New services designed to cut journey times and run more frequently than present services will be built between Moscow, Kazan, Samara and Ulyanovsk, Putin said.
"It will be a powerful incentive for the development of high speed rail services in the European part of Russia," he said.
Yulia Tsyplyayeva, chief economist at Moscow's office of BNP Paribas, said Friday that Russia badly needs structural reforms but the World Cup is unlikely to give an impetus to them.
The stadium, VTB Arena Park, is designed by Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat and his Russian partner Mikhail Posokhin. Their plans include building a park with public green space, shopping, restaurants, training facilities, and even a hotel. The big design move here is the redevelopment of the Dynamo Moscow Stadium, a football arena and erstwhile Olympics venue built in 1928. With the new setup, two stadia will be plunked down over the old one, so that the existing perimeter facade is neatly preserved.
Qatar, with 1.7 million people, only 300,000 of whom are citizens, is the smallest nation to host a World Cup. But with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, it won with a bid that urged FIFA officials to make history as well as money. The success of the 2010 tournament, which was held in Africa for the first time, apparently further emboldened FIFA officials to continue to take its grandest spectacle to yet another part of the world, something that places soccer’s vision far ahead of the Olympics.
Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup along with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands while Japan, South Korea, Qatar, United States and Australia are candidates for 2022.
Australia, which withdrew its bid to host the 2018 edition in June, joins Japan, South Korea, Qatar and the U.S. as hopefuls for 2022.
England and other European bidders Russia, Spain-Portugal and Belgium-Netherlands are still vying for both events as a formality.
The United States is the only non-European country still contesting both editions, after Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea focused their resources on 2022.
The Americans have said they will withdraw from 2018 bidding only if asked to by FIFA or UEFA president Michel Platini.
11: The city has two fantastic stadiums already in place, underlining the fact that England already has the facilities to host the 2018 tournament – unlike Russia.
12: There is no need to worry about the transport links either. Manchester Airport is the busiest in the county outside London in terms of passenger numbers.
13: And on the ground, Old Trafford is well served by both train and tram, while the Metrolink will be extended to Eastlands long before 2018.
14: In addition, Manchester is at the heart of the country’s motorway network, so it’s easy to get around.
15: The city’s sporting and transport infrastructure is one of the main reasons FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes it would be, in his words, “easy” to host the World Cup in England.
The sports expert says that one can compare Russia’s situation with South Africa’s in the run-up to the world cup this year. Pretoria spent some three billion dollars to get ready, Ivanov says, but “Russia’s expenses, considering all [its] problems with corruption will be one and a half times greater.”
The idea of pursuing the world cup, the writer says, “according to rumors belongs to Vladimir Putin,” and that explains why “the tactics of the struggle of the Russian Football Union … repeat the pattern of the struggle for the Olympiad in Sochi: Everything is being build on the basis of the personal guarantees of the prime minister.”
Russia's bid proposes 14 new stadiums in 13 cities and a massive overhaul of the national infrastructure as part of its bid, making it the most ambitious and expensive competitor for the 2018 tournament.
Inspection team leader Harold Mayne-Nicholls said work would have to start immediately. "I would like to emphasise that, in the case the Fifa Executive Committee decides in December that the World Cup will go for the first time in football history to Russia, work would need to start immediately, to guarantee that everything will be in place right in time."
For now, though, insiders are tipping Russia for 2018. Fifa delights in tapping new markets through World Cups. Russia is a white spot on Europe’s footballing map. It has never hosted a major football tournament. Crucially, it can muster more lobbying might than its rivals. When Vladimir Putin phones asking for your support, you probably say yes. A Russian World Cup would cost a lot, but if Putin wants to spend the money, Russia will.
As for the 2022 World Cup, the most important words spoken in this race came from a country that isn’t even bidding. Wei Di, new head of China’s football federation, said this month: “I think China should apply for the World Cup [of 2026].”
China’s government will make the decision, not Wei Di. But Fifa would love China to bid. If the country signals it will, that would shape the race for 2022. If China gets 2026, no Asian country could stage 2022, because continents cannot host twice running. The only non-Asian bidder for 2022 is the US. So if China wants to bid, the US would surely get 2022.
The group of inspectors from football's governing body made the comments as they wrapped up a four-day visit to Japan, the first leg of their two-month tour of nine candidates vying to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
"We must say that the bid is a very balanced project, mixing football traditions, modern stadiums plus new technology with eco projects and integration with the world," said the team's leader, Harold Mayne-Nicholls.