A Russian Railways' delegation headed by Company First Vice-President Alexander Misharin has taken part in the II Congress of Railway Builders in Moscow.
The event was organised by the Union of Railway Builders with the support of Russian Railways, as well as with the assistance of the Institute of Natural Monopolies and the Commission for Technical Regulation, Standardisation and Conformity Assessment at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
The Congress was attended by representatives from Russia's federal executive bodies, Russian and foreign business circles, trade unions and construction and design companies from the scientific community.
According to the Vice-President of Russian Railways Oleg Toni, in 2016 the Company will spend 260 billion roubles on its construction programme, which consists of thousands of projects.
Among the largest projects are the development of the railways in Eastern Russia, the development of the Mezhdurechensk - Taishet and Tobolsk - Surgut lines, the development of the North-West transport hub, which will switch freight traffic to the Losevo - Kamenogorsk line, and enhanced approaches to the ports of the Gulf of Finland.
Work is also continuing to develop carrying capacities in the Azov-Black Sea basin and construct a new 130km railway line between Zhuravka and Millerovo stations.
At the same time, purchases associated with construction and assembly work account for 20% of the total procurement volume at Russian Railways.
According to Irina Mitichkin, the head of the Procurement Centre at Russian Railways, savings which the Company makes from competitive tenders increased significantly in 2016: in total, savings on all purchases amounted to 8 billion roubles in the first 9 months of 2016.
When implementing construction projects related to passenger transport, the Company accords great importance to creating a convenient barrier-free environment and comfortable passenger services. As an example of this approach, Oleg Toni noted the launch of passenger trains on the Moscow Central Ring.
"In this project, we have tried to implement precisely that approach. The Company has to offer people convenience and comfort, and the results have shown that our strategy is correct. We should reach a volume of 250,000 passengers a day within a year, but on some days, we already transport over 285,000 people on the Moscow Central Ring," said Oleg Toni.
The example of the Moscow Central Ring, as well as the experience of Russian Railways in implementing high-speed passenger transport projects in the Russian regions, shows that passengers are making their choice in favour of these modern transport technologies.