Russian Railways Expanding

Russian Railways Implementing New Gauge System

Russian Railways is planning for international expansion and to make this process a bit easier a new gauge system is being installed. The new automatic track gauge changeover system will allow Russian trains to travel more easily to Europe.

The plan is to have trains equipped with the new system to be operational with routes between Russia and several European capitals by the end of the year. Currently all trains heading out of Russia have to change their gauge on the border before continuing on into Europe.

Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, announced that new Talgo train transformers will be delivered by June of this year and will be installed on the Moscow-Kiev and Moscow-Berlin routes. Yakunin noted that as a result of the new system, the trip to Berlin will be reduced to nine hours!

In addition to modernizing Russia's rail system, Russian Railways also has big plans for the restoration of railways in southern Europe. Talks are ongoing about modernizing the infrastructure in several southern Europwan countries in order to create a southern transport corridor.