Russian railway operator RZD has confirmed a major sponsorship deal with the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Reports suggest that RZD have agreed to pay around US$150 million for the deal. This takes the total sum raised for domestic sponsorship of the Games above US$1 billion, a figure which has only been reached once before in Olympic history, by Beijing in 2008.

Under the terms of the agreement, RZD is granted official status as general partner of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the XI Winter Paralympic Games, general partner of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees until the end of 2016, and also general partner of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic teams for the 2012, 2014 and 2016 Games.

For Boris Lapudis, senior vice president of RZD, the agreement formalises a partnership that has been active for some time. He said: "We began our support of the Sochi Olympics long before this agreement was signed long before the Games. Since 2008, RZD has been carrying out a range of projects to build new rail lines, stations, and other infrastructure elements, to enable the shipment of essential construction cargo and equipment during preparations for the Olympics, and to deliver participants and guests to the sporting venues during the game

Sochi 2014 organising committee president Dmitry Chernyshenko said: "RZD is a recognized leader, with more than 150 years of experience in the construction, development, modernization, and running of transport infrastructure, and also the only company in Russia capable of providing the necessary level of transport services amid Sochi’s mountainous terrain, and with 20,000 guests and participants in the Olympic and Paralympic games travelling along non-standard routes every hour."

RZD will undertake six major infrastructural projects in preparation for the Games, including a combined road/rail link between Adler and the Alpika-Service mountain resort, a rail line linking Tuapse, Adler and Vesyoloye, a rail line from Adler to Sochi Airport, and passenger terminals at railway sub-stations.