UST: News

A SkyWay conference was held within the framework of the XI International exhibition "Transport of Russia" that took place from 6 to 8 December 2017 in Moscow. Deputy General Director for development of SkyWay project designing organization Victor Baburin was among the speakers. In his address he shared with the participants the latest news and plans on strategic development of SkyWay technology.

In particular, Victor Baburin said that despite the desire of many project partners to see the first SkyWay routes in Russia, business-like approach in SkyWay implementation requires to consider the most promising markets with the least amount of difficulties.

"We need to get used to the fact that there is no more any iron curtain. We are an international Company; we are working not at the place where we were born. As a commercial organization, we have been created in order to make profits, not to deal with patriotism. We must go to the places, where the market accepts us, and officials say: "Why didn't you come yesterday? You can start building today, because tomorrow it will be too late."

Victor also claimed that in such countries as India that are experiencing rapid economic and demographic growth, it is necessary to start implementing the SkyWay project today, which local branch managers confirm. According to him, the Indian side is actively gathering all the innovative ideas, among which the winner will be the one that will demonstrate its technical and commercial viability.

"Europe is now actively moving towards 4.0 industry. As far as I know, in Russia such technologies are used only at military enterprises. Basically, Russia is lagging behind in this regard".

To raise the competitiveness of the project, we are introducing 4.0 industry elements in our design Bureaus and at SkyWay production facilities: for six months already, the Company's team of professionals has been working out the implementation of the work system from the company Dassault Systemes based on virtual models of rolling stock and track structure. This system will allow to create engineering designs consistently and quickly, as well as to prepare technical documentation required to commission them in production. All changes introduced by engineers in the layout, will be reflected in the final model and calculations of technical features, as well as cost of the final product.

The necessity of using the principles of 4.0 industry is also conditioned by the fact that informational systems allow to pass the project assignments for the contract to engineers from other countries. This is necessary, because at the early stages of our Company' entry into the global market, it will not have the physical ability to carry out all of the works around the globe by itself.

"We have to understand that we live in the real physical world, where there are only 24 hours, where people want not only to work but also to live a normal full life with their families, therefore we will not be able to take on a large number of projects at the beginning. We have only 400 people at present. Such a complex aggregate needs not 400, but 4,000 people, and even better 40,000. Certainly, we will reach it, however, for the next year we will be able to take on 1-2 projects only".

In particular, Victor Baburin commented on the development of overseas projects in India and Indonesia, about which we had reported earlier:

"We have to deal with the choice of location for the construction strategically and accurately. We should choose the place, which will allow us to say "B" after saying "A". We need to approach it with a related contract or related financing. In other words, say, we are doing 2 kilometers, but we already have a contract providing that on completing local certification and when the technology reaches claimed results, we automatically get a contract for a more interesting piece - for example, 30 kilometers, financed by the government or a private person".

In conclusion of his speech, Victor Baburin emphasized that India, Indonesia and the UAE remain the most urgent areas for the project's development.

Victor Baburin was a member of the working group staying in the UAE, where he, together with SkyWay General Designer Anatoly Yunitskiy, has negotiated with potential customers for the project of implementing UST transport systems in port facilities infrastructure.