The Eurasian Development Bank and Russian Railways agree to cooperate on the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway project

On 24 May, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian Railways and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) made an agreement to cooperate on the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway investment project.

The document was signed by Oleg Belozyorov, General Director and Chairman of the Executive Board at Russian Railways, and Andrey Beliyaninov, Chairman of the Management Board at the EDB.

Under the agreement, the parties intend to arrange finance for the project, including a contribution to the share capital of a special purpose vehicle, debt finance, and funds to be raised from international institutional investors. They also agreed to share information on project preparations and potential support measures.

Russian Railways continue to run the project to build the Moscow – Vladimir – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan high-speed railway, which is also a pilot section of the Eurasia (Berlin – Moscow – Beijing) international high-speed cargo and passenger rail corridor.

The new 770 km line is being designed by a consortium comprising Mosgiprotrans, Nizhegorodmetroproyekt, and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd. In total, over 50 entities, including Russia’s leading design companies, take part in the project.

Russia’s Glavgosexpertiza has approved design documentation for Phases 3, 4, 5 and 6 (a section from Zheleznodorozhnaya 23 km station in Moscow Region to Nizhny Novgorod Airport).

The railway line will cross seven Russian regions (Moscow and Moscow Region, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod Regions, the Chuvash Republic, the Mari El Republic, and the Republic of Tatarstan) and have 15 stops: five at large cities (Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Cheboksary, and Kazan) and ten at smaller towns. This will connect regions with a population of some 30 million people and provide them with an opportunity to get to the largest agglomerations within an hour. Since the railway line will link regional airports, it should become the basis for the development of a fundamentally new multimodal transport system that will combine rail, air and auto transport.

Original source: EDB
Published on 24 May 2018