OJSC Russian Railways established

In the 20 years since then, Russian Railways has been among the top three global leaders in key operational indicators:

• first in terms of traffic density – with 32.2 adjusted million ton-kilometres per kilometres Russia’s railway utilisation intensity is the highest on the planet;
• second place in terms of freight turnover – with 2.6 trillion ton-km, the Company handles one third of the world’s total volume of rail shipments;
• third place in terms of the rail network length – 85,600 km.

The Company has become a leader in environmental friendliness and transportation safety. The International Energy Agency has recognised OJSC Russian Railways as the most energy-efficient rail system in the world. More than 85% of transportation is done by electric traction, which does not create any additional emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere.

Rail transport is the most sustainable and most reliable for passengers – it is safe and can operate all the year round in all weather. The Company’s rail services run according to the timetable in all conditions. In the last 20 years, Russian Railways has transported more than 23 billion people. Over 1 billion passengers use the services of the Russian Railways’ Holding company every year.

OJSC Russian Railways provides passengers with the most modern rolling stock: in the last 20 years, the Company has purchased nearly 21,000 new long-distance carriages and 9,500 commuter train carriages.

In the last 20 years, the Company has transported more than 25 billion tons of cargo in all directions and increased the share of rail in the country’s freight traffic by almost 10%, from 39% in 2003 to 48% in 2022 – including oil and gas transported by pipeline.

Container traffic has more than tripled to 6.5 million Twenty Foot Equivalent units (TEUs) in 2022.

The Company is implementing a large-scale investment programme aimed at the development of rail transport and which represents a strategic order for large, as well as for small and medium-sized domestic enterprises.

During the past 20 years, the amount of this order has reached 9.2 trillion roubles. In 2023, the volume of the investment programme reached 1.1 trillion roubles.

The last 20 years have seen the purchase of more than 9,000 new domestically produced locomotives.

Today, the Company is generating a demand for the development of modern locomotive models that meet the growing needs for the transportation of goods and passengers.

With about 700,000 people, Russian Railways is the largest employer in the Russian Federation and ranks third in the world in terms of the number of employees. At the same time, the Company is considered one of the country’s most desirable employers – according to the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre VTsIOM, the Holding ranked 2nd among Russian companies at the end of 2022.

Russian Railways is one of the systemic factors contributing to the country’s social stability. In the last 20 years, the Collective Agreement at Russian Railways has remained one of the best in the country by establishing a wide range of social guarantees, benefits and support programmes for employees and their families, as well as veterans. Thanks to its sustainability and stability, the country’s citizens perceive OJSC Russian Railways as a reliable employer.

In recent decades, OJSC Russian Railways has had virtually no equal among businesses in maintaining and developing its own extensive social infrastructure system, including hospitals and clinics, schools and kindergartens. In recent years, the Company has significantly strengthened its achievements in the field of career guidance for schoolchildren and has 26 children’s railways engaged in this guidance. These children’s railways now host 6 children’s centres called Quantorium which have been created to provide IT and robotics classes. In 2020, the corporate university of Russian Railways was recognised as the best in the world.

The Company is constantly working to improve the accessibility of passenger transportation and actively develop electronic sales channels.

Today, 76% of tickets are purchased by passengers electronically through the Company’s website and the RZD Passengers mobile app. The first electronic tickets went on sale in 2009.

A loyalty programme for passengers called RZD Bonus has been launched.

Sapsan

For rapid transportation between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Company purchased high-speed trains called the Sapsan, the Russian name for the peregrine falcon, the fastest bird on the planet and the fastest member of the animal kingdom.

Since December 2009, Sapsan trains have been running between Russia’s two largest cities. The day Sapsan services began has been celebrated ever since as High-Speed Day. The Sapsan holds the speed record of 281 kph, and the twin Sapsan with double the usual number of carriages entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2014 as the longest high-speed train in the world.

Lastochka

This modern electric train entered service in Russia in 2013, shortly before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. As a result, the brand-new rolling stock was able to provide transport support for competitors and spectators alike.

The Lastochka, which is the Russia word for the Swallow, went into production in the Urals, with the first certified domestic Lastochkas entering service on the rail network in 2015. In September 2016, Lastochkas were also commissioned when the Moscow Central Ring (MCC) was launched in the capital.

Currently, over 270 Lastochkas of various modifications are in operation in the country.

The Lastochka route network is very extensive, ranging from the Kaliningrad region to the Urals and from Karelia to Krasnodar Territory.

Orlan Rail Bus

“Orlan” is the Russian designation of the bald or sea eagle. The Orlan RA-3 rail bus is deployed in suburban transportation on non-electrified sections of railways which have both low and high platforms. Compared to previous models of similar rolling stock, the number of seats has been increased by 15% and the salon is equipped with electronic displays, climate control, an air disinfection system, and door-opening buttons. Additional comfort is provided by sealed inter-car passages, modern sanitary facilities and LED lighting, and an emergency crash system ensures the safety of passengers and the locomotive crew.

Double-Decker Trains

In 2010, Russian Railways commissioned carriage manufacturers to begin producing double-decker passenger cars. The Company’s first order included 38 compartment carriages, 4 sleeper carriages, 4 compartment staff cars, and 4 dining cars.

Double-decker cars can accommodate almost twice as many passengers, making it possible to optimise costs and ticket prices and meet the consistently high demand for transportation, especially during the summer season.

The first double-decker train began running between Moscow and Adler in 2013. Today, the network of double-decker cars includes 26 pairs of trains running on 20 routes.

Electric City Train

Since 2012, intra-city railway transportation projects have been implemented in 20 urban agglomerations, including Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Ufa, Tambov, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Novosibirsk.

The largest project was the launch of the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) in 2016. In 2019, the Company commissioned the first two of five Moscow Central Diameters – railway lines connecting the capital’s suburbs through the central part of the city. In 2023, the Company will double the number of the diameters, taking the flexibility of the capital’s urban transport routes to another level. Russian Railways will transferred this experience to the country’s other regions.

Rail Tourism

Russian Railways has created and launched a new type of “rest and recreation” for Russians and visitors to the country – rail tourism. The Ruskeala Express was the first tourist train, departing from Sortavala in Karelia on 1 June 2019 and bound for the Ruskeala Mountain Park. Today, the Ruskeala Express is the only daily locomotive-powered retro train in Russia.

In 2023, the Russian Railways’ Holding will offer tourists 37 interregional tourist rail routes, connecting more than 40 different parts of Russia. In addition, another 25 suburban tourist routes in 24 regions have been organised.

Universiade in Kazan

The right to host the 2013 World Summer Universiade went to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. In preparation for this international event, Russian Railways reconstructed Kazan’s infrastructure, building a second railway station in the city and laying a line connecting the city centre and the airport. The Universiade’s competitors and spectators were transported by the first Lastochkas in Russia.

Sochi Winter Olympics

In preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russian Railways implemented a number of projects:

• constructing the Adler – Sochi Airport railway line;
• increasing the capacity of the Tuapse – Sochi railway line, which runs along the Black Sea coastline, by laying over 30 km of additional tracks;
• erecting a dormitory building at the Cape Vidny boarding house in which visitors to the Olympics also lived.

The largest project, however, was the combined road and railway line between Adler – Krasnaya Polyana. As part of this project, the Company:

• built 37 km of bridges and overpasses and 29 km of tunnels;
• installed about 200,000 tons of metal structures;;
• laid 2 million cubic metres of reinforced concrete;
• built 4 large stations or new buildings, including at Adler station;
• built a depot for servicing Lastochka electric trains.

2018 Football World Cup

In 2018, Russian Railways, at the height of the summer holiday season, organised the transportation of 2.5 million football fans to the venues in the various cities where the matches were being held – Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don and Volgograd.

Aeroexpress

Russian Railways has implemented a number of projects to connect airports in large agglomerations with central regions. The first was Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, followed by Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo near Moscow. By the end of 2022, the Aeroexpress could take passengers to Sheremetyevo’s two terminals.

The Company also built a railway line to Sochi airport for the 2014 Winter Olympics. By 2023, there were also rail connections with the airports in Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, and Volgograd.

Rail Development in Eastern Russia

Since 2013, the Company has been carrying out a large-scale modernisation of the rail network from the Kuzbass (short for the Kuznetsk Basin) to the Pacific coast. The project is called the Eastern Region and includes Krasnoyarsk, East Siberian, Transbaikal and Far Eastern Railways.

Every year, dozens of facilities are put into commission, including second tracks and double-track inserts, bridges and tunnels, traction substations and electrification facilities.

The project will result in an increase in the capacity of the Baikal-Amur Main Line and the Trans-Siberian Railway in Eastern Russia to 180 million tons by 2025, a rise of one and a half times.

Changing the Track Gauge on Sakhalin

In the very year it was established, Russian Railways embarked on the systematic and radical modernisation of the railway infrastructure on Sakhalin Island, including converting the gauge from 1067 mm to the Russian broad-gauge standard of 1520 mm.

In addition, in one of the Company’s largest infrastructure projects, Russian Railways reconstructed 865 km of main tracks on Sakhalin, 139 km of station tracks and 27 km of access roads, laid 390 switch assemblies, and reconstructed about 70 artificial structures.

The laying of a new continuous, seamless track and the delivery of modern mainline and shunting locomotives made it possible to increase the speed of passenger trains on Sakhalin to 120 kph and freight trains to 90 kph, as well as to increase the weight of freight trains severalfold. To improve suburban passenger transportation, modern Orlan rail buses have been delivered to the island.

Expanding Port Approaches

The implementation of the project for the comprehensive reconstruction and electrification of the Mga – Gatchina – Weimarn – Ivangorod section and the construction of the Luga transport hub made it possible to provide transport services to all terminals at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s North-West basin.

In 2003-2004, a railway line was built connecting the port of Olya on the Caspian Sea with the Russia’s main rail network.

The Holding is developing railway infrastructure on the approaches to the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin. Among other things, this project involves the construction of a western bypass around the Saratov junction at Volga Railways, the electrification of the Ozherelye – Uzlovaya – Yelets stretch, and an increase in capacity to 154 pairs of trains per day. The implementation of all these project activities should see the volume of transportation increase to 152 million tons by 2030.

Development of Rail Infrastructure for Transportation to Crimea

In 2017, Russian Railways began long-distance passenger services along a specially built new railway line between Zhuravka – Millerovo. The 137-km line became part of the high-speed railway connecting Central Russia with the Black Sea coast.

As part of the work to prepare for the launch of services to Crimea via a permanent bridge crossing, in 2019 a 128.8-km double-track railway line bypassing the Krasnodar junction, 2 stations and a siding and 29 bridges and overpasses were commissioned. In addition, their launch made it possible to redirect transit cargo flows away from the urban development at Krasnodar, which increased the throughput capacity of the route and improved the transport and environmental situation in the region.

On the Taman Peninsula, the Company completed the electrification of 124 km of lines in 2019, including the Yurovsky – Vyshesteblievskaya and the Razezd 9 km – Yurovsky – Anapa sections. In total, Russian Railways installed 4,400 contact network supports there and 210 km of overhead contact wire.

Quantum Technology

Russian Railways is responsible for the development of the high-tech vector “Quantum Communications” in Russia. The Holding’s main task is to create a fully-fledged quantum communications infrastructure in the country, expand its geographical coverage and introduce the necessary associated services. Today, segments of the backbone quantum network Moscow – St. Petersburg and Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod are already in place.

The first “quantum call” from Moscow to St. Petersburg took place from the Company’s office in June 2021 and by the end of 2022 the total length of the quantum network had already reached 1,150 km. In 2023, Russian Railways plans to increase the network to 2,550 km and to more than 15,000 km by 2030. On 14 July 2023, a pilot communication session took place between Moscow State University and Lobachevsky University in Nizhny Novgorod.

The creation of an inter-university quantum network became possible thanks to the connection of educational institutions to the Russian Railways quantum backbone network.

Santa Claus Train

The residence of Father Frost, Russia’s equivalent of Santa Claus and Father Christmas, in Veliky Ustyug is a popular destination among tourists. But with the help of the Company’s employees, the country’s Chief Wizard was able to travel himself. In 2021, on the eve of the New Year holidays, as part of a joint project between Russian Railways and the Vologda Region, Father Frost’s mobile residence – a special train consisting of a steam locomotive and several carriages – visited 36 cities and covered 13,000 kilometres.

The following year, the project expanded its coverage to 120 cities.

Railway Museum in St. Petersburg

Russian Railways has great respect for tradition and preserves cultural heritage. To mark the 180th anniversary of the railways, in 2017 the Company opened the Russian Railways Museum in St. Petersburg.

The Museum occupies an area of nearly 60,000 square metres. Its expositions provide a detailed understanding of the development of rail transport from its inception to the present day.

The Museum’s collection includes 121 unique rolling stock exhibits. The various excursion routes through the Museum pass through a collection of rare and legendary steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, electric locomotives, carriages and other railway equipment. Historical artifacts are on display alongside working models, interactive installations and temporary exhibition halls to create an unusual and fascinating museum space.

Since its opening, more than 1.5 million people have visited the Museum.