Russia Enters Era of High-Speed Travel

Russian Railways (RZD) has started production on its first high-speed train, the Velaro RUS.

Siemens Transportation Systems has announced that bodyshell production began at the Krefeld-Uerdingen plant in Germany.

The trains are expected to run at speeds of up to 250km/h on a line connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg by the end of 2009.

Russia joins China, Spain and Germany who collectively have over 160 high speed trains.

In addition to the high-speed line between Moscow and St. Petersburg, other rail connections are currently being planned, including one between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.

Velaro technology is based on developments of the ICE 3 trainset designed for German Rail (Deutsche Bahn AG).

By staff writer