CRI听力:China, Russia Enterprises Sign Contract on High Speed Rail

The deal inked this weekend on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will see Chinese engineers assist their Russian counterparts in the designing of a high-speed rail link connecting Moscow with the city of Kazan.

Kazan is around 770-kilometers southeast of Moscow.

The agreement, worth some 380-million US dollars, will see design engineers with the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group assist in the planning process for the new high-speed line for the next year-and-a-half.

Company executive Wu Limin.

"After several years' development, a complete design standard and specifications for Chinese high speed railways is now available. Russia has yet to build any high speed rail lines which can accomodate speeds of 400-kilometers per hour. So we hope we can share our thoughts and experiences with our Russian partners and help them to build their own system to standardize high speed railway construction."

Alexander Misharin, vice-President of Russian Railways, says they believe China was the best place to look for help in designing the Moscow-Kazan line.

"China has gained a lot of experience in high-speed railway construction, as well as technology research and development. China currently has the longest system of high-speed rail lines in the world, with over half the total mileage in the world. As such, Russia is going to benefit greatly from China's experience."

On top of the tangible benefits for Russia, the new agreement is also being viewed as a benefit to China's long-term economic strategy.

Li Yongquan with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says the deal will help develop the Chinese government's "One Belt, One Road" Initiative, as the Moscow-Kazan line is part of the Beijing-Moscow high-speed transport corridor.

"The successful implementation of the high-speed railway project in Russia is a landmark in bilateral cooperation between the two countries, especially in the infrastructure construction field. It's got decisive meaning for the expansion of the project in the future."

The Eryuan Engineering Group outbid around 100 different companies to secure the design rights for the new rail line from Moscow to Kazan.

The roughly 30-billion US dollar project will eventually cut travel time between the Russian capital and Kazan to around 3-and-a-half hours.

For CRI, I am Xie Cheng.