exploitation?
Russia could use high speed trains. They have some serious distances to cover.
>>>Siemens to produce new generation trains for Russia
Siemens spurting through rail tunnels is a little too Freudian for me.
Is the rail on the ground or above the ground?
High speed trains make no sense until the rails are built above the ground.
Each train can carry 600 passengers.
The trains cost over $100,000,000 each (not counting operating costs).
100,000,000 divided by 600 equals over $165,000 per seat.
The distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg is 400 miles.
The train can go about 200 mph top speed. That makes the trip a bit over two hours long if there are no stops.
Figure the train would make a maximum of six trips a day (three round trips)(loading and unloading, maintenance, etc.) and that’s about 2,200 trips per year. If we assume a cost of $100 per one way trip (which is probably generous), the seat would bring in $220,000 in just one year.
Okay. If the cost of the electricity is reasonable, AND they can fill the train six times a day AND get a decent price per ticket, and maintenance isn’t too expensive, it might well work out. I actually expected the numbers to work much worse than they actually did. Of course, I am assuming that the track will not need upgrades (and of course, they have to maintain the track for the current trains anyway.)
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