Russian Railways has proposed an absurd scheme for transporting passengers to the recently opened new airport in Rostov-on-Don. The local commuter rail company, SKPK, has found it possible to offer a zig-zag route to the airport with a travel time from central Rostov of 2.5-3 hours and a frequency of six times per day, reports Travel.ru.
As a reminder, transportation is currently provided by a highly controversial and problematic method: minibuses (#285 from the main train station and #286 from the Rostov suburban bus station). However, the latter at least make almost a hundred trips per day in each direction and take less than an hour on average. Minibuses have improved their service somewhat following recent critical press reports, including in Travel.ru.
How the railway workers came up with the idea, given this backdrop, to propose a line with a travel time of 2.5-3 hours and sporadic services several times a day remains unclear. According to the SKPK plan, passengers would travel from Rostov to the Novocherkassk train station (a journey of about an hour and a half), and then transfer to minibuses that would travel another 28 kilometers to the airport.
The SPKP also "took care" of passengers on the routes from Bataysk and Taganrog—they are offered connections at the Rostov railway station (four options per day), with a total travel time of 2-3 hours from Bataysk to Novocherkassk and 3-5 hours from Taganrog (plus a minibus ride to the airport). Obviously, passengers on these routes will only take the commuter train to the Rostov railway station, where they will transfer to minibus 285.
Interestingly, the SKPK is somewhat confused in its ideas. On the company's website, potential passengers are invited to take a survey to express their opinions on this fantastical idea and make suggestions. This survey even suggests a different transfer location for the minibus: the NEVZ platform in northern Novocherkassk. It's geographically closer to the airport, but there are no direct roads there—the potential minibus would still have to travel through central Novocherkassk (a distance of about 31 kilometers), adding another half hour to the overall travel time. It appears that during preparation for publication, the SKPK did look at the map and amended the plan to favor Novocherkassk's main train station—but the survey still lists the NEVZ platform.
Overall, the rationale for any such proposals is unclear. The configuration of railways in Rostov and the surrounding area is such that existing lines cannot under any circumstances be used for airport transportation, especially since they are overloaded with transit traffic from resorts in the summer. Attempts to implement such ideas are doomed to failure and will only distract attention from realistically available solutions and waste resources. Any rail service to the new airport is only possible if new lines are built directly through the airport, but such plans currently exist—with the exception of the Moscow-Sochi high-speed railway, which is being proposed for the very distant future.
Source: travel.ru