Throughput of Russian Railways to be increased by 8% in 3 years – Dmitry Medvedev

Cargo throughput of Russian Railways OJSC is to be increased by 8%, passenger turnover – by almost 7%, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the Government meeting held on 8 November 2018. The first issue on the meeting agenda was dedicated to financing projects and investment programme of Russian Railways for 2019 and plans for 2020-2021. The transcript of the meeting is available at the official website of RF Government.

“Great attention should be paid to the issues of financial balance and efficiency of the company operation... We expect annual labour efficiency growth of 5% on the average. That will let transport more passengers and more cargo. Our plans are to increase passenger throughput by almost 7% and cargo throughput – by nearly 8%. It is quite an ambitious task”, said Dmitry Medvedev.

According to him, investment programme for 2019 exceeds RUB 680 billion, for 2020 – over RUB 820 billion, for 2021 – RUB 745 billion.

“First of all, it is necessary implement projects included in comprehensive plan on modernization and expansion of mainline infrastructure through 2024. They provide for expansion of BAM and Transsib capacity, reduction of container transportation time, development of approaches to the ports of the Far East, North-West and South of Russia. There are other large-scale projects aimed at exports increase and debottlenecking”, said the Chairman of RF Government.

According to earlier statements, turnover of Russian Railways’ networks in 2017 grew by 6.4%, year-on-year, to 2,491.4 bln tariff tonne-km.