Andrei Nikitin: Time of High Speeds

Andrey Nikitin — Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation

Let us remember: not long ago many digital solutions seemed remote to us, and now they have become routine in Moscow. The regions are catching up. The capital sets the tone — a genuinely exemplary digital ecosystem for public transport has been built there, and colleagues share the experience with other federal subjects. In St. Petersburg you can already pay for the metro by biometrics; driverless trams are appearing on the streets; Russian-developed artificial intelligence is being actively embedded in urban electric transport.

The Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed main line (VSM‑1 — Vysokoskorostnaya Magistral, High-Speed Main Line) is about a new transport reality. What matters to us is not simply how long a passenger spends in the carriage, but how long the journey takes door to door. The picture looks like this: a person leaves home in Moscow, goes down to the metro, boards an electric bus or tram — and is already at the station. Then the high-speed train. In St. Petersburg a connection to city transport, and you have arrived. Fast, comfortable, without stress or delays. That is the system we are building toward.

Russia has been talking about high-speed trains for half a century or more. In 1972 a programme was adopted to raise speeds between Moscow and Leningrad. A year later the prototype ER200 proved that speeds above 200 km/h were achievable in our climate too. The 1990s saw the development of the dual-system Sokol‑250; in the 2000s the Sapsan was adapted to Russia’s 1,520 mm broad gauge.

Speed is an acute issue for Russia. With our distances, it simply cannot be dispensed with. Fail to address it and we will fall out of the global economic race — and quality of life will follow. Building HSR is one of the answers. Over distances between 300 and 1,000 km, a high-speed main line objectively outperforms civil aviation when measured door to door.

We are now building the first line, Moscow-St. Petersburg, and testing unique technologies as we go. Will other routes follow? Yes — the President has spoken about this, and all the routes are in active development. The HSR to Minsk, for instance, could become the Union State’s (Soyuznoye gosudarstvo — the political union of Russia and Belarus established in 1999) flagship project: journey time could potentially be cut from the current seven hours to two and a half. We are looking at a line to Adler — which would bring the southern resorts to within eight hours instead of a day’s travel. And another key link: Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg, which would knit Central Russia together with the Volga region and the Urals.

We are now building the first line, Moscow-St. Petersburg, and testing unique technologies as we go. Will other routes follow? Yes — the President has spoken about this, and all the routes are in active development. The HSR to Minsk, for instance, could become the Union State’s (Soyuznoye gosudarstvo — the political union of Russia and Belarus established in 1999) flagship project: journey time could potentially be cut from the current seven hours to two and a half. We are looking at a line to Adler — which would bring the southern resorts to within eight hours instead of a day’s travel. And another key link: Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg, which would knit Central Russia together with the Volga region and the Urals.

But there is no need — and no case — for building a dedicated HSR line on every route. There will certainly not be one from Moscow to Vladivostok: over distances above 1,000 km the aircraft is more efficient. Which is why, in parallel with building the high-speed main line, we are also developing both high-speed rail and motorway networks.

Truly large-scale state projects that change the quality of people’s lives always require the right moment. In the case of HSR, everything converged: political will, the maturity of industry and science, and an enormous public demand for a new quality of everyday life. In 2024 the President took the historic decision to build the first high-speed main line between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today, with the project in full swing, it is clear that the country is ready for challenges of a new order.

The main benefits of VSM‑1 will be felt by ordinary people. Construction is already creating jobs across several regions; and once it opens, the line will reshape the labour market and business activity. Two hours between the capitals means a business trip becomes a single working day without overnight stays. The growth in tourism will breathe new life into small businesses and historic towns along the route. Once the first line launches, the operating pattern for the Sapsan and Aurora trains will change too — they will be redistributed to other routes, giving a boost to transport development in places that are currently operating at full capacity.

But for HSR, time is not only a passenger category — it is an economic one. The high-speed main line will absorb the high-speed passenger traffic and free existing infrastructure for freight. The Moscow-St. Petersburg corridor will gain additional freight capacity of approximately 30 million tonnes per year. In effect we are gaining a new freight artery without laying additional track — a colossal saving of resources. There is another critical point: without relieving the St. Petersburg node it is impossible to grow freight flows northward — toward Arkhangelsk, Karelia, Murmansk, and the Arctic ports. VSM‑1 becomes the key to developing an entire strategic corridor.

This is how transport policy becomes the management of time — in concrete numbers.

In 2026 it would be hard to find anyone who seriously disputes that time is our principal, most valuable resource. Mobility has become the most important driver of the economy. This is a basic reality, and it must be worked with now — managing time effectively, and at times getting ahead of it. Setting a new rhythm: for ourselves and for future generations.