Russian Railways eyes high-speed rails to Kazan, Rostov-on-Don

MOSCOW, Jun 5 (PRIME) -- Besides construction of a high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russian Railways also has plans to build railways from Moscow to Kazan and Rostov-on-Don, CEO Oleg Belozyorov said in an interview to Kultura television channel broadcast on June 4.

Russia currently has no high-speed railways, and the government previously decided to build the Moscow–St. Petersburg railway first. Belozyorov said that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was ready to chair a final government meeting to discuss the terms and investment of the construction, but there are also plans for construction of other high-speed railways.

“The Moscow–Kazan railway … is being planned, the Moscow–Rostov-on-Don is also in our plans, and I mean short-term plans,” he said.

He also spoke about an experiment when a train was built with special containers that could carry cargoes by high-speed railways.

“You can transport cargoes by high-speed trains. It will not be coal transportation, it is obvious, but we could transport cargoes with high added value,” he said, adding that high-speed railways could become the next step not only in the passenger transportation, but in the cargo transportation as well.

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