Why Russia's high-speed Sapsan represents a country on the move

RUSSIAN GROWTH

Kim Catechis, head of emerging markets at Martin Currie, takes a look at the country's booming firms from the window of his train ride.

After regular visits to Russia over the past 15 years, the landscape in the country’s ­central region holds few surprises for me – even in its beautiful autumn colours. During my recent visit, though, the novelty was seeing the villages, fields and trees flash by at twice the usual speed from the windows of Russia’s new high-speed train. With a top speed of 250km/hour, the Sapsan (“peregrine falcon” in Russian) ­provides a ­perfect illustration of the pace of change that this huge country is experiencing. Visits to Russia are always enlightening, and the Sapsan was just one of the w...