Russian Railways plans to build up the speed of Sapsan fast trains operating between St Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod to 380 kmph. Right now the trains run at the speed of up to 250 kmph.
Russian Railways Director General Oleg Belozerov spoke at the panel discussion “National technology policy and regional specifics” of the Gaidar Forum organized by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) where he said that Sapsan trains connecting Moscow with Nizhny Novgorod and St Petersburg will become much faster by 2026. They will be accelerated to 350-380 kmph. The infrastructure will even allow the capacity of 400 kmph.
The company’s another serious project will be the launch in 2021 of a train running on autopilot for the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), scheduled for 2021. The autopilot is already undergoing tests.
“The train will be completely autonomous and make its own decisions. However, in case of emergency human operators will get involved,” Oleg Belozerov revealed.
He added that Russian Railways have been taking great efforts to increase the trains’ energy efficiency.