October 3, 2013. The people who attended the recent public hearings in Yekaterinburg approved of the project on the construction of a high speed railway link VSM 2 that will connect Moscow, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg in Sverdlovsk Region’s territory, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Policy Department reports.

According to the projects put forth by the designers, VSM 2 might wind around three towns: Achit, Krasnoufimsk, and Novouralsk, two larger towns – Pervouralsk and Bysert, and a village called Klenovskoye. The railways will not pass through any settlements proper or any nature’s preserves and will have a stop in Yekaterinburg.

Andrei Puzachenko of Ecoproyekt, who spoke to the public hearings attendees, assured all those present that the locations for VSM 2 would be chosen on the basis of all the factors that might have some environmental impact. For one, the criteria relating to possible threats to water, air, the local fauna and soils, and a factor such as noise pollution will all be taken into account.