MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. Construction of the main section of Russia’s first high-speed railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, may begin in the first half of 2025, Deputy Transport Minister Alexey Shilo told reporters. Earlier it was planned that construction would begin in 2024.
"We must clearly understand that the Moscow-St. Petersburg HSR consists of seven stages. This includes the HSR itself plus entrances and exits to Moscow, St. Petersburg. The construction of entrances has already begun. So, we can say that the Moscow-St. Petersburg is already under construction. But for this main section, where we planned an elevated passage of the highway itself and so on, we will have the design documentation ready, hopefully, in the first half of next year. After that, we will be able to start its construction," he said.
In September 2024, in an interview with TASS, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev said that construction of the Moscow-Tver section was expected to start in September of this year. In December, he told TASS that construction of the HSR had not yet begun, and that design work was underway.
Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit also said that construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg HSR could begin this year.
About first high-speed railway in Russia
The construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg high-speed railway is envisaged by the draft Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 with a forecast for the period until 2035. The highway is intended for passenger traffic, it will pass through the territory of six Russian regions: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Novgorod, Tver and Moscow regions. The project targets provide for an increase in high-speed passenger traffic between the two cities from about 5 million passengers to 23 million by 2030.
According to the order of the Russian government, the design and construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg high-speed railway is planned for 2024-2028, and commissioning is scheduled for the second quarter of 2028.