# Moscow–Saint Petersburg high-speed railway

Moscow–Saint Petersburg high-speed railway (Russian ВСМ Москва — Санкт-Петербург), also known as VSM-1 is a high-speed railway line under construction in Russia.

## History

In 2020, Russian Railways reported construction was scheduled to begin in 2021. The journey time was planned to take approximately 2 hours 19 minutes, and the length of the line would be 679 km.
In November 2021, reports suggested it was likely for the project to be abandoned favouring possible upgrades to the existing Saint Petersburg-Moscow railway.
In August 2023, president Vladimir Putin announced his support for taking the project forward, as well as making progress towards Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Kazan.
On December 15, 2023, the Russian minister of transport, Vitaly Savelyev, said that they have formed the main parameters of implementation and developed a financial and organizational model.
Construction began in March 2024.
Estimates placed cost more than 2.3 trillion rubles ($25.97 billion), and will be built by VSM Two Capitals, a Russian company, using both state and private money, under concession. The Russian government plans to allocate more than 300 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund at 1% in 2025, and 328 billion rubles in subsidies in the period between 2024 and 2038. In total, it is estimated 580 billion rubles will need to be allocated form the National Wealth Fund, with the remaining amount coming sources such as VTB, Sberbank and Gazprombank (state-owned banks).
Sberbank arranged two syndicated loans, involving VTB (providing 400 billion rubles) and Sovcombank, for the construction of the new line and the rolling stock. The line is expected to cost 1.788 trillion rubles ($16.55 billion) to build.

## Route

The line was planned to be 679 km long, and will serve 16 stations (including 4 intermediate stations within Moscow).
The planned stations as of 2024 are, in Moscow Oblast: Moscow-Leningradsky, Rizhskaya, Petrovsky-Razumovskaya, Zelenograd-Kryukovo and Vysokovo, in Tver Oblast: New Tver, Logovezh and Vypolzovo, in Novgorod Oblast: Valday, Gorki, Veliky Novgorod and Tigoda, in Leningrad Oblast: Zharovskaya, and in Saint Petersburg: Obukhovo-2 and Moskovsky railway station.

## Operation

Trains will run in service consistently at 250 km/h, while the line is reported to be designed to handle speeds of 400 km/h.
The line is estimated to cut travel time between Moscow and St Petersburg to 2 hours 15 minutes, running at 15-20 minute headways, later increasing in frequency to 10–15 minutes by 2030.

## Rolling stock

A previous venture to produce high speed trains with Siemens, a company which manufactured the Velaro RUS trains on the Sapsan service, was unsuccessful due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, following which Siemens exited the Russian market and the joint venture.
In April 2024, a 12 billion ruble ($119.6 million) contract was signed with Ural Locomotives (a subsidiary of Sinara Group) to produce 2 pre-series trains. The trains will be 8 cars long, with a design speed of 400 km/h, and a maximum operational speed of 360 km/h.
In September 2024, an agreement for 41 trainsets was signed by GTLK, a Russian state lessor, and VSM Two Capitals (VSM Dve Stolitsy), the concessionaire, at the 'Manezh Station - Moscow Transport 2030' exhibition, which included a mock-up of the design, in Manezhnaya Square, Moscow. In addition to the pre-series trains, it brings the total number of trains on order to 43, to be delivered by 2030.
They will be branded as 'Bely Krechet' (white gyrfalcon) trains, alongside other Russian train designs named after birds.
The trains will be composed of 8 or 16 cars, with 4 classes of seating and a bistro car. 8 car trains will have 454 seats (21 first, 68 business, 135 standard, and 230 'comfort' seats). Designs are to be finalised by Q1 2026, with the first prototype built by 2027, and certified by 2028.