A CRH (China Railway High-speed) train runs on the rail in Shanghai, April 8, 2009. [Photo/IC]

ST. PETERSBURG - Chinese and Russian companies signed a contract on Thursday on jointly conducting pre-construction survey and design of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway in Russia.

The deal was inked between the Russian Railways and a consortium consisting of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC) and two Russian companies.

CREEC is one of the top-level engineering design and consultant companies in China. Under the contract worth 20.79 billion roubles ($380 million), the Chinese company will join hands with the Russian partners to conduct surveying, regional development planning and design for the high-speed railway between 2015 and 2016.

The signing of the contract marked a concrete step forward in building the $20 billion railway, which is planned to be completed by 2018. It will also be the first time that Chinese high-speed railway technology reaches out to the world.

The 770-km railway is a key infrastructure development project in Russia, which will span the frozen lands between Moscow and Kazan, capital of the Tatarstan Republic.

With a maximum design speed of 400 km per hour, it will carry millions of passengers every year and reduce the travel time between the two cities from 14 hours to three and a half hours.

In the long run, the high-speed railway will be extended to Yekaterinburg, some 1,600 km to the east of Moscow. It will become part of the planned Beijing-Moscow high-speed transport corridor.

Chinese companies have developed world-leading capabilities in building high-speed railways in extreme natural conditions. The Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway was built on frozen soils in Northeast China and has been operating smoothly in temperatures of minus 50 degrees Centigrade.