OREANDA-NEWS. Valentine Gapanovich, Vice President and Chief Engineer at Russian Railways, opened the Company’s Innovative Technology Centre.

At the inaugural ceremony, Gapanovich noted that 18 routes with heavy passenger traffic have already been selected where high-speed trains should be built. The construction of a separate high-speed line between Moscow and St. Petersburg is under consideration, which would cut the journey time to 2,5 hours.

According to Gapanovich, such a high-speed line would have to be built as a public private partnership, with the main source of financing coming from the Russian federal budget, long-term loans and loans from major Russian and international institutions and from investment by concessionaires, one of which would almost certainly be Russian Railways.