Ukraine's State Rail Transport Administration, in association with the Communications Ministry, has proposed organizing high-speed rail services for passengers travelling from Kiev to Moscow in order to raise the competitiveness of rail transport and encourage more well-off clients to use the line.
The proposal has been included in a Russia-Ukraine Transportation Systems Integration Concept, approved by the Transportation Ministers of the two countries on September 3 this year.
A joint ad hoc group has been set up to coordinate the organization of high-speed train services along the line. For Russia, it is co-chaired by Vladimir Sazonov, Vice President of Russian Railways, or RZD, the country's rail monopoly.
The ad hoc group will work out a plan of priority measures to organize high-speed passenger train services as well as adjust capital investment and technical maintenance plans to the needs of developing such rail services on the Russian segment of the Moscow-Kiev line.
Now, a rail trip from Moscow to Kiev or vice versa takes 13 hours, including one hour for customs formalities, usually at night. The length of the rail journey and the inconveniences arising from by the nighttime customs check make many passengers opt for air travel.
The sides are currently examining three possible ways to reduce the time consumed by customs and passport checks: holding such checks at rail terminals, before passengers board the train; during the train's passage across Russian territory; or while the train is moving from one border city to the next.
So as to formalize work on the joint Russo-Ukrainian project for high-speed train services, Ukraine suggested that a memorandum to the effect be signed on November 12 at the ministerial level.
