Sochi’s transport infrastructure plan was called “feasible” and “effective” Thursday by Russian Railways, Russia’s largest transport operator, at the International Business Forum “Strategic partnership 1520”. The forum is taking place from May 23-26 and is the largest annual event in the transport industry focusing on global prospects of broad gauge railway development, with more than 500 delegates from 30 countries taking part.
The Sochi 2014 Games plan calls for the construction of 63 km of light rail connecting Adler on the coast to the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana. Sochi 2014 says the state-of-the-art technology used for the construction will produce a system of 90-second breaks between departures during the Games allowing up to 31,000 passengers to travel every hour in all directions. Construction should be completed by December 2013.
More than half of the funds allocated from the federal budget in the Federal Target Programme for the development of Sochi is to be invested in construction of transport networks in Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, Sochi 2014 CEO said, “the Sochi 2014 transport plan is well thought out and perhaps the most far-reaching in the history of the Games. Not only will it ensure the best possible experience for all those attending the Games, but it will drive the transformation of the Krasnodar region into a year-round, world-class resort destination. Such an ambitious project requires a lot of work, and that’s why it is so important that our plan has been met with such great interest from Russian Railways. They are Russia’s leading transport operator, with an outstanding track record of delivering large scale projects on time”.
Meanwhile, to demonstrate its green credentials after environmental groups said the Sochi 2014 Games would cause damage to the region’s fragile ecology, Reuters reports that Russia has launched a scheme to rebuild the population of endangered Persian leopards in its Caucasus Mountains in time for the Winter Games.
The World Wildlife Fund, with backing from two Russian companies, is planning to put baby leopards bred in captivity into special pens in a national park before releasing them into the wild.
