Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced Sept. 16, at a “Strategic Session on Rapid Transport System Development,” that President Vladimir Putin has approved “the development scheme of a high-speed travel” network, whose length “will exceed 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).” Mishustin announced the high-speed rail (HSR) network in a businesslike tone, but it is closer to what one observer described as a “civilizational wager.”
Mishustin asserted, “First of all, we are building a backbone road network that will interconnect all Russian regions. We are building railway lines, including in the Far East.”
The domestically built trains, which will run at up to 400 kph, will connect Moscow to St. Petersburg (679 km); to Yekaterinburg via Kazan (1,740 km); to Ryazan; to Sochi (through Rostov); to Krasnodar; to Minsk, Belarus, and potentially to Berlin and other cities.
The flagship line will connect Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2006, Siemens and Russian Railways signed an order for eight high-speed trains, with a 30-year service contract. The lead train for the route is the Sapsan (Peregrine), which Siemens designed and manufactured, with a travelling speed of 250 kph (155 mph), although its design allows for a potential upgrade to 350 kph. But after Russia launched the special military operation in February 2022, Siemens pulled out of the Russian contract. That spurred Russia to design its own high-speed train unit—one more example in which the Collective West’s boycott and sanctions against Russia forced Moscow to accelerate the development of its own scientific and technological capabilities.
