ASTANA, May 06. /ITAR-TASS/. High-speed Spanish Talgo trains may run on Russian routes if plans are ditched to connect Moscow and Ukraine's capital, Kiev, says a senior official of Russian railways RZD.

Talks with Ukraine about a Moscow-Kiev service stay unresolved, head of the Russian monopoly’s department for passenger transportation Gennady Verkhovykh said.

The city-to-city issue had still not been settled in talks with Kiev and “it is important to see what our Ukrainian colleagues have done to increase train speed. Reduction of travel time between the two capitals is the main goal of this project”, he told journalists gathered for the Council for Rail Transport of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Options now under review included using the trains on Russian lines from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, Bryansk and Belgorod from this autumn. The rail operator was considering model use and opportunities to cut travel time using "body tilt" trains, Verkhovykh said.

RZD signed a deal with Spanish Patentes Talgo S.L. in 2012 to develop and deliver seven 20-car passenger trains in 2014-2015 for Moscow-Kiev and Moscow-Berlin routes. The first car was built last December.

The new trains are designed to reach 200 kilometres per hour. They are equipped with air suspension and tilting systems for better performance on curves, increasing average speeds and delivering a more comfortable ride.