It’s a massive train expansion across Eurasia with the Germans and the Chinese bidding to sell their technology to this huge infrastructure project. Trains will be built in Russia.
This segment from Russian TV is cool to watch because people often forget that Russia is the world's largest country, and there is lots of use for transportation infrastructure projects like railways to be developed inside.
The new and improved train models will not only speed transportation, but also save fuel. The new train models will see upgraded speed running at a swift 250 mph for the same amount of fuel driving older models at a mere 180 mph.
Russian TV shows a demonstration of the new train models in detail, transcript provided below:
Transcript:
Russian plants will make trains for high-speed railway lines. RZD announced today that this will probably be done by Ural Locomotives. They'll also set up a production line together with the Chinese partners. The prototype is to be completed within two years. They plan to start serial production by 2024. At the transportation forum which is being held in Moscow, they told what new trains will be like.
It takes two hours to get to Nizhny Novgorod from Moscow and one and a half more to get to Kazan. Trains will travel along the first high-speed railway in Russia at a speed of almost 250 mph. They will begin construction of the railroad next year. They've also decided to develop a new train for the new railroad. The concept was presented at the transportation forum.
Alexander Misharin, First Deputy CEO of RZD: "The top speed is 250 mph. Today, this speed can be reached. The first trains have already been developed and made. Also, this prototype is more energy-efficient. I can say that such a train running at a speed of 250 mph consumes as much energy as the Sapsan consumes at a speed of 180 mph."
There are solutions which allow over 20% of the energy to be saved. They are enhanced aerodynamic performance and new current collectors. They even had to change the welding technology to increase the speed.
The partners will be either the Germans, with whom collaboration was established while working on the Sapsan project, or the Chinese. They build about 2,500 high-speed railroads in China every year. We should learn from this experience.
The fundamental point is that trains should be made in Russia. The trains are very likely to be mixed, carrying passengers and freight. The Chinese experience proves that this is necessary.
Ten years ago when the era of high-speed rail just began in China, they didn't expect much freight traffic. As a result, they had to carry goods in sacks in the passenger seats. The main goods to be shipped are high-added-value consumer goods. Now they are mostly delivered by air carriers.
The new infrastructure will help develop Russia's regions more actively. According to the experts, developing companies can be interested in about 70,000 acres of land in seven Russian regions over the next six years. If this project is implemented in other areas, various industries will be involved.
Natalia Trunova, Vice President of the Center for Strategic Research: "If we establish research and educational centers in the framework of the national project "Science", they should be integrated with each other from the very beginning. There should be an integrated network so that people will be motivated to go there."
We already know where the next high-speed railroad may be built. In terms of further development, the most optimum solution is to connect Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. To build high-speed railroads east of the Urals is also possible. Densely populated big cities make such projects profitable at almost any distance.
Vladimir Kosoy, President of the Center for Infrastructure Economy: "We're upgrading the program of the development of high-speed traffic on Russian railways. It provides for high-speed railroads being constructed east of the Urals. Because of the passenger traffic and distances east of the Urals, the railroads there will be designed not for a speed of up to 250 mph, but a lower one to make it cheaper.”
RZD is planning to obtain the first prototype for testing by 2021. The new trains are supposed to be put into service by 2024. The railroad between Moscow and Kazan will become a part of the Eurasia high-speed railway project. It's supposed to connect the passenger and freight traffic lines of 60 countries of the world.