OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2013. At the IV International Railway Equipment & Technology Salon Expo 1520, which is currently being held in Moscow, participants discussed the development of high-speed lines.

In his address, Alexander Misharin, First Vice-President of Russian Railways, said that the first project to develop a network of high-speed lines in Russia would be the main line between Moscow and Yekaterinburg, with a pilot construction site between Moscow and Kazan.

Designing the line will begin later this year and be completed in 2014. A pre-project study has shown that the creation of a new railway with a length of about 770 km will require the construction of more than 340 artificial structures, as well as a number of road-rail bridges across the Oka, Volga and Sura rivers. The line will have about 800 different levels of intersections with other types of transport infrastructure.

"Constructing the Moscow - Kazan main line will lend an impetus to the economic development of the regions, the use of new technology and increase the mobility of the population - and as a result boost the economic activity of society," said Alexander Misharin.

In addition, by developing high-speed traffic in Russia, domestic business will have the opportunity to acquire new technology, while the creation and development of new businesses will be stimulated.

The participants in the discussion, which included representatives from international engineering and railway companies, as well as financial institutions, agreed with these assessments.

Michel Leboeuf, the adviser to the President of the French national rail company SNCF, noted that high-speed railway line projects in France had contributed to the creation of new jobs and the alignment of economic development rates in all the country's regions which are part of the high-speed network.

According to Niko Warbanoff, Director of Business Development at Deutsche Bahn, the construction of high-speed lines in Germany had not only made it possible to reduce the distance between the country's largest cities and between neighboring EU states - Deutsche Bahn's experience had also shown that small towns demonstrated economic and social growth after their stations were linked to the high-speed rail system.

Speaking about the appeal of the new type of transport for passengers, Thomas Maier, Managing Director of the Infrastructure sector at the EBRD, gave examples of European practice where high-speed lines successfully compete with short-haul aviation and road transport. In Spain, for example, high-speed trains linking Madrid and Seville have helped to increase the market share of rail transport on this route from 19% to 53 %. Moreover, such a shift towards rail transport has helped reduce energy consumption, air pollution and CO2 emissions.