Lightbox

Transport is maybe the only area in which Russia has seen major investments of public funds over the last years. Politicians love to show their decisiveness by constructing public works. Moreover, they understand that the movement of people generates money, and want to be sure to get a piece of the cake. Recently structures have begun to appear to accommodate the growing numbers of cars in Russia's big cities - whether moving, standing still or sold, bought and taken care off. Moscow's 3rd ring road relieves the Moscow drivers of their traffic jams, garages try to keep up with the growing need of parking places and car dealers provide the population with more and more cars. However, for the majority of the population the train is the major form of transport. Floods of people every day stream through train and metro stations. Samara's new train station - serving a multi-million urban aerea, is the first example of the type of station many other cities can expect to receive. The metro is also getting more attention as the result of growing number of passengers. After a quiet period, The Moscow metro has serious plans for intensifying and expanding its network. Russia had traditionally always been one of the world's leader in air traffic. However, Russia's airports are in bad repair. Moscow's Domodedovo is the first airport that has undergone a metamorphosis - a dark and dirty basement has been transformed into a light and open structure - becoming the most modern airport in the country. Such a success has yet to happen to the Ecranoplane - a unique invention of Russian engineers, that still waits for it's breakthrough in cilvilian use.