For a number of years Mosgiprotrans took part in the development of high-speed (more than 250km/h) passenger trainsissue in Russia together with the central research institute of the Ministry of Railways (CNII MPS). Mosgiprotrans justified the main parameters of high-speed passenger mainlines in connection with the mainlines built in Europe and the USA; it elaborated the main rules of their operation in addition to the existing railway lines for freight and passenger trains with usual speed of up to 150km/h. The high-speed tracks were marked on the maps in the directions Center — South, Center — West, Moscow — Mineralnye Vody. Preliminary plans on their construction were made. Mosgiprotrans took active part in the development of the project of high-speed passenger trains on Saint-Petersburg — Moscow, Moscow — Krasnoe, Moscow — Novgorod railway lines. The idea of high-speed railway traffic between Saint-Petersburg and Moscow occurred at the beginning of the 1990s but its construction was not started until recently. In 2009 Mosgiprotrans performed its part (the Moscow and the Tver regions) of the “Investment justification” in the construction of this line.
The institute performed the aerial survey and made orthophotomaps for the whole track from Moscow to Saint-Petersburg. The aerial survey was carried out by the modern aerial equipment which had been obtained and mastered in the institute. The equipment consisted of a digital photo camera and a laser scanner set up on one platform and acting synchronously. The air photography results in a colored photomap of almost any scale (from 1:300 and less) and a cloud of points defined by three coordinates with a density of up to 20 per 1sq.m.
It also included a navigation device that allowed driving the plane/helicopter right across the specified track. Using the equipment significantly reduced the time needed to process the field data and to make a digital model of the terrain while the color large-scale photomap gave the designer a “presence effect”. In September, 2011 Mosgiprotrans started a survey for the next stage on its section of the high-speed track. The institute’s recent designs were used to build parking garages “Tayninsky” and “Aprel”, Ford sales and service center in Lianozovo, a shopping and entertainment center in Svobodny avenue in Moscow, an orphanage in Kondrovo town in the Kaluga region; to rebuild the Sretenka hotel in Moscow and a holiday center near Gagarin town in the Smolensk region; to renovate the buildings of Moscow State University of Railway Engineering, and to redesign a number of buildings to office towers.
