The project of the high-speed rail line from Chelyabinsk to Yekaterinburg has been included in the National Spatial Development Strategy 2025. The National Spatial Development Strategy Framework was published by the Government on 14 February 2019. RWM Capital Investment Group is a part of the project implementation team. Among all the high speed rail projects of the Russian Railway Transport Development Strategy 2030, only two became part of the National Spatial Development Strategy 2025: Moscow – Kazan and Chelyabinsk – Yekaterinburg.
“We’ve been always interested in regional infrastructure projects. So it was only natural that we decided to partake in the Chelyabinsk – Yekaterinburg high-speed railway construction, by far the biggest national infrastructure project. To do that, the Company entered the Ural High-Speed Rail Partnership and signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Government of the Chelyabinsk region. At present RWM Capital is actively involved in pre-implementation activities of the project. Along with other private investors, members of the Partnership, we take part in project financing activities. We are glad that the number of the Partnership’s investors grows. But of course it will be strenuous to implement such an ambitious project without support of the Federal Government,” said Feliks Blinov, CEO of the RWM Capital Investment Group.
The cost of the development and construction of the project is put at more than RUB 300bn, with implementation planned through a public-private partnership concession agreement. It is planned to begin construction in 2021 for commissioning in 2025. After the railway has been finished, it will take only 1 hour (not 4 or 5 hours as it takes now) at a speed of 350 km/h to travel from Chelyabinsk to Yekaterinburg.
