OREANDA-NEWS. On June 21, 2007 Valentine Gapanovich, Vice President and Chief Engineer at Russian Railways, opened the Company’s Innovative Technology Centre, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

At the inaugural ceremony, Gapanovich noted that 18 routes with heavy passenger traffic have already been selected where high-speed trains should be built. The construction of a separate high-speed line between Moscow and St. Petersburg is under consideration, which would cut the journey time to 2,5 hours.

According to Gapanovich, such a high-speed line would have to be built as a public private partnership, with the main source of financing coming from the Russian federal budget, long-term loans and loans from major Russian and international institutions and from investment by concessionaires, one of which would almost certainly be Russian Railways.