A working group featuring specialists of Belarusian Railways and Russian Railways has been set up for the project. “The parties are currently working on the development of the project. The task is to provide passengers with an opportunity to make a trip between the capitals of the two countries in comfortable conditions within six hours,” said head of Belarusian Railways Vladimir Morozov. The project is set to be implemented before the end of 2020.

The 2019/2020 schedule provides for the operation of 22 pairs of Belarusian Railways trains in connection with Russian Railways. Russia accounts for some 69% of Belarusian Railways' international traffic. In January-November 2019, almost 2 million passengers were transported in bilateral traffic, up 0.7% year-on-year. The main passenger traffic to Russia is bound to Moscow (more than 61%) and St. Petersburg (more than 20%). Russian Railways' transit trains transported 557,000 passengers through Belarus in January-November 2019, which is up 2.8% year-on-year.