RUSSIA: Plans for the construction of a high speed line from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod were approved by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 13, having already been backed by Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov who oversees transport.

The project is estimated to cost 622bn roubles, of which 200bn roubles would come from the national budget, 200bn roubles from Russian Railways, and the rest from undisclosed private investors.

A continuation to Kazan is proposed, which would increase the cost to 1·7tr roubles for a route with a total length of around 770 km.