MOSCOW - Russia will build high-speed rail lines by 2018 for the FIFA World Cup, the state-owned Russian Railways (RZD) said on Sunday.

According to Gorky Railway, a subsidiary of the RZD, the rail lines will connect the central Russian cities of Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, which are contesting to host the World Cup.

"A new railway station opened in Kazan today, which was designed already with taking into account the high-speed trains," chief of the Gorky Railway Anatoly Lesun told reporters in Nizhny Novgorod.

Local experts are confident that trains will be the main transport means for the millions of spectators from around the world.

Russia was awarded the right to host the 2018 World Cup in December, 2010. A total of 13 Russian cities, including Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar and Sochi are vying to host World Cup matches.

A FIFA delegation had visited all the candidate cities between April and June and will announce the venues in September.