‘We need to move towards Kazan’: Vladimir Putin — on implementation of high-speed railway

Russia's President Vladimir Putin stated that the country has approached the implementation of the high-speed railway from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The head of the state added that other cities, including Kazan, should be included in the project in the future.

“Then, of course, we need to move towards Nizhny Novgorod, to Voronezh, and from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan, from Kazan to the Ural region," the head of the state said.

He stressed that this will not only reduce the travel time from one large agglomeration to another, but also improve the connectivity of the country, as well as push for the development of educational and scientific spheres.

The Russian president also said that he would talk with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko about creating a high-speed highway between Moscow and Minsk.

“I think it would be necessary to work out this issue with the government of Belarus, I will talk to the president. The Minsk direction would be in great demand by both our citizens and citizens of Belarus," the head of the state said.

Vladimir Putin added that domestic banks are ready to join projects to create high-speed railways in the country.

“Banks will be involved in this work, they see good economic and financial prospects for themselves. I am sure we will succeed," the president added.

The Moscow-Kazan HSR project has been discussed for several years as a priority in the development of high-speed traffic on railways. In April 2019, it became known that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the start of the design of the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed highway.

In 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that the construction project of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway was postponed due to its high cost. In 2021, Khusnullin expressed the opinion that “it is necessary to build a high-speed railway both to St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, with a subsequent extension to Kazan and Yekaterinburg.”

In November 2021, the head of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Vitaly Saveliev, reported that the decision on the HSR had not been finally made. He pointed out that if the highway is still built, it will primarily be aimed at transporting passengers, and the vacant railway line will be used for cargo transportation. And a year later, the department returned to the idea of considering the possibility of creating a high-speed railway connection between Moscow, Vladimir, and Kazan.

In addition to the railway line, Kazan and Moscow will be additionally connected by a highway. While delivering a message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in the future the M12 highway would have access to Kazakhstan and China.