China Railway Group Ltd expects to sign the country's first overseas high-speed railway contract by the end of May. This will pave the way for Chinese construction and rolling stock companies to bid for follow-up projects.

A consortium, comprising of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Railway, and two Russian companies, have won a 20 billion rouble ($390 million) contract for the project linking Moscow to Kazan in Russia.

The consortium will oversee engineering research and project planning, China Railway said in a statement.