Construction cost of "Moscow - Kazan" railway is estimated at 1 trillion rubles - Transport Minister

UFA, 10 July 2015. /Bashinform News Agency, Rozaliya Valeeva/. The cost of construction of the first high-speed railway from Moscow to Kazan, which will be one of the sections of the international highway "Moscow - Beijing," according to preliminary data, is estimated at 1 trillion rubles. This was announced by the Transport Minister RF Maxim Sokolov at a press conference in Ufa.

"However, the final figures will be known after the completion of design work by the end of 2016", Maxim Sokolov added.

The press conference was devoted to issues of cooperation in the field of transport development in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

"Two of six transport corridors are going over the territory of Russia,” the minister said. “The main one is Western China - Europe, with total length 8,700 km. This route runs for 2,200 km over the territory of Russia, 2,800 km in Kazakhstan, 3400 km in China".

Recall that it starts at the Asia-Pacific region and ends in the port of St. Petersburg.

As it became known during the press conference, a part of the route between Moscow and St. Petersburg will be ready by 2018. The route will go along the existing highway M7 - the Volga, and over the territory of Chuvashia it will enter Tatarstan, and will pass through the territory of Bashkortostan, then going to Orenburg.

Speaking about the development of railway communication, Maxim Sokolov noted that great attention was paid to this issue regarding the reconstruction of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainline.

"Thus, we create competitive advantages for the geopolitical position of our country", the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation said.