OREANDA-NEWS. October 03, 2011. Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin made a working visit to Sochi and inspected the transport infrastructure which the Company is now building for the Winter Olympics in 2014, reported the press-centre of RZD.

Yakunin visited the railway terminal "Airport" now under construction, the first and third tunnel complexes, a cable-stayed bridge and the "Esto-Sadok" railway station.

"The Company is carrying out the building work in accordance with the schedule, which we’ve never had to adjust. As of now, more than 65% of all the work on all the new facilities has been completed. This applies to all the infrastructure objects, and the work is proceeding smoothly. So I am confident that the Company will commission all the facilities on time," Yakunin said.

Yakunin also noted that technologies and facilities of such a quality had never previously been built anywhere in the country and that the experience gained in constructing the Olympic infrastructure would be used in the future.

During his working visit, Yakunin paid particular attention to environmental issues and how to preserve Sochi’s unique nature reserve.

"We held many discussions with conservationists during the construction and always listened very carefully to their views. For example, we designed a flyover to avoid any damage to a unique boxwood grove. So although the flyover greatly increased the cost of that particular rail section, we were able to preserve the area growing boxwood. In addition, we also planted another 47,000 trees of the same kind," said Oleg Toni, Vice-President at Russian Railways.

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One of the most important projects is the rail-air link between Sochi Airport and the rail stations in Sochi and Adler.

At the moment, travelling from Adler railway station to Sochi Airport is only possible by road, as a result of which this route becomes one big traffic jam during the holiday season.

Construction of this railway line will completed in late 2011 and open to passengers in 2012. The express air-rail link will be able to handle the transportation of some 70% of air passengers or more than 80,000 people a day. Trains will run every 25 minutes.

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According to the plans, the construction of the combined road and rail connection between Adler and the Alpika Service mountain resort will take until April 2013.

The project envisages the construction of a 48km electrified single-track railway line, the laying of 30 km of a second railway line between Sochi - Adler - Olympic Park (Vesyoloe) with the reconstruction of Sochi station and the construction of 46.5 km of road II and III on the third category with a multi-level road junction.

There will also be four new railway stations "Esto-Sadok," "Alpika Service", "Olympic Park" and Verxkny Imereti Resort, eight railway tunnels with a total length of 12.3 km, three road tunnels with a total length of 7.6 km and three service and evacuation tunnels with a total length of 9.5 km.

The project’s implementation will ensure that spectators and athletes will be able to reach the mountain stadiums at Krasnaya Polyana and the ice palaces at the Olympic Park in the Imereti Valley by both rail, with a maximum of 8,500 passengers per hour, and by road, with a maximum of 11,500 passengers per hour.

Under the project, work is also proceeding on the construction of the first and third tunnel complexes.

The first tunnel complex is being built near the village Akhshtyr in the Adler district of Sochi and consists of a 2,523m railway tunnel, a 2,366m service tunnel and a 2,296m road tunnel. Tunnelling work was completed in December 2010 and construction completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2013.

The most difficult aspect in constructing the road between Adler and Alpika Service was drilling the third tunnel complex due to the complicated engineering and geological situation and the presence of karst fissures.

This complex consists of three tunnels - road, rail and service-operational. At 4,600 metres, the railway tunnel is the longest. A powerful shield with a diameter of 13.2 m has been commissioned from Herrenknecht specifically for the tunnel. The shield bores through the subterranean rock at speed of about 300 meters every month, leaving behind a tunnel with concrete tubing lining which is almost ready.

Two new stations are under construction at the mountain cluster: "Esto-Sadok" and Krasnaya Polyana. These stations will be functional, comfortable and safe and will merge ideally into the local landscape.

The designers have ensured convenient and easy transfers from rail to road transport for the trip up to the mountains above. The squares around the railway stations at Krasnaya Polyana have been designed in such a way as to allow easy and convenient approaches by urban and intercity transport, as well as by taxis and cars, without interfering with passenger flows road routes.