OREANDA-NEWS. The Finnish government is interested in launching a high-speed train from Moscow to Helsinki, capable of covering the distance between cities in 6 hours. This was announced to the Russian media by the Minister for Development and Foreign Trade of Finland, Ville Skinnari, following his visit to Moscow. He discussed the prospect of such an initiative at a meeting with Russian Railways head Oleg Belozerov in the Russian capital.

As explained by Skinnari, it is about extending the branch of the high-speed railway Moscow - St. Petersburg, the project of which is planned to be submitted by 2022. Currently, the Russian side is engaged in the highway construction project, but Helsinki is interested in its potential capabilities.

Earlier, Belozerov said that Russian Railways plans to prepare a draft estimate documentation for the construction of a new high-speed highway Moscow - St. Petersburg by 2022. The cost of building the Moscow - St. Petersburg section in June 2019 was estimated by Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov at 1.5 trillion rubles. The cost of extending the highway to Helsinki has not been publicly estimated.