Oleg Nikishenkov

It may sound like pie in the sky, but by 2015 airline passengers transferring between Moscow's airports will be able to forget lugging heavy suitcases on the metro or sitting in traffic jams for hours.

A state-of-the-art railway hub, Kalanchyovskaya, next to Moscow's Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky and Kazansky stations, will provide transit passengers with a way to avoid such hassles, linking Sheremetyevo directly to Domodedovo, and later also to Vnukovo.

The station will also be the terminus for the city's first genuine high-speed rail link to St. Petersburg, which will cut the current journey time from 3 hours 45 minutes to a more commutable 2 1/2 hours.

That's according to three of the main stakeholders in the project - Aeroexpress and High-Speed Rail Lines (both subsidiaries of Russian Railways) and the Moscow city government.
The hub will go a long way to end nightmare transfers for transit passengers, and would drag Moscow's lagging transport infrastructure into the 21st century. Journey times will also be cut for rail passengers from other Russian cities connecting to international flights from Moscow's airports.

The Kalanchyovskaya station will be built on the basis of an existing commuter train station of the same name, and will eventually enable transit passengers to travel direct to all three Moscow airports, making painless cross-city transfers a reality for the first time.

The station complex will be fully operational by 2015, and has an estimated construction cost of $1 billion, according to Aeroexpress.

Aeroexpress will act as the operator of the transit services from Kalanchyovskaya to Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo, spokeswoman Yelena Frolova told The Moscow News.
"Last year Aeroexpress relocated most of its traffic to Sheremetyevo from Savyolovsky to Belorussky Station, but we will operate all routes, including the planned one from Kalanchyovskaya," Frolova said.

The construction plan of the new hub is being developed by Mosguiprotrans, the city's transport planning body. "This hub will add one more degree of freedom of choice for passengers coming to Moscow," Mosguiprotrans's chief project engineer, Mikhail Priyezhev, told The Moscow News. "It will be very important for local travellers, as few Russian provincial cities have international airports, so they come to Moscow when they need to travel abroad, and they need transfer services."

Alex Toursky, who heads the High-Speed Rail Lines project for a new Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed rail link, said his company was "the most interested [stakeholder] in the completion of the project. The target is 2 1/2 hours from Moscow to St. Petersburg."

The final budget for the Kalanchyovskaya hub has not been announced, but "the overall budget of the high speed rail lines varies from 10 to 20 billion Euros," Toursky said in an interview last week.

The HSR service to St. Petersburg will also link up to St. Petersburg-Helsinki high-speed trains.

The Kalanchyovskaya complex will have its own hotel, shops and cafés, parking for several thousand vehicles, flyover highways connecting it to the Third Ring Road and easy access to the Komsomolskaya metro station, according to Mosguiprotrans.

It will also provide full disabled access, according to Aeroexpress.
The rail hub could also benefit airline passengers staying at the nearby 5-star Leningradskaya Hilton hotel, as it will make direct airport transfers easier.

The Transport Ministry began planning a system of transfer hubs in 2006, when it cut the number of international airports in Russia to eight.

New business-class service

A business-class coach is being introduced on to Aeroexpress's Sheremetyevo service this month. Tickets costing 700 roubles will give passengers reserved seats, free Wi-Fi access, tea, coffee and newspapers, the company announced on its web site.

A high-speed day trip to St. Pete
 
A new railtrack to St. Petersburg, separate from the existing

Oktyabrskaya line from Leningradsky Station but avoiding marshland, would enable Russian Railways' Sapsan trains to run at full speed and reach the northern capital in 2 1/2 hours, HSR's Alex Toursky said.

The shorter journey time would mean that business travellers would be able to commute between St. Petersburg and Moscow without the need for overnight travel, Toursky said.
"If you have a business in St. Petersburg, your daily round trip with the HSR will allow you to get enough sleep, arrive in the northern capital by 10 or 11 a.m., hold a meeting, take a walk on Nevsky Prospekt and arrive back home in Moscow that evening," he said.

Moscow's Planned Main Rail Hub

Kalanchyovskaya Station, near the Ploschad Tryokh Vokzalov (ThreeStations Square), will act as Moscow's main rail transit hub - inter-connecting Aero-express services to the city's airports with high-speed services to St. Petersburg