Very soon, the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway will link two states, China and Russia. The preliminary cost of the project is equal to 1.5 trillion yuan, or 242 billion dollars. The total length of the road will be 7 thousand kilometers. The travel time from one point to another will be 2 days, and the road itself will be laid through the territory of Kazakhstan.
Minimum travel time
Today, China is actively offering its innovative technologies in the construction of international railways. One of these projects should be the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway. The news spread all over the world very quickly, especially considering the cooled relations between America, Europe and Russia in conjunction with the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's attempts to recover from the stunning collapse of the international oil market. In October 2014, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Chinese Railway Construction Corporation and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Russian Railways and the PRC State Committee for Development and Reform in the field of high-speed rail services. The main objective of the document was the development of the project of the Eurasian transport corridor of high-speed type, the structure of which will include the Moscow-Kazan highway.
History of the idea
High-speed railway Moscow-Beijing at the idea level has existed for quite some time. The project should be a great alternative for those who do not want to travel through the air. The idea was transferred to the level of the ongoing project against the backdrop of the activation of purchases in America, the delivery of which is guaranteed by specialists as soon as possible. The high-speed railway project should provide countries such as China and Russia with decent competitiveness in the international market. As mentioned above, according to Russian Railways, the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway will cost countries 7 trillion rubles. Chinese partners are ready to invest in the construction of the road an amount equivalent to 4 trillion rubles, all other expenses will be borne by the Russian budget. Today, active negotiations are underway to allocate funds for the construction of a road along the Moscow-Kazan route as part of an international project.
What delays the construction of the road?
The period when the Moscow-Beijing expressway begins to be built is still little known. This is due to the protracted resolution of financing issues. Given the situation that has developed in Russia today, despite the fact that China is ready to take on most of the costs, the country is simply not ready to incur such massive financial expenses. 3 trillion rubles are today unbearable capital for the state. It is highly likely that private investors will be involved in the implementation of the project.
Technical points and preliminary solutions
Information provided by correspondents for The Beijing Times suggests an active discussion of railway construction between countries. The first step towards the implementation of the project should be the path from Moscow to Kazan. The start of the route is planned to be equipped in Beijing, then the road will go through cities such as Khabarovsk and Ulan Bator, Irkutsk and Astana, Yekaterinburg. The final destination will be Moscow. The finished high-speed railway will be three times longer than the high-speed highway operating today between Beijing and Guangzhou. The travel time between cities after the implementation of the project will not be six days, but only two. Today, only two trains run between the capitals of the two states during the week. The route was opened back in 1954. The Trans-Siberian Railway is considered the longest in the world. It stretched from Moscow to Vladivostok. It crosses 400 stations, and its length is 9288 kilometers.
The first difficulties and the first cardinal steps
The Beijing-Moscow high- speed train is unlikely to reach its route in the short term. As mentioned above, the first stage of the project, which in the future will connect the territories of the two states, should be the Moscow-Kazan road, the preliminary cost of which was too high for Russia. To attract investors, Gazprombank held a road show worth a total of 1.06 trillion rubles in cities such as Beijing and Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. According to preliminary information, a number of meetings with potential partners around the world have already taken place:
- May 14 - in Singapore.
- May 15 - in Shanghai.
- May 16 - in Beijing.
In the future, the visit of Gazprom Bank representatives to Taipei, to the capital of Taiwan, is being considered. According to Russian Railways, meetings with Asian investors were planned for several months. The East has to be attracted to partnership due to tough sanctions from the West. The message from the “Phedron” said that the Moscow-Beijing expressway would not be built in the next few years. The implementation of the first part of the project, the HSR between Moscow and Kazan, may be postponed until 2020. This is due to the fact that Russian Railways has not yet been able to find an investor.
The first stage of the project
The state budget of the country and Russian Railways intend to allocate 191.9 billion rubles for the first stage of the project. Other sections of the route, such as Vladimir – Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod – Cheboksary, Cheboksary – Kazan, are planned to be equipped with concessions. This was announced by the Ministry of Transport on January 29, 2015. For the first time, residents of the region, within the framework of which the expressway will be implemented, learned about the project only at the beginning of 2015. A new path will be laid parallel to the federal highway M-7, known as the Volga. The composition will make stops. In particular, in Vladimir the station will be located in Sukhodol.
What do the inhabitants of the regions say?
The Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway, on a map that passes through a fairly large section of territories, caused a mixed reaction among people who would have to live next door with it. There are those worried about the alleged damage that will hit farmland, forests, and mature stacking. Authorities officially announced that at each site on which construction will be carried out, all activities will be preliminarily agreed with the population. One of the sources of information says that if you can find a sponsor, then the SCM will be open in 2018. The maximum speed on the road will be 400 kilometers per hour, which will shorten the path from Moscow to Kazan from 11 hours to 3.5.
Duties of the parties
The Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway, the scheme of which is theoretically very attractive and profitable, in accordance with preliminary plans, should begin its work from 2018 to 2020. In the future, the Chinese side is committed to providing its technology for the project. The country is ready to take full responsibility for planning and construction. In exchange for large-scale assistance, China is ready to accept energy from Russia.
Until December 15, 2014, it was planned to develop the conditions under which Chinese companies will be able to take part in the implementation of the project. Information about whether it was possible to draw up an agreement is still hidden from the public. The right to design the Moscow-Kazan highway project was won by the Russian-Chinese consortium managed by Mostgiprotrans OJSC with the active participation of Nizhegorodmetroproekt OJSC and CREEC (China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd.). The price of the contract for this category of work is equal to 20 billion rubles, but excluding VAT.
Project Analysts
The Moscow-Beijing High - Speed Railway is a highly priority and promising project, but this does not prevent analysts from being skeptical. They say that the timing of the launch of the HSR in the context of 2018-2020 is unrealistic. According to Alexei Bezborodov, who holds the post of CEO of InfraNews, in the next decade the project also fails to launch. The basis for this attitude was the official statement of the representative of Russian Railways that at the moment there is no concrete plan of action for the construction of the high-speed rail. There is only a high probability that the Moscow – Kazan road will in the future be extended to Yekaterinburg and beyond.
Who will benefit from the construction of the expressway?
The Moscow-Beijing expressway will bring certain advantages not only for Russian Railways, but also for states as a whole. This is due to the agglomeration effects that will occur as the population settles during the implementation of the project. In the expected future, the high-speed line should increase GRP in the regions by 30–70%. Additional income from the road will correspond to at least 11 trillion rubles in the first decade of the project’s operation. This figure was presented by a group of economic institutions led by the Ministry of Economic Development. If the HSR does appear, only in the territory of Vladimir Region alone will the GRP increase by 38%. This is about plus 84 billion rubles. By 2030, this figure will increase by 58%, or in monetary terms - by 131 billion rubles. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, the expected economic growth is 39%, or 252 billion rubles, but by 2030 it should be at least 76%, or 496 billion. In Chuvashia, an increase of 13%, or 20 billion rubles, is expected. By 2025, the jump will be 28%, or 43 billion rubles. In Tatarstan, the expected economic growth by 2025 will be equal to 27%, or 274 billion rubles.