On May 14, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. High-speed rail service between Minsk and regional centers is planned to be organized in 2012-2013. This was announced today to journalists, in response to a question from a BELTA correspondent, by the Minister of Transport and Communications Ivan Shcherbo. In Vitebsk, he is taking part in the republican seminar "Main directions of energy saving in organizations of the Ministry of Transport and Communications". On these sections, the movement of trains at speeds up to 160 km/h will be organized. According to preliminary estimates, the implementation of the project will require about $1.3 billion, which is planned to be raised through external sources. "To solve the task, we are discussing this issue with representatives of the World Bank, working with Chinese investors, French and Italian companies," noted Ivan Shcherbo. It is assumed that in the future, a high-speed railway may connect Minsk and Vilnius, among others, he added. In addition, in the first quarter of 2011, it is planned to open the movement of urban electric trains directly in Minsk along the Zhdanovichi - city center route. Subsequently, a through electric train will run through the capital. This will allow residents of the suburbs who are going to work in Minsk to drive their cars to the ring road, leave their cars and get to the center in literally 10 minutes by high-speed electric train. For these purposes, 12 electric trains will be purchased. -0-

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