радио Свобода Алексей Травин , руководитель проектов организации "Новый экологический проект".