Over the past decade, residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and their agglomerations have enjoyed the advantages of high-speed rail traffic. With the commissioning of high-speed trains Sapsan and electric trains Lastochka (lit. "Swallow") travel time has been reduced by half, remote suburbs and regional centers have become more accessible.
To ensure regular and uninterrupted high-speed railway traffic, not only the modernization of railway lines is necessary, but also a modern repair infrastructure is needed. For the North-West region such a main site was St. Petersburg-Moskovskoye motorcar depot (Metallostroy depot).
Construction of the depot was started in 1997 under the Lengiprotrans project in the south of St. Petersburg. In 2007–2009, the project for the reconstruction of the depot for servicing the Sapsans was completed.
This year, JSC Lengiprotrans (part of the 1520 Group of Companies) is completing works on expanding the depot in order to increase its capacity to service Lastochkas and modern rolling stock, taking into account the new batch of Sapsans.
Beginning of the story: Falcon
In the 1990s, according to the Lengiprotrans project, the existing St. Petersburg — Moscow line was reconstructed with an increase in speed up to 200 km/h. For the maintenance and repair of the ER2T electric trains of the Moscow and Vitebsk directions, the institute developed a project for a new motorcar depot in the village of Metallostroy. Initially, it was also assumed that the depot would serve high-speed trains Sokol, developed to organize high-speed traffic, but the prototype of the train was never put into operation.
At the time of the opening of the depot, Metallostroy became the largest motorcar depot in St. Petersburg. The huge complex was designed and built in the shortest possible time. The work of the entire technological cycle of construction — design, examination, order and supply of the equipment, construction and installation works — were carried out practically in parallel.
On the territory of the depot with a total area of 44.3 hectares, more than 50 structures for main and auxiliary purposes were designed. All the main buildings were made according to individual projects using new for that time building structures and materials, as well as non-standard technological solutions, such as, for example, placing rolling stock on racks during maintenance. Modern imported equipment was used to fit the depot. The design work was supervised by the chief engineer of the project Alexander Sergeevich Voronin.
First reconstruction: Sapsan
A few years later, the need to modernize the St. Petersburg — Moscow highway to organize the movement of high-speed trains on the St. Petersburg — Moscow — Nizhny Novgorod railway section arose again. In 2007–2009 Lengiprotrans designed the reconstruction of the line connecting the two capitals. The high-speed Sapsan trains that were put into operation required a modern repair infrastructure, which could be provided through the reconstruction of the Metallostroy depot.
Under the leadership of the chief engineer of the project Yuri Ivanovich Milyukov three inspection ditches of the overpass type and suspended multi-level platforms were designed, which made it possible to simultaneously service various working areas of the electric train. The complex of works included the reconstruction of the wheelset turning shop without rolling them out from under the train and the diagnostic shop. The latter provided for equipment for complex diagnostics of wheelsets according to several tens of parameters.
During the work on the project, one of the difficult tasks was the adaptation of the European technology of repair and maintenance of rolling stock, as well as foreign equipment of such companies as Siemens and Hegenscheidt to rather strict Russian regulations and standards.
In the future, the project served as a template for the creation of a depot for servicing modern rolling stock at the Podmoskovnaya and Adler sites.
Working with foreign companies
At the stage of reconstruction of the depot in 2007–2009, the place was not clearly defined for the organization of the so-called "heavy repairs" of the Sapsan trains, which must be carried out after 1,250,000 km of run. The site for the construction of a completely new workshop was chosen next to the previously reconstructed production building. The role of the customer was carriied out by Siemens. Lengiprotrans participated in this work on a par with foreign partners such as AECOM, which acted as a technical customer, and ProkonZept, a developer of technological equipment.
Inspection ditch for servicing Lastochka
The project provided for the construction of a workshop on the territory of the Metallostroy depot for overhaul (revisions) of high-speed electric trains Sapsan and trains Lastochka, (Desiro RUS) consisting of a one-storey stall part for three repair tracks No. 24, No. 25 and No. 26, with dimensions in the axes of 35 × 294 m, annexes for service, technical and administrative, and auxiliary purposes, as well as a painting chamber.
Through joint efforts and in an extremely short time, taking into account the sharply increased requirements of Glavgosexpertiza, in 2015 a complete set of documentation for construction was prepared. It included non-standard solutions for the layout of administrative premises, the organization of deep tunnel passages under the paths of the workshop, together with the laying of utilities, lightweight rooflights, independent electrical grounding of all building structures, the organization of the position of electrical testing of rolling stock. The principal technological, architectural and construction requirements, formed by the customer, were very different from the usual layouts of the stall part even in comparison with the works of 2007–2009.
Construction of the building of the overhaul (revision) workshop made it possible to ensure the overhaul of Sapsan trains in the amount of mileage up to 7.5 million km, for Lastochka trains — up to 2.1 million km.
New power: Lastochka
Today, the depot's rolling stock consists of 16 Sapsan trains and 43 Lastochka trains. In addition, rolling stock arrives at the depot, both from Moscow and Kaliningrad. The modern technological equipment of the Metallostroy depot makes it possible to implement almost all types of maintenance and repair of high-speed trains.
In 2018, Lengiprotrans began work on the project “Technical re-equipment of the Metallostroy depot for maintenance of the Lastochka electric trains”. The chief engineer of the project Danil Aleksandrovich Voronin was tasked with preparing the depot for an increase in the volume of maintenance and repairs.
The structure of the reconstructed buildings according to the title includes the main production and auxiliary buildings. Their reconstruction was due to the gradual replacement of the existing rolling stock of ET2M and ED4M trains with Lastochka electric trains, as well as further growth of the high-speed train stock: up to 29 Sapsan trains and up to 72 Lastochka trains by 2025.
The project envisages two stages. The first stage includes the expansion of the auxiliary building for servicing the Sapsan and Lastochka trains, including fitting the new areas with equipment for performing all routine service works, thawing ice and snow on cars in the winter, as well as building a new a boiler room for the needs of the building and the railway track for the possibility of trains entering the projected extension of the building.
The second stage provides for the reconstruction of the existing workshop with the organization of two repair stations for maintenance of the Lastochka trains, which also allow perform service works for the Sapsan trains, and the construction of a new separately standing warehouse for storing large-sized components.
In parallel, with a separate title, Lengiprotrans developed a project for the reconstruction of a traction substation, the need for which was determined back in 2016 during the construction of a Siemens workshop.
In August and September, the projects passed the state expert appraisaland. By the end of 2021 it is planned to issue a full set of working documentation. After completion of construction and installation works in 2023, the depot will become the main site for servicing speed and high-speed rolling stock of the St. Petersburg hub.
Read article on the site of the newspaper "Gudok".
