Last year Russian Railways announced that China agreed to provide a 400 billion-ruble ($6.2 billion) loan to build a high-speed rail project between Moscow and Kazan, a city 800km east of the Russian capital.
According to Russian news agency Sputnik, which cites The China Daily newspaper, this project is scheduled for completion in 2020. The trains will be able to run at 400 kilometers an hour, but the actual average speed will not exceed 300 kilometers an hour, taking into consideration financial and security reasons.
Even though the Russian railways network requires trains to run on a 1,520mm track, the Chinese side hopes that the trains operating on the Moscow-Kazan railway will be running on the standard 1,435mm tracks used in Europe and China.
The project might become the initial stage of connecting Moscow and Beijing, with a view of extending it further into Western Europe.
According to Sputnik, such a transcontinental extension would cost more than $230 billion, run over 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) in length and take in Kazakhstan along the route.
The current travel time along the route between Beijing and Moscow running across northeastern China is about seven days. With the new rail line in place, the travel time will be down to just 24 hours.
Railways for growth
Russia and China have also discussed the possible construction of a rail line to run from northeastern China to the Bering Strait via East Siberia.
“The East Siberian region is rich in minerals and coal, and the rail line would streamline transportation and resource distribution in the region. Without railways there is no growth,” The China Daily wrote.
Ziyavudin Magomedov, a top businessman from Dagestan and an investor in Hyperloop One, also believes that this US high speed train technology will contribute to the Russia-China economic integration.
“In the long term, Hyperloop could catalyze the development of regional economic integration, including the Eurasian Economic Union and the Chinese initiative ‘One Belt, One Road,’” he was quoted as saying last year, in a reference to China’s Eurasian projects ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and ’21st Century Maritime Silk Road.’
