High-Speed Railway Moscow - Kazan is a project for a new, dedicated railway line whose technical characteristics would allow trains of the Sapsan or Lastochka (vessel) type to reach maximum speed along the route. Most valuably, it makes Nizhny Novgorod part of an important transport corridor, improving the labor market and tourism.
The essence of the project
The only railway trunk line that would cross Nizhny Novgorod Region from west to east. Trains running on the high-speed line would allow reaching both Moscow and Kazan in around 2 hours.
The densely populated areas of the high right bank of the Volga will, for the first time, face mass buyouts of land plots for construction as the line is built, along with a change in the market status of land and housing located near the line. Curiously, none of the published materials contain maps of the route through the Kstovsky, Lyskovsky District, and Vorotynsky District districts.
In practice, the main question about the Moscow-Kazan line is: "will it even be built at all?" Ideas that, just as "after Chechnya," investors will "come to Russia" following the events around Crimea do not look rational, given the differing legal status of these "triumphant" regions. And for high-speed rail projects, which require enormous investment, the availability of funds — both for the construction itself and for its payback through the creation of economic entities able to make use of the results of construction and thereby give a boost to economic development — is of decisive importance.
Nizhny Novgorod resistance to the Moscow-Kazan line
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The high-speed railway (HSR) "Moscow - Beijing" will pass through the Striginsky pine forest in Nizhny Novgorod and will surely lead to large-scale clear-cutting in a unique natural landmark!
Maps of the HSR route have been made public. In Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, this line requires the demolition of part of the settlement of Sartakovo, as well as, as the map shows, the partial clearing of the Striginsky pine forest. Passenger trains are expected to run at around 350 km/h, more than 30 trains a day, including freight. The noise impact will strike the Striginsky pine forest off the list of places where one can quietly rest in silence. The residents of Sartakovo have already united and are fighting against the destruction of their settlement. It is time for people of Nizhny Novgorod to start defending the Striginsky pine forest from clear-cutting as well! |
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In practice, a railway to Arzamas already runs past Sartakovo through the same ravine, and the route through the Striginsky pine forest essentially coincides with it entirely, which gives no grounds to speak of any serious environmental impact. What resistance efforts fail to pay attention to, though, is a different matter — how will the line pass through the section from Vyazovka to the crossing into the Yadrinsky district of Chuvashia? There has never been a railway here, the land is densely populated, and problems are clearly to be expected both with the valuation of the buyouts and with the loss of prior value for nearby plots.