The first of a set of double-decker trains by the joint Swiss-Belarus Stadler Minsk enterprise arrived in Moscow on Thursday.

The opening ceremony, attended by city and company officials, marked a new age of transportation in the country, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

“The project is of great importance for us as this year alone we will carry around 18 million passengers," Sobyanin said. "You can imagine what would happen if all these 18 million of people drove on the roads to the Moscow airports. It would be a complete traffic collapse.”

The mayor hopes that over the next few years the train cars of Aeroexpress will be replaced with these ultramodern models.
Director General of Stadler Rail Group Peter Spuhler handed the key to the train, Aeroexpress Eurasia, to Alexei Krivoruchko, diirector general of Aeroexpress.

“Today we have witnessed a landmark event for the Russian people: the first double-decker train of the European level has been delivered to Russia,” Krivoruchko said.

This model train was specially designed to handle Russian weather conditions and temperatures which can be as low as 50 degrees below zero. The first commercial trips will begin June of 2015.