BC before Kazan did not receive the approval of the president

Despite the support of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod high-speed highway (VSM) project, Vladimir Putin, according to Kommersant, did not approve it. The president tends to be the first Vice Prime Minister Anton Siluanov about the inefficiency of the construction of the high-speed train and the opportunity, on the contrary, the construction of a toll road in Kazan. No formal decision has yet been taken, it is expected in the first decade of April.

Vladimir Putin questioned the feasibility of building the Zheleznodorozhny-Gorokhovets high-speed rail line, which was to become the first stretch of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed line and the Eurasia high-speed rail link between Berlin and Beijing. This position was expressed at the President's meeting this week with the profile Vice Prime Minister Maxim Akimov, told "Kommersant" three sources, stressing separately that there was no formal solution yet.

According to Kommersant, a meeting of the High Council of the Council bringing together the President, the heads of relevant departments and the Director General of the Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov is scheduled for 11 April. There, two sources told Kommersant, a formal decision is expected.

In the offices of Mr. Akimov, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and the Russian Railways, he did not comment. Spokesman President Dmitry Peskov was not available to comment.

The project of building high-speed railway lines in Russia is a concept that has existed for a long time. For more than five years, the possibility of building a road to Kazan was considered, but the decision on this project was hampered by its extraordinary cost (about 1,300 billion rubles) and the uncertainty surrounding pbadenger traffic. valued. As a result, only the first section of the VSM Zheleznodorozhny – Gorokhovets, which will cost 621.5 billion rubles, has been included in the overall plan for the development of trunk infrastructure (KPMI). and to provide broadband communication between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. The government, including its president, Dmitry Medvedev, approved a report to the president, but not without resistance.

Against were the Ministry of Finance and its leader, the first Vice Prime Minister Anton Siluanov, who expressed doubts about the adequacy of ticket prices, estimates of pbadenger traffic, and also relied on the significant budgetary risks related to the fulfillment of obligations to creditors (see "Kommersant "of 28th January). Instead of the TGV, it was proposed to send funds to regional airports, to the North Sea route and to the seaports. Last week, RBC wrote that the Ministry of Finance was proposing to redistribute 112 billion rubles. at the NOVATEK "Morning" terminal. Profile Vice Prime Minister Maxim Akimov however said that there was no solution.

At the same time, according to information available to Kommersant, the problem was rather solved by choosing between the high-speed train and the toll motorway leading to Kazan, which had been built by the Ministry of Finance. According to source "b", the president supported the construction of the road.

With regard to high-speed traffic, he said, the president has been ordered to work on the Moscow-Petersburg high-speed train because the pbadenger traffic is more reliable.

A Kommersant source familiar with the situation reports that the KPMI of the Europe-Western China project has taken into account the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan motorway of a length of 729 km, which Avtodor is responsible for implementing and circumventing the town of Tolyatti. 97 km long with a bridge over the Volga (Rosavtodor project). The construction of the highway is estimated at 540 billion rubles. of which 323 billion rubles are budgetary funds. A study of the project showed the feasibility of its implementation, indicates a source of "Kommersant".

Mikhail Burmistrov, Head of Infoline-Analitics, explains that high-speed rail and road projects differ in their main features. The segment of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod high-speed train and the Moscow-Kazan high-speed train as a whole had no economic meaning, according to the expert. The Eurasia high-speed train is interesting as a single global project linking Europe and China in high-speed pbadenger and freight traffic, but given the penalties and the very high cost for the airport. Russian economy, its realization is objectively impossible, says Burmistrov.

He also believes that high-speed traffic between Moscow and St. Petersburg via the usual railway infrastructure fully meets the needs of the most demanding. business pbadengers. The construction of the Moscow-Kazan motorway will not begin objectively until 2021. The project will be further developed and its success will depend mainly on the tariff established, concludes Mikhail Burmistrov.

Natalia Skorlygina, Anastasia Vedeneyeva, Ivan Safronov