The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Siemens Mobility, together with the Economic Partnership Ural High-Speed Rail have agreed on a joint project to construct the Ural High-Speed Rail. The agreement was signed on 15 February at the Munich Security Conference.
The total investment in the project is EUR 4 billion (RUB 300 billion) and envisages the construction of a new double-track high-speed railway between the cities of Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg. The 220-km rail link would allow trains to travel at speeds of 300 km/h.
Construction works will begin in 2021 with commissioning scheduled for 2025.
“The project to build a high-speed railway linking Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, each with a population of more than one million, is of strategic importance not only for these regions, but also for the whole country. It will help create the third largest urban area in Russia with a population of four million people,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF, said.
The project will be implemented within the framework of a concession agreement and will also include the construction of related infrastructure. This will include four railway stations (Balandino and Koltsovo airports, Snezhinsk and Sysert), 10 intermediate stations and station complexes, four traction substations, a depot for high-speed rolling stock and a control building for the rail link.
Construction of the railway line will begin in 2021 with commissioning scheduled for 2025.
“The formation of a consortium of partners is one of the key priorities in the preparation of the project to construct a high-speed railway between Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg. (…) we expect the project to be included in the Comprehensive Plan for the Modernization and Development of Mainline Infrastructure until 2024, as well as the completion of negotiations on concession terms and conditions, signing the concession agreement and launching the design,” said Sergey Brevnov, CEO of the Economic Partnership Ural High-Speed Rail.
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