Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Earth knowledge Bureau (ID:diqiuzhishiju), text: cold Night Cold Star, revised manuscript: gu Hanying / Editor: Fruit Chestnut

On May 30 this year, the Russian satellite news agency published an article entitled "Russian Railway will build High-speed Railway, and the first high-speed train will be launched in 2027" on Chinese social media. The article confronts the dismal reality and points out that Russia does not yet have "trains running at speeds of 200 to 400 kilometers per hour."

Although the facts are bleak at the moment,

But Gazprom is already eager to build a high-speed rail.

(figure: sputniknews) ▼

Many friends who have been to Russia may have taken the Sapsan EMU from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In fact, however, it is difficult for this EMU, which is derived from German Siemens technology, to run at the ideal maximum design speed of 250 kilometers per hour on the old Russian railway line, and the distance between Moscow and St. Petersburg takes at least three and a half hours.

It's like a good runner wearing shabby sneakers.

(figure: img-fotki.yandex.ru) ▼

Russia has inherited most of the inheritance of the Soviet Union and has the third largest railway network in the world. Today, with the rapid development of high-speed rail technology in various countries, there has been little progress in the construction of high-speed railway. Is it a congenital deficiency? Or do you pull crotch now?

Today's article will take you to understand the past life and this life of Russian high-speed railway.

For Russia, which has a vast territory, railways have been playing an important role in national construction, war transportation, commodity circulation and so on.

From the construction of the Siberian railway in the tsarist Russia period to the coverage and extension of the railway network in the Stalin period of the Soviet Union, the Russian people have been catching up with the scale and technology of railway construction. As early as 1913, Russia ranked second in the world and first in Europe in terms of total railway mileage.

Hengping-Siberian Railway

▼, an important passage to the Russian far East.

In the late 1950s after World War II, the Soviet Union launched a speed-up transformation project for the main domestic railway lines. Between 1958 and 1963, the Soviet Union raised the speed of the railway from Moscow to Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg) to 160km / h through route transformation, and the "Afler" express passenger train was opened between the two major cities in March 1963.

"Avrell" express passenger train

Named after the cruiser Avrol, which shelled the Winter Palace during the October Revolution.

(figure: YouTube) ▼

However, in 1964, the successful operation of Japan's Shinkansen, the world's first high-speed railway system, made the European countries that were the first to use and popularize railway transport in the world feel a deep sense of crisis. As the two superpowers in the world at that time, the United States and the Soviet Union were naturally unwilling to fall behind in high-speed railway technology.

The United States and the Soviet Union immersed in the struggle for hegemony

It really doesn't count that the "warhead" on the other side of the sea will be born.

In the exploration of technological path, both the United States and the Soviet Union intend to find another way to make a train power revolution. In view of the success of civil aviation subsonic jets at that time, both countries planned to install jet engines on trains and develop jet high-speed trains.

The jet plane is good. I wonder how about the jet train.

(imagination of jet vehicles on the cover of TM magazine in 1971) ▼

In the second year after the opening of the Shinkansen in Japan, the US Congress passed the High Speed ground Transportation Act to develop jet high-speed railway vehicles.

Based on a RDC-3 diesel locomotive, they transformed it into a new high-speed train with a sloping streamlined nose and two turbojet engines on the Bmur36H heavy bomber, which they named Mmur497, nicknamed the Black Beetle.

In the summer of 1966, the Black Beetle ran the highest speed record of 295.54 kilometers per hour in the US railway test, a record that has not yet been broken in the United States.

Black fuselage with top jet engine

The thinking of both shape color matching and dynamic design is greatly inspired.

(figure: twitter) ▼

Design drawings of Mmur497

(figure: General Electric) ▼

The results of the heights test in the United States made the Soviet Union so nervous that the Soviet Union, unwilling to lag behind, launched the jet high-speed train project in 1969, which was mainly developed by the Kalinin vehicle Factory in Teville Prefecture, Russian Federation. All-Soviet vehicle Manufacturing Science Research Institute, Yakovlev Aviation Design Bureau and other units have been transferred to research and development.

Finally, the AI-25 turbojet engine using the Jacques-40 aircraft, with a unique streamlined front design of the SVL jet high-speed train (also known as the "Russian three-piece set") was launched in the 1970s. In the heights test in 1972, the SVL locomotive achieved the record of the highest speed of the Soviet railway with a speed of 249km / h by accelerating step by step.

SVL high-speed test train, you can see two turbofan engines on the head.

(figure: twitter) ▼

However, in the following research and development, Soviet engineers found that many problems of jet high-speed trains were difficult to solve.

First of all, the rough acceleration mode of jet propulsion has high energy consumption and low economic benefit. Second, the structure of this overhead jet engine is very unsafe. once it enters the tunnel, it will cause a drop in air intake, and the exhaust gas ejected backward will even make passengers lack oxygen.

Moreover, whether it is the Soviet Union or the United States, their heights are carried out on a very straight railway line. once driving in a bend, the wheel / rail of the vehicle will bring resistance to the progress of the jet engine, and the stability and safety of its driving can not be guaranteed.

The actual operation is much more complicated than the theoretical test.

Give the jet engine back to the plane.

(picture of the black beetle in the experiment: YouTube) ▼

Therefore, shortly after the heights test in 1966, the United States quietly gave up the follow-up research and development of the "black beetle," but in hindsight, the Soviet Union continued to invest a lot of manpower and financial resources in this "sinkhole."

In fact, in catching up with the trend of the world high-speed railway, the Soviet Union has never given up the research and development of traditional electric traction trains.

As early as 1967, the Soviet Ministry of Communications passed the technical review of the design of power-distributed electric trains, later known as ER200. The arc-shaped package design at the lower part of the car's streamlined front is highly recognizable. The train adopts DC traction motor, which is composed of 12 motor cars and 2 trailers, with a designed maximum operating speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

Soviet hardcore streamlined locomotive

(figure: pikabu.ru) ▼

In 1973, the Riga Rolling Stock works in Latvia successfully developed the first ER200 distributed EMU. After that, the Riga vehicle factory improved the braking and transmission system of the car according to the test data.

Design drawings of ER200

(figure: pikabu.ru) ▼

In 1975, the top speed of the car reached 210 kilometers per hour in the heights test from Hanskaya to Belores. Since then, the ER200 EMU, which has passed the technical acceptance, began to put into operation assessment between Moscow and Leningrad in the second year.

The car began to carry passengers for trial operation in 1979, but due to many factors such as vehicle commissioning and technical improvement, the ER200 EMU was not put into commercial operation until 1984.

In 1980, inside a passenger ER200 train running

It's quite similar to the bullet train we took today.

(figure: pikabu.ru) ▼

Although the maximum operating speed of the ER200 EMU can reach 200km / h, due to the limitations of the existing line conditions, the running time between Moscow and Leningrad is 4 hours and 59 minutes, with an average speed of about 140km / h.

ER200 motor car in motion

Under the conditions at that time, the speed was already very good.

(figure: YouTube) ▼

Although the speed of ER200 EMU is not as fast as the high-speed trains developed in France and Japan in the same period, as the only successful high-speed train in the Soviet Union, ER200 EMU is also an outstanding leader in the world at that time. As a result, since it was put into operation, the ER200 EMU often appears in Soviet stamps and publicity posters.

As the first and last high-speed train in the Soviet Union

ER200 has become the protagonist of Soviet stamps more than once.

From the advent of the first ER200 EMU in 1973 to 1995 after the independence of Latvia, Riga vehicle Factory has produced a total of 3 ER200 EMU trains.

Although after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many engineers and technicians from the Riga vehicle manufacturing plant moved to the Jemihovo machine manufacturing plant in Russia, this also greatly reduced the production capacity and technology of the Riga vehicle factory, coupled with the gradual deterioration of relations between Russia and the three Baltic countries, the Riga vehicle factory is basically unable to provide technical support for maintenance and other technical support for the ER200 EMU operated in Russia.

The ER200 in the maintenance library has a kind of loneliness that can not wait for maintenance.

(figure: wiki) ▼

In 2006, due to the lack of a complete solution to the crack problem of ER200 EMU bogies, Russia began to gradually retire three ER200 EMU units for safety reasons. In 2009, on the 25th anniversary of the operation of the ER200 EMU, Russia announced that the ER200 EMU was officially out of operation.

Now, if you still want to see the true appearance of ER200 EMU,

I have no choice but to find it in a Russian museum.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union with many difficulties, Russia, whose economy has suffered unprecedented shocks, has also suffered a serious decline in its railway transport production. Nevertheless, in 1991, then President Boris Yeltsin signed an order to build Russia's first high-speed railway and set up the "High-speed Trunk Joint Stock Company", whose task is to plan and build the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway.

Decree No. 120 of Russian President Boris Yeltsin

"on the establishment of St. Petersburg-Moscow high-speed passenger rail line"

(figure: yeltsin.ru) ▼

Since 1992, through working with the Russian Ministry of Communications and its subordinate scientific research institutions, the High Speed Trunk United Co., Ltd. has done a lot of work to formulate the technical mission book for the high-speed train. The new train is finalized as the ES250 EMU and named "Eagle". The Eagle EMU is a power distributed train, using 12 marshals with 4 movements and 8 tows.

The design of the carriage of the Eagle

(figure: railtrain.pro) ▼

(ES250 first Class seat Picture: railtrain.pro) ▼

In 2000, ES250 EMU began a series of preliminary tests. The following year, the Russian Ministry of Transport approved the formal acceptance test outline and schedule of the car. This year, the "Eagle" EMU reached a maximum test speed of 237 kilometers per hour between Dorohiha Station and Likuslavl Station.

Although most of the performance indicators of the car have met the design requirements, there are still some obvious design defects, and the safety, reliability and maintainability of some equipment are not ideal and need to be further improved.

ES250 during the maintenance of the warehouse

(figure: wiki) ▼

After more than a year of improvement and adjustment, the Russian Ministry of Transport has assessed that there is still a gap between the performance of the car and the technical requirements. By 2002, Russia decided to give up the research and development of ES250 EMU.

The Eagle finally didn't wait for the day when it came into operation.

After years of dust, it was handed over to the museum in 2012.

(picture of the Eagle train sealed in the locomotive depot: wiki) ▼

In 2003, with the progress of Russian railway reform, the Russian Ministry of Communications made a decision to introduce technology and cooperative production from western companies in the development of high-speed trains.

In May 2006, Russian Railway signed an agreement with German Siemens to purchase eight "Velaro RUS" high-speed trains. Velaro is a mature high-speed railway technology platform of German Siemens. At the end of 2009, the new generation of Peregrine Falcon high-speed trains officially relayed the ER200 EMU between Moscow and St. Petersburg and put into commercial operation.

Since it came into operation in December 2009

It has always been the only profitable passenger service of the Russian Federation Railway.

(picture of the Peregrine Falcon on the Moscow-St. Petersburg route: wiki) ▼

The Russian you Falcon EMU is very similar to the German EMU in appearance, using 10 vehicles with 4 movements and 6 tows, with a maximum operating speed of 250km per hour, but according to Russian railway standards, the car uses a wide gauge of 1520 mm and can withstand a low temperature of-40 ℃.

Siemens is a Velaro series based on ICE3.

So the Peregrine Falcon and the German ICE3 are almost carved out of the mold.

(figure: wiki) ▼

In 2010, the you Falcon EMU was put into operation again between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, but due to line conditions, the maximum operating speed of the train was only 160 kilometers per hour.

The slow average speed, long running time and bumpy driving are the result of the EMU you Falcon driving on the existing low-standard route, which also makes it difficult for the Velaro technology platform with a maximum design speed of 300km / h to give full play to its technical advantages.

Let's get a look at the Peregrine Falcon cab.

(figure: wiki) ▼

Therefore, if Russia wants to have a real high-speed railway, it must build new high-standard passenger dedicated lines.

At present, the current situation of Russian high-speed rail "with cars but no roads" is obviously far behind that of many high-speed rail countries.

In May this year, the Russian satellite news agency said that Russia would "build the Moscow-St. Petersburg railway" and that in the future, "the train will complete the distance between the two cities in 2 hours and 15 minutes." Russia had planned to build a high-speed rail link between Moscow and Kazan by 2023, but the plan has long been suspended.

The front hole has not been filled yet and a new one has been opened.

(effect map of Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway line)

(figure: FAA Glavgosexpertiza) ▼

For Russia, especially in the densely populated parts of Europe, higher-standard high-speed railways must be built in order to achieve high-speed passenger transport.

However, with Russia's current limited central finance, it is difficult to invest enough money in the R & D and construction of high-speed rail in the face of large-scale military spending. The sanctions imposed by some countries will also set up many obstacles to the introduction of high-speed rail technology.

On the one hand, there is a broken industrial system that is difficult to coordinate and unify again after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, the road of technology introduction is restricted everywhere under geopolitical wrestling. For Russia, whose economic volume and fiscal expenditure are relatively limited, there is still a long way to go to move forward in the high-speed railway.

Reference:

1. High-speed Railway: the record of High-speed Railway, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2015

two。 Luo Chunxiao: world High Speed Train Map, China Railway Publishing House, 2020

3. Wikipedia: ES250 "Eagle" EMU

4. Pisces he Sheng: "[popular science post by train] S14E40: 'Soviet high-speed rail'-- ER200 of the Soviet Ministry of Railways", bilibili

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