OREANDA-NEWS. April 05, 2011. Russian Railways and the Spanish state-owned company Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF – the Administrator of Railway Infrastructures) have held a joint seminar in Moscow to see how the experience of ADIF in implementing high-speed projects could be applied in Russia, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

"Russian Railways is cooperating actively with leaders in high-speed rail transport - railways and industrial companies in the European Union. Spain’s experience in building and operating high-speed lines is rightly considered one of the most interesting and useful in the world," said the President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin on opening the seminar on 30 March 2011.

"Today, Spain operates 35% of the high-speed lines in Europe, which amounts to 2,665 kilometres of track linking 21 cities. These lines carry 11,500 passengers every day, said Gonzalez Marin, the President of ADIF.

Russia has no less ambitious plans for the development of high-speed services. As part of the "Development Strategy of Rail Transport in the Russian Federation until 2030", Russian Railways has identified promising routes for high-speed rail with a total length of more than 6,700 kilometres. This also takes into account the major international sporting events due to be held in Russia in the coming years, such as the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 2018 World Cup.

A pilot project to develop dedicated high-speed services is the construction of a line between Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is currently being drawn up by Skorostnye Magistrali (High-Speed Lines), a subsidiary of Russian Railways.

Implementing these plans will provide a powerful impetus to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation with Spanish companies in designing and constructing the first high-speed rail line and in producing equipment for the permanent way, power supplies, signalling systems and other infrastructure, as well as rolling stock.