OREANDA-NEWS. A high-speed train service will be introduced on the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod line on 30 July, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.   

By running Sapsan trains between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Railways is opening up the new high-speed route St Petersburg – Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod. Ticket sales for the Sapsan service between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, and between St Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, opened today. The following services will run on this route: № 161/162 St Petersburg – Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod will run daily under the following timetable:

St Petersburg – 15:00 (departure),
Bologoye (16:57 – 16:58),
Tver (17:56 – 17:58),
Moscow Kursky Station (19:20- – 19:30),
Vladimir (21:17 – 21:18),
Nizhny Novgorod - 23:25 (arrival).
№ 163/164 Nizhny Novgorod – Moscow – St Petersburg will run daily under the following timetable:
Nizhny Novgorod – 15:05 (departure),
Vladimir (17:10 – 17:11),
Moscow Kursky Station (19:00 – 19:15),
Tver (20:39 – 20:41),
St Petersburg – 23:24 (arrival).

Russian Railways is currently concluding work, which has been ongoing since 2006, to rebuild infrastructure on the Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod line to enable high-speed services. In reconstructing the Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod line, the following work was carried out:

tracks were developed at 17 stations; around 33 km of main tracks and station tracks were laid; electric signal boxes operating 269 track switches were modernized; 27 artificial structures were rebuilt; 139 km of overhead lines were re-installed; 11 crossings were reconstructed, with the creation of new signal boxes; 331 km of barriers were installed alongside the line.

In the past four years, Russian Railways has invested 9.49 billion rubles in the line’s reconstruction.
 
*****
The Sapsan is a high-speed electric train of the Velaro RUS series produced by the company Siemens Transportation Systems, and capable of a maximum speed of 250 km/h. A contract for the delivery of eight trains of the Velaro RUS series was signed by RZD and Siemens Transportation Systems in May 2006. The contract was worth 276 million euros. In April 2007, a contract was signed for the technical servicing of trains over a 30 year period, to the sum of 354.1 million euros.