OREANDA-NEWS. November 15, 2010. "By harmonizing European standards in the construction of a high-speed rail line between Moscow and St Petersburg, and by using modern financial instruments including contract lifecycle management, we will be able to reduce the cost of construction by 20-40%", according to Denis Muratov, general director of Russian Railways subsidiary Skorostnye Magistrali, who was speaking at the High Speed Rail World 2010 international conference in Madrid, reported the press-centre of RZD.

Skorostnye Magistrali is currently preparing a study on the socio-economic significance of the Moscow – St Petersburg high-speed rail project. The project proposals will be submitted to the Russian government, which will make a final decision on the feasibility of creating the first national high-speed line (VSZhM-1), considering the cost and benefits of its construction.

"The draft project is being drawn up with the involvement of international financial, technical, and traffic consultants with extensive international experience in high-speed rail projects", Denis Muratov said.

Research carried out for Skorostnye Magistrali has shown that the substantial increase in population mobility brought by the launch of a high-speed rail line will ultimately help intensify the economic development of both St Petersburg and Moscow, as well as the regions between the two cities. The possible inclusion in the high-speed line of airports in Moscow and St Petersburg will boost the development of multi-modal transport links throughout northwest Russia.

Raising the speed of passenger train services will create more attractive conditions for passengers, improve the comfort and safety of passenger transport, and cut journey times, which will help attract additional passenger flows to the railway from air and car transport, thereby reducing the negative environmental impact of transport.

Denis Muratov said that recommendations are currently being prepared for setting out functional requirements to assess the cost of the entire project lifecycle. This work will be completed by the start of 2011.

The main technical specifications of the high-speed rail line project are already known. The journey time between the cities will be 2.5 hours, covering 660 km. Due to the difficult terrain and large number of water obstacles on the route, 256 engineering structures will be built (covering 72 km). The track will be able to carry 42 pairs of trains travelling at up to 400 km/h, with a passenger count of up to 14 million per year.

The total socio-economic benefit of the construction of a high-speed rail line between Moscow and St Petersburg could reach 1.8 trillion rubles.

According to the investment feasibility study, the project cost will be 1.2 trillion rubles (in line with Russian accounting standards). However, after the project plan is drawn up and tenders for construction are held, this figure is expected to decline by 20-40%.

Looking at international experience, a contract lifecycle management tender brought a 40% reduction in the cost of the Lisbon-Madrid high-speed line project.