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Europe, China show interest in high-speed railway line between St Petersburg, Hamburg via Minsk
Grigory Rapota. An archive photo
MOSCOW, 28 November (BelTA) – The idea of building a high-speed railway line between St Petersburg and Hamburg via Minsk, Warsaw, and Berlin in addition to a high-speed railway line between Moscow and Minsk has piqued the interest of Europe and China, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Grigory Rapota.
“Several foreign companies – both European and Chinese ones – which are interested in taking part in such a project have already contacted us,” Grigory Rapota said.
The official is convinced that the project will be implemented sooner or later. The route may be slightly different, he admitted. “Because the entire world, particularly our part – Europe and Eurasia – needs high-speed communications lines. Everyone already seems pregnant with the idea. It has to be born sooner or later in the form of implemented projects. We absolutely follow the general trends in this regard.”
According to Grigory Rapota, once the idea of building this railway line was mentioned, financial institutions and railway companies showed their interest. “Even humanitarians have shown their interest because it is not a simple railway project, it is a social economic one,” he stressed. “Look at the map: Russian industrial centers are located to the east of Moscow. The most powerful ones are in the area of the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. There are forests and swamps everywhere from Moscow to Smolensk, Pskov or Bryansk. We are geographically separated from each other. It is a problem for us to visit each other for business or pleasure. And aircraft cannot always transport that many passengers.”
The state secretary noted that railway communications between Russia and Belarus are technologically backward. “Take a look at the railway line between St Petersburg and Minsk: it is a single-track railway line with passing sidings the likes we had at the beginning of the 20th century,” he pointed out.
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