German businesses may finance Moscow-Kazan high speed railway
Total cost of the railway line estimated at $16.8 billion
German consortium has put forward a proposal to Russian Railways that it will finance the Moscow-Kazan high speed railway for the sum of 2.7 bln euros and attract up to 800 mln euros, First Vice-President of Russian railways Alexander Misharin told reporters.
"It concerns 2.7 bln euros, plus 800 mln euros," he said.
A representative of the High-Speed Rail Lines company (a subsidiary of Russian Railways that acts as a client for the design of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail section), the consortium held consultations with the German government, the Euler Hermes export insurance agency and German banks. As a result, the consortium sees an opportunity to organize the project financing worth 2.7 bln euros. In addition, it is possible that the German partners and other competent international institutional investors may provide investment guarantee of Germany to ensure direct investments in the amount of up to 800 mln euros, the representative said.
Russia to build new high-speed railway with funding from Beijing
The German Initiative consortium includes Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn and other companies.
The total cost of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway line is estimated at 1.068 trillion rubles ($16.8 billion). The Moscow-Kazan section may later be extended to China, connecting the two countries across Kazakhstan. According to the Russian Railways, the length of Moscow-Beijing railroad will be 7769 km, travel time - 32.8 hours (four times faster compared to current 130.4 hours). The average annual passenger traffic is estimated at 195 million people.
The Moscow-Kazan High Speed Railway’s total length will stand at around 770 kilometers. Trains may go at a speed of 350-400 kilometers per hour, and the time en route between the two cities could be 3-3.5 hours against the current 14 hours.
Source: TASS