Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, where 4.9 million citizens live, knows a dynamic rhythm as regards urbanisation and implicitly economic development. Under these circumstances, the transport development strategy (2025) is focused on public transport, especially railway transport.
The urban public transport system is well developed, the railway transport consisting in the underground network (5 lines with a length of 113.6 km and 67 stations) and the tram network (42 lines with a length of 205.5 km). The underground continues to be the backbone of a structured transport network and will be developed to the directions where demand will exist. Currently, the existing underground network is operating at maximum capacity and the authorities undertake expansion projects to meet the future mobility demands.
According to the plans of the authorities, the underground network length will double by 2050 and considering that the expansion projects have been interrupted for more than a decade because of financial problems, they have been resumed, the extension of lines becoming the main objective of the authorities. Thus, by 2020 the underground company plans to build 71 km of underground line served by 41 new stations and 5 depots. At the same time, there are projects for the modernisation of the existing stations, the installation of escalators and the construction of “park and ride” facilities.
For the provision of an effective link between the city and Pulkovo airport, the authorities decided to build an underground line, the terminal with a capacity of 17 million passengers not being connected to the railway network from the city’s central railway station. Initially, a draft was proposed for a line connecting the airport and city, the transport services being provided by Aeroexpress. However, according to the local media, this year the governor of Saint Petersburg, Georgy Poltavchenko, sent a letter to the Minister of Transport, Maxim Sokolov, requesting the allocation of RUB 34 Billion (EUR 830 Million) from the state budget for the construction of an underground line to Pulkovo. The latter pointed out that the funds are requested as part of the investment needed for the infrastructure development to be used within the World Cup 2018. The latter also presented the governor’s negative opinion on the construction of the railway line to the airport, operated by Aeroexpress, RBC Daily publication informs. The line will have a length of 10 km and its construction will last for 3 years.
Recently, the city’s governor announced that for 2014-2016, Saint Petersburg will invest RUB 73 Billion (USD 2.3 Billion) in the underground network. “Such investments establish the underground development priorities. In 2014 the city will invest RUB 20.7 Billion (USD 650 Million) for constructions, over two times more than in 2011 and 2012”, mentioned Poltavchenko.
For the implementation of construction projects, several foreign companies have expressed their interest in the underground projects of Saint Petersburg.
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