Moscow-Berlin and Moscow-Kiev speed trains

Russian Railways plan to open two superfast routes that will link Moscow with Kiev and Berlin, according to RIA Novosti.

The launch of the new high-speed routes is planned in the framework of improving Russian infrastructure for the World Cup, which the country will host in 2018.

Technological feature of the new trains will be the ability to switch the chassis, which allows changing from Russian to European gauge without stoppages.

The speed of the new trains will be more than 200 kilometers per hour. Thus, travel on the route from Moscow to Berlin will be cut from 27 to 18 hours. The new train will be able to get from Moscow to Kiev within 7 hours.

According to the Russian Railways managers, the cost of Talgo passenger trains, which the company is going to buy, ranges from 14 to 20 million euros.

In addition to Berlin and Kiev, Russian Railways plan to launch new trains on the routes Rostov-Sochi and Moscow-Sochi. Today in Russia "Sapsan" high-speed lines service routes from Moscow to St. Petersburg and from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod. Trains for these routes were purchased from the German company Siemens. As for the Spanish counterparts Patentes Talgo, they are already successfully operating on the high-speed lines between Madrid and Barcelona.

Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin and Chief Executive Director of Patentes Talgo Jose Maria Auriol Fabre singed on February 25 an agreement for delivery and maintenance of passenger carriages. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was signed a contract for producing and supplying of seven 20-carriage trains.