High Speed Rail Between Moscow and St Petersburg

The Russia government have agreed on the construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg high-speed railway (HSR) and it will begin before the end 2024. Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit told journalists on Saturday 20 July.

According to the minister, the first meeting after the signing of the concession agreement for the construction was held on 19 July. At the moment, specialists are determining the form of project management, specifying the route and location of transfer hubs, Starovoit added.

"This will have a direct impact on passenger flow, comfort and safety," the head of the Ministry of Transport emphasised.

The VSM is an electrified, double-track railway line for the operation of trains at speeds of 200 to 400 km/h.
Earlier, on 25 April, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin said that large banks, structures, Moscow and the regions have agreed on the building a high-speed railway. He added that a lot of work was being done to create special trains.

On 14 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that plans to build the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway and the seventh power unit of the Leningrad nuclear power plant would be implemented at the highest level. The president called the rail link motorway between Moscow and the northern capital the flagship of this activity. He recalled that the high-speed railway will pass through the territory of six subjects of the Russian Federation, where about 20% of the country's population lives - about 30 million people.
The Minister Vitaly Savelyev said that HSR trains will run every 10-15 minutes and the journey from Moscow to St Petersburg will take 2 hours 15 minutes instead of four. The project will be carried out on a public-private partnership basis under a concession agreement. Approximately 1.7 trillion roubles will be needed to build the HSR, and the first trains are scheduled to run in 2028. Here is how Russia's first high-speed railway will be built, who will be involved and how its creation will affect the country's economy.
A High Speed Railway (HSR) is an electrified double track railway line designed for trains travelling at speeds of 200 to 400 km/h. In Russia, the first HSR line will be the Moscow-St. Petersburg HSR.

It will pass through the territory of six Russian subjects: the federal cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver and the Moscow region. According to Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, the journey time between Moscow and St Petersburg will be reduced from 4 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes, the journey from Moscow to Tver will take only 39 minutes, and from St Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod it will take 29 minutes. In addition, the trains will run at short intervals - every 10-15 minutes, and there will be a total of 12 stops along the route.
In 2023, Russian Railways announced the completion of the design for the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway. The total length of the line will be 680 km and the maximum train speed will be 250-360 km/h. It is planned to create two types of trains - "Business" and "Standard". The first will include higher service classes, and the "standard" will include five service classes: business, economy, family, tourist and bistro.

The trains for the Moscow-St. Petersburg High-Speed Railway are planned to be built on the basis of the production facilities of the Sinara Group and Transmashholding (TMH). Their design has been underway since 2020. Vitaly Savelyev also reported that a prototype of the Russian train will be created in 2026, and the first 28 high-speed trains will be produced by 2028. Construction of the high-speed railway is expected to be completed by the same year. At the moment, the railway exits of the high-speed sections from Moscow are already being created.
At a meeting to discuss the plan for the construction of the highway, the Minister of Transport announced the creation of a shareholder company for the project, “VSM Dve Stolitsy”.

“The Federal Agency for Railway Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia is expected to be designated as the concession grantor,” stated Vitaly Savelyev.

The financing structure was proposed to be built as follows. Contributions to the authorized capital of the concessionaire will amount to 218.5 billion rubles, bonds of the Gazfond pension fund - 290 billion, loans from Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank, which are ready to participate in the project, - 903.8 billion. State support in the amount of 609 billion will also be required, of which 580.6 billion is a loan from the National Welfare Fund at 3% with full repayment by 2050, and the rest is a capital grant for the purchase of land plots.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway will be the starting point for the development of high-speed rail services in the country. In the future, it is planned to create such a service in the direction of Ryazan, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Adler and the capital of Belarus, Minsk.
The pilot project for the construction of a high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg will be implemented on the basis of a public-private partnership under a concession agreement.
According to Vitaly Savelyev, the railway will be built in stages, including the construction of two sections and the purchase of new trains. The St Petersburg-Zelenograd section will be built on a concession basis, at an estimated cost of 1.755 trillion roubles. As part of the Russian Railways' investment programme, it is planned to build a branch line from Moscow, which will cost 221 billion roubles. At present, Russian Railways has already earmarked 40 billion roubles for the project. The purchase of the first batch of 28 trains on the basis of Sinar and Transmashholding will require 148 billion roubles.

One of the possible options for financing the project is to obtain up to 580 billion roubles from the National Welfare Fund (NWF). The total investment in the construction of the high-speed railway is estimated at 1.7 trillion roubles.
The Minister of Transport noted that of this amount, 3 billion roubles will be needed in 2024 and 299.4 billion roubles in 2027-2038 to subsidise operating activities to cover cash gaps at the beginning of construction and during operation of the line. Only 69.1 billion roubles will be needed by 2030.

Representatives of federal ministries, departments and regions through which the highway will pass took part in the discussion on the implementation of the HSR project. The Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, announced his readiness to participate financially in the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railroad as a concessionaire. He noted that the project will require almost 610 billion roubles in funding from the federal budget.

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, also said that the capital would contribute financially to the project.
"The Moscow government will carry out all the instructions of the Russian president on the implementation of the HSR-1 project and will ensure the integration of the entire city transport infrastructure with the future high-speed train stops planned at Leningradsky, Rizhskaya, Petrovsko-Razumovskaya and Zelenograd-Kryukovo city stations," he said.

The Mayor stressed that tens of thousands of new jobs will be created in the areas adjacent to the high-speed railway, and the best construction and engineering resources of our country will be involved in the construction of the infrastructure and trains. As a result, the quality of life of more than 30 million Russians will be significantly improved.
According to Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, the creation of high-speed routes in the country will increase the capacity of railways, relieve airports and contribute to the growth of domestic tourism.

According to his report, presented at a meeting on the creation of the HSR, the construction of a separate passenger line for the HSR will help return freight traffic to the main route between Moscow and St. Petersburg, which in 2030 will provide an additional effect of 30 million tons of freight, and the total volume will be 74 million tons. In addition, by 2030, passenger traffic between St. Petersburg and Moscow will increase by 35% - to 43.4 million passengers , of which 23 million will be on the HSR. This will affect the reduction in aircraft loads , since the outflow of airline passengers will be 14% - 3.2 million people should switch to the HSR.
The government noted that the opening of the high-speed railway will also ensure job growth, an increase in tax revenues and the formation of industrial clusters in the area where the railway passes through all areas.