The megaproject will make it easier to travel from Beijing to Moscow and reduce travel time, according to municipal authorities in the Chinese capital.
The high-speed rail line connecting Beijing and Moscow will cost an estimated 1.5 trillion yuan ($242 billion), according to Bloomberg.
The railway will have a total length of 7,000 kilometers. It will cross Kazakhstan, and the travel time will be about two days, according to Bloomberg, citing a statement by the Chinese government on the social media platform Weibo. The railway will bring the two cities closer together and significantly reduce travel time by land.
The agency notes that China is promoting high-tech railway technology internationally and emphasizes that this project is being announced against the backdrop of a sharp deterioration in relations between the U.S. and Europe on one side and Russia on the other.
In October 2014, the Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways, on the one hand, and China Railway and the State Development and Reform Commission, on the other, signed a memorandum of understanding regarding high-speed railways. Russian Railways reported at the time that the purpose of signing the document was to build a high-speed rail line between Moscow and Beijing, which would include the Moscow-Kazan section.
