it’s time for a high-speed highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg – Kommersant

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after ceremonies opening of the MCD-3, that the time has come for the implementation of a high-speed railway line (HSR) from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In his opinion, after the highway should be brought to Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Kazan, Donetsk, Lugansk and other cities. He also said that he would discuss the construction of such a road to Minsk with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“The project of a high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg has been discussed by us for a long time. It seems to me that now we have really come to the possibility of its implementation,” Mr. Putin said.

“Let’s get to work. We recently discussed this with Sergei Semenovich, with the chairman of the board, the head of Sberbank. Banks, of course, will be involved in this work, they see both economic and financial prospects for themselves. I’m sure we’ll succeed,” added He.

As the president noted, the travel time via high-speed rail between Moscow and St. Petersburg will be 2 hours and 15 minutes instead of today’s 4 hours, between Moscow and Adler – 10 hours. “It’s a completely different story for those who go on vacation to the south,” he said.

Vladimir Putin added that the direction of the HSR to Minsk would be in demand among Russians and Belarusians. “It would be necessary to work out this issue (on the creation of a high-speed highway) with the government of Belarus, I will talk with the president,” he said.

Now in Russia there are no high-speed highways. The first high-speed rail line should be between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In July, the deputy head of Russian Railways, Andrei Makarov, reported that the time frame for its construction could increase due to insufficient funding. This year, instead of 40 billion rubles. 12 billion rubles were allocated for the implementation of the project.

More details – in the material “Kommersant” “Highway slows down”.

Olesya Pavlenko