China and Russia want to reduce the travel time between Beijing and Moscow by four days with the construction of the planned $230 billion high-speed rail link. Spanning more than 7,000 kilometers, the Trans-Siberian rail system would cut travel time to just two from the current six days.

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The Trans-Siberian Railway covers eight time zones and is longer than China's iconic landmark, the Great Wall of China, and U.S. Route 66.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inked last week a memorandum of understanding for China to construct the rail link, reports Business Insider.

The current rail system has coaches starting from Moscow or Vladivostok, which switch to a branch line bound for Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. It had its inaugural run in 1954 and runs the six-day route twice a week. This system uses transport technology from Alstom of France, Siemens of Germany, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan.

China, however, has since then developed its own rail system and built high-speed rails in Turkey and Venezuela

Wang Mengshu, a tunnel and railway specialist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, estimated a total construction period of five years if funds are smoothly raised. Cost per kilometer is estimated at $33 million.

The transport project is seen as another sign of the strong ties between Russia and China, which usually vote together as members of the UN Security Council.

There is actually an alternative route that offers longer travel connections between the two capital cities by passing through the Manchurian route and takes one week to complete.

The current system has three types of sleepers - 1st class 2-berth, 1st class 4-berth and 2nd class 4-berth. The cost of a one-way ticket from Moscow to Beijing with a 4-berth accommodation is £470 ($760), while a 2-berth accommodation costs £695 ($1,124).

However, critics have already surfaced at this early stage of the planned new rail.

A commenter on Daily Mail wrote: "For that money you could buy a whole new fleet of aircraft and better access to Russian and Chinese airports and the cost of keeping that train track in good shape will be astronomical not to mention fencing it all off the keep out straying animals and tunnels for them to migrate through."

However, many of those who have rode the long, but less traveled, route have enjoyed the experience. Nonetheless, they agreed that those who do not have that much free time to spend on the road are better off riding jet planes.

Tagspassenger train, Trans-Siberian railway, High-speed train