JSC Russian Railways has announced an open tender for the right to sign an agreement to conduct engineering research, development, project planning, and land survey and design documentation for the construction of the Moscow-Kazan section of the Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg high-speed rail line in 2015 – 2016.
The contest will be held on 16 April 2015; the initial (maximum) contract price for the execution of the work is 20.79 billion rubles without VAT.
“The development of high-speed rail is a fundamentally a new step in the modernisation of the Russian transport system, which has already occurred in Japan, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, China, and many other countries. International experience confirms that infrastructure projects stimulate the real economy and the development of small and medium-sized businesses to the greatest extent. Announcing the contest, we are confident that both Russian and foreign companies with experience in the design and organisation of high-speed rail will participate. I am convinced that the localisation in Russia of advanced technologies in the field of rail transport will have a positive impact on the development of the economy of the Russian Federation,” said President of JSC Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin.
The length of the Moscow-Kazan pilot line will be 770 km; it will pass through the territory of seven Russian regions with a total population exceeding 25 million people. The project includes 15 stops, including Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, and Kazan. Travel time from Moscow to Kazan on HSR will be 3.5 hours, while travelling from Nizhny Novgorod to Cheboksary will take one hour and travelling to Kazan will take 1.5 hours. The annual passenger traffic in the first years of operation of the line is estimated at 10.5 million people.
The project includes the steep (at least 80%) localisation of advanced production, the creation of more than 370,000 jobs, and the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the regions the train will pass through. It is the largest infrastructure project in Russia today, the implementation of which requires the use of public-private partnerships. Investment in the project will provide large-scale support of the Russian industry, especially metallurgy (production of rails and steel), machinery, building materials industry, etc.
(Source: RZD)
