China Railway Group Ltd and Ural Highway signed a USD 2.5 billion memorandum of understanding to build a high-speed railway in Russia connecting Yekaterinburg with Chelyabinsk, China Daily reports. The new rail connection will allow trains to run at speeds of up to 250 km/h.
The MoU was signed during the Fourth China-Russia Exposition held in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.
“It is a promising project with huge potential. We believe it will boost the region’s economic development, and benefit local people after its completion. The experience of the Moscow-Kazan railway positions us well in the industry. We are ready to make full use of our cutting-edge technology in this project,” Zhang Xian, vice-president of the company said.
The new rail link will be part of the high-speed rail corridor passing through Berlin, Moscow, Astana and Beijing, Boris Dubrovskiy governor of Chelyabinsk region said.
Currently, Russia is working on Moscow-Kazan HSR project which is estimated at RUB 1.3 trillion (USD 22 billion) and involves the construction of a 770 km line. For this HSR, last year, China agreed to provide RUB 400 billion (USD 6.8 billion). Within the project, Yekaterinburg will have high speed rail connection as Moscow — Kazan HSR will be extended to Yekaterinburg.
According to Russian Railways strategy, by 2030, the length of high-speed and ultra high-speed lines will be 10,635 km. Last year, the company approved its updated strategy on HSR investments at RUB 5 trillion (USD 85.35 billion). The programme will be implemented in three phases: until 2020, from 2021 to 2025 and from 2026-2030, and includes 20 projects, allowing trains to run on 50 high-speed routes.
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