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High-Speed Trains to Kiev Will Start Next Year

A high-speed passenger rail line will be launched between Moscow and Kiev in fall 2014.

Federal Passenger Company — a subsidiary of Russian Railways — Ukraine's state rail transportation administration, on Tuesday signed a declaration "to improve the quality and speed of passenger service" between the two capitals, RIA Novosti reported.

The new train will shave three hours off the length of the journey, thanks to simplified customs procedures for passengers and express service with a single stop, in Bryansk, along the route. The new line will be equipped with trains manufactured by Spanish company Talgo. Better able to take bends than current locomotives, they will be 20  to 30 percent faster, said Federal Passenger Company CEO Mikhail Akulov.

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