The Russian Transport Ministry hopes to reach an intergovernmental agreement with China in 2016 on the construction of a high-speed railway between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said.
China has recently confirmed plans to provide a 400 billion-ruble (USD 6 billion) loan for Russia’s Moscow-Kazan High-Speed Rail Project, as well as equity financing of 52 billion rubles (USD 790 million) and an additional USD 1 billion.
The new 770 kilometers of rail lines between Moscow and Russia’s Tatarstan capital Kazan will stretch through seven regions of Russia. The track is a joint project of Moscow and Beijing. It will have fifteen stops, including Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary and Kazan. The journey from Moscow to Kazan currently takes 12 hours, will be reduced to just 3.5 hours.
According to Russian Railways, Beijing is ready to provide a USD 6 billion loan for the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail. The overall cost of the project is expected to exceed USD 15 billion. In the future, the Moscow – Kazan route may become a part of a USD 100 billion high-speed railway between Moscow and Beijing. The railway may also be connected to Beijing’s New Silk Road project, which will link China to markets in Europe and the Middle East.
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