Russia High-speed rail in Europe

two experimental high-speed trainsets (designed 200 km/h operation) built in 1974: locomotive-hauled rt-200 ( russkaya troika ) , er-200 emu. rt-200 set made experimental runs in 1975 , 1980 , discontinued due unavailability of chs-200 high-speed locomotive – delivered later. er-200 emu put regular service in 1984. in 1992 second er-200 trainset built in riga. both sets in operation till 28 february 2009.

instead of these outdated domestic trainsets, imported trainsets have been in operation since march 2009. siemens velaro trainsets have operated since 2009 between saint petersburg , moscow, @ speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph) , since 2010 between nizhny novgorod , moscow, service limited 160 km/h (99 mph). pendolino sm6, similar finnish high-speed trains, began operation in 2010 between saint petersburg , finland @ 200 km/h (124 mph).

in february 2010 rzhd announced shortly release proposal new high-speed line built parallel existing line between saint petersburg , moscow due congestion on existing line. in april 2010 confirmed new moscow–saint petersburg high-speed line length of 660 km , running speed of 400 km/h envisioned, cutting journey time 3h 45m 2h 30m. expected line include stops @ both saint petersburg , moscow region airports. on 28 january 2011, russia announced high speed rail link between moscow , saint petersburg finished on time 2018 fifa world cup. cost expected somewhere around 10 15 billion euros, not including land purchases, said denis muratov, general director of high-speed rail lines. state shoulder 70 percent of construction costs, remainder coming outside investors. of money come international financial institutions, including world bank , european bank reconstruction , development, muratov said. sberbank, vtb , veb may interested. in fact, construction of new moscow–saint petersburg high-speed line didn t start.

instead of it, on 13 may 2015 russian government announced china railway group ltd build 400 km/h high speed rail link moscow kazan 2018 in time 2018 fifa world cup kazan 1 of cities host of football matches. cost of moscow–kazan link estimated @ $21.4 billion. train travel moscow kazan, capital of republic of tatarstan, shortened 3.5 hours instead of more 14 hours takes now. opening date later changed 2020.