Russia, China sign deal on Kazan-Moscow high-speed rail

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-10-14

Li Keqiang and Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev signing a joint

communique in Moscow on Monday. (Photo/Xinhua)

Russia signed an investment agreement with China on Monday to build a high-speed railway project between Kazan and Moscow. The link will be a pilot program for a Moscow-Beijing railway that will link Russia, Kazakhstan and China, reports the state-run Reference News, a newspaper which selects articles from major international news agencies and journals and translates them into Chinese for readers in mainland China.

The agreement was signed by China's National Development and Reform Commission, Russia's transportation ministry, China Railway Corporation and Russian Railways (RZD). The design process for the railway may begin as early as this year or next year, according to RZD president Vladimir Yakunin.

The 770km-long railway spanning six Russian regions will reduce the travel time between Moscow and Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan from 11.5 hours to 3.5 hours. The project is the first part of a Moscow-Beijing railway project that will be over 7,000 km in length and will span Russia, Kazakhstan and China. China has built a Beijing-Urumqi railway that is set to open before the end of this year.

The two countries have been negotiating on Chinese investment on the part of the project between Moscow and Kazakhstan, the Russian railway company's first vice president Alexander Misharin said in September, according to Russian non-government news agency Interfax.

The railway project is one of multiple deals Premier Li Keqiang of China and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, signed during Li's visit to Russia on Monday. The deal includes a bilateral currency exchange of 150 billion yuan (US$24 billion) and 815 billion rubles (US$20 billion) over the next three years, co-development of long-haul wide-body aircraft and heavy helicopters, exploration of two natural gas fields, construction of a new natural gas pipeline and a part of the facilities at a Chinese nuclear plant, expansion of Russia's Zarubino port and information exchange between border customs of the two countries.