MOSCOW, April 30 -- The Russian Railways (RZD) chose a Chinese company as a co-contractor in the construction of 770-km high-speed railroad, the company said Thursday.

"The RZD signs an agreement with a consortium of two Russian companies and China Railway ErYuan Engineering Group Company Limited (CREEC) worth 20 billion rubles (over 380 million U.S. dollars)," the company said in an online official statement.

The three companies would jointly implement the high-speed track project which connects Moscow with Kazan, capital of Tatarstan Republic.

The RZD stressed that the Russian-Chinese consortium is "the most promising professional community" that combines long-time, practical and successful experiences of the implementation of high- speed rail construction projects.

It is expected that the works under the contract will be completed by December 2016, while the total project investment is estimated at over 1 trillion rubles (over 19 billion dollars).

The Moscow-Kazan railway will be the first in Russia specifically designed and built for rapid transit.

Until now, the high-speed trains in Russia running between Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, still use regular tracks.