Railway transport plays an important role in the functioning and development of the country's commodity market, in meeting the needs of the population for movement. It is the main link in the transport system of Russia and most of the CIS countries. The special role of the railways of the Russian Federation is determined by long distances, the absence of inland waterways in the main communications East-West, the cessation of navigation on rivers in the winter, the remoteness of the location of the main industrial and agricultural centers from sea ​​routes. In this regard, they account for almost 50% of the freight turnover and more than 46% of the passenger turnover of all modes of transport in the country.

The main area of ​​application of railway transport is the mass transportation of goods and passengers in inter-district (inter-regional), intercity and suburban communications, while freight transportation prevails, which provide over 80% of income. Passenger transportation by rail is dominated by suburban and local traffic (about 90% of total passengers). Long-distance passenger transportation accounts for over 40% of passenger turnover.

The importance of Russian railways in the development of interstate relations with the CIS countries and international transportation is great. Historically, the railway transport of Russia, and then the USSR, developed as a single structure with the same, different from the western, rail gauge (1520 mm) and rational placement of technical equipment and auxiliary industries throughout the country. The total operational length of steel lines in the USSR in 1991 was 147.5 thousand km. After the collapse of the USSR, almost 60% of the total railway network, or 87.5 thousand km, went to the Russian Federation. The material and technical base was also torn apart, in particular, repair service, locomotive and car building. Currently, domestic production of technical equipment for railways (electric trains, freight and passenger cars) is being established, cooperation and mutually beneficial cooperation with the CIS countries and other states on these issues are developing. The density of the railway network in Russia is 0.51 km per 100 km 2, which is significantly lower than the density of railways not only in developed countries, but also in most of the former republics of the USSR (in Ukraine - 2.76 km, in Belarus - 2.77 km, Latvia - 3.60 km, Georgia - 2.2 km, Uzbekistan - 0.79 km, Kazakhstan - 0.53 km per 100 km 2). It is obvious that in Russia it is necessary to build new railway lines, especially for the development of large deposits of fuel and raw materials in the east of the country.

Technical and economic features and advantages of railway transport are as follows:

The possibility of building on any land territory, and with the help of bridges, tunnels and ferries - the implementation of railway communications with separated, including island, territories (for example, between the mainland and Sakhalin Island);

Mass transportation and high carrying capacity of railways (up to 80-90 million tons of cargo on a double-track line or 20-30 million tons on a single-track line per year);

Versatility of use for transportation of various cargoes and the possibility of mass transportation of goods and passengers at high speed;

The regularity of transportation, regardless of the time of year, time of day and weather;

Possibility of creating a direct connection between large enterprises via access railways and ensuring the delivery of goods according to the "door-to-door" scheme without expensive transshipments;

Compared to water transport, as a rule, a shorter way of transporting goods (on average by 20%);

Relatively low cost of transportation compared to other modes of transport, except for pipelines.

Railway transport will continue to be the leading transport of the country, however, the pace of its development may be lower than that of automobile, pipeline and air transport, due to their insufficient development in our country. In addition, one should take into account the increasing competition in the transport market, technical progress and some shortcomings of railways - the capital intensity of the structure and the relatively slow return on advanced capital (6-8 years, and sometimes more). The construction of 1 km of a single-track railway (at the prices of the end of 1995) under average difficult conditions costs almost 7-9 billion rubles, and in difficult climatic and geological conditions in the east of the country - 2-3 times more expensive. The cost of building a double-track line is usually 30-40% higher than a single-track line. Therefore, the payback of capital expenditures in railway construction largely depends on the capacity of the developed cargo and passenger traffic on the new line. Usually, there is more production per unit of investment in the development of railway transport (ton-kilometers) than in other modes of transport (under the current distribution of traffic).

Railways are major consumers of metal (almost 200 tons are required per 1 km of track). In addition, rail transport is a very labour-intensive industry, with labor productivity lower than that of pipeline, maritime and air transport (but higher than that of road transport). On average, there are almost 14 people employed in transportation per 1 km of the operational length of Russian railways, and 1.5 people in the USA, with approximately similar volumes of transport work.

The shortcomings of Russian railways should also include the still low level of quality of transport services provided to customers. At the same time, the good technical equipment and advanced technologies of Russian railways make it possible to remain a quite competitive mode of transport.

The main elements of the technical equipment of railway transport are a rail track with artificial structures, stations and separate points with appropriate facilities, rolling stock (cars and locomotives), power supply devices, special means of regulating and ensuring traffic safety and managing the transportation process.

The railway track is an earthen bed with a ballast prism made of crushed stone or gravel, on which reinforced concrete or wooden sleepers are placed with steel rails attached to them. The distance between the inner edges of the heads of two parallel rails on the sleepers is called the gauge. In Russia, the CIS countries, the Baltic states and Finland, it is 1520 mm. Most European countries, USA, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, the railway gauge is 1435 mm. This is the so-called normal or Stephenson gauge. In some states (India, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal), railways have two types of broad gauge - 1656 and 1600 mm. In Japan, for example, medium and narrow gauges are used - 1067, 1000 and 900 mm. Narrow-gauge railways of small length are also available in Russia.

The length of the railway network is compared, as a rule, by the operational (geographical) length of the main tracks, regardless of their number and the length of other station tracks. The expanded length of railways takes into account the number of main tracks, i.e. the geographical length of a double-track section is multiplied by 2. Double-track inserts on single-track lines are also taken into account. The total deployed length of Russian railways as of January 1, 1995 amounted to 126.3 thousand km. More than 86% of this length is occupied by tracks with heavy steel rails of the P65 and P75 types, laid on wooden (75%) and reinforced concrete (25%) sleepers and, mainly, crushed stone, gravel and asbestos (on the main tracks) ballast. There are more than 30 thousand bridges and overpasses along the entire length of the tracks, big number tunnels, viaducts and other artificial structures. The length of electrified railway lines is 38.4 thousand km, or 43.8% of the operational length of the network.

There are over 4,700 railway stations on the Russian railway network, which are the main cargo and passenger points. Large passenger, cargo and marshalling yards have capital buildings and structures - stations, platforms, cargo areas and platforms, warehouses, container terminals, loading and unloading mechanisms, branched rail tracks and other devices and equipment.

Large technical stations house locomotive and wagon depots, enterprises of track service distances, signaling and communications, cargo and commercial work, and centers of branded transport services for clients. Freight stations of cities and industrial centers, as a rule, are connected by a rail track with numerous access railway lines of industrial, commercial, agricultural and other enterprises and organizations, as well as with existing sea and river ports, oil depots, etc.

The railways of Russia have a powerful fleet of modern locomotives - electric and diesel locomotives, mainly of domestic production. They carry out almost the entire volume of freight and passenger traffic, including 72.7% electric and 27.3% diesel traction. The total fleet of locomotives in the MPS system in 1998 was about 20 thousand units. Among them are such powerful freight and passenger six- and eight-axle electric locomotives as VL60, VL80, VL85, as well as ChS7 and ChS4 of Czechoslovak production; two-, three- and four-section diesel locomotives TEYU, TE116, TEP60, TEP70, TEP80 and others

with a capacity of 3 to 8 thousand kW or more, shunting diesel locomotives TEM2, TEM7, ChMEZ, etc. Electric trains of the ER2, ERZ, ER9P and ER9M types, as well as diesel trains D1, DR1 and DR2, are used in suburban passenger traffic. To master high-speed passenger traffic, an electric train ER200 was created, developing a speed of 200 km/h. Work is underway to design and manufacture new locomotives and electric trains capable of providing a technical speed of 300 km / h (for example, the Sokol high-speed train). The current locomotive fleet provides an average section speed of 47.1 km/h for passenger trains and 33.7 km/h for freight trains. The average technical speed of trains is higher than the local one, taking into account the time of intermediate stops, by about 15-20 km/h.

The fleet of freight cars (more than 700 thousand units) consists mainly of four-axle cars of predominantly metal construction with a carrying capacity of 65-75 tons. Gondola cars (41.7%), platforms (10.8%), tanks (11, 9%), including eight-axle and boxcars (10.2%). The share of specialized rolling stock is insufficient and amounts to 32% of the fleet, including refrigerated cars and tanks. The container system is also underdeveloped, especially for heavy containers for intermodal transportation.

The fleet of passenger cars consists of all-metal cars equipped with four- and two-seater compartments, berths or seating sofas with combined (electric-coal) heating, fluorescent lighting and air conditioning.

All freight and passenger cars are equipped with an automatic coupler and automatic brakes, over 60% of freight and all passenger cars have wheeled bogies on roller bearings. AT last years due to the economic crisis, the replacement and renewal of the rolling stock of railways has slowed down, as a result of which many wagons and locomotives that have exhausted their resources are in operation.

The railway network has a large number of power supply devices (contact network, traction substations), signaling, centralization and blocking (SCB), telemechanics and automation, as well as communication facilities. There are information and computing centers on all roads. The main information and computing center of the Ministry of Railways is located in Moscow. Transportation control centers (MCC) are being created, in large transport hubs - automated dispatch control centers (ADCU) for the transportation process.

The total value of the fixed production assets of Russian railways as of January 1, 1999 amounted to more than 230 billion rubles, of which

59% is the cost of permanent devices and 34% is the cost of rolling stock. The share of working capital is small: approximately 3% (in industry

25%. The predominance of the cost of permanent devices in the structure of railway funds reflects the specifics of this type of transport, the complexity of its financial situation during a period of decline in traffic volumes and a decrease in revenues that are insufficient to maintain a significant permanent part of the resources.

Railway transport in Russia is state (federal) property and is managed by the Ministry of Railways, which controls 17 railways, which are state-owned transport enterprises. The Ministry of Railways and territorial departments of railways carry out operational and economic management of the activities of lower structures: departments of roads and linear enterprises, locomotive and wagon depots, stations, track distances, communications, power supply, etc. In addition, the industry has a large number industrial, construction, trade, scientific, design and educational organizations and enterprises, a solid social sector (hospitals, dispensaries, housing stock, etc.). In recent years, railways have gained greater economic independence, and many of their industrial and ancillary enterprises (car repair plants, industrial transport, construction and supply organizations) have separated from the Ministry of Railways system after corporatization and privatization (Zheldorremmash, Vagonremmash, Remputmash, Roszheldorsnab, Zheldorstroytrest, Promzheldortrans, Transrestoranservis, etc.). Commercial centers and rental enterprises, a banking system, an insurance company (ZHASO) and other market infrastructure organizations have been created.

Despite the difficult financial situation, a sharp decline in traffic volumes, limited budgetary funds, thanks to maintaining the integrity of the industry in terms of its core activity (transportation), Russian railways consistently meet the demand for transport services of cargo owners and the population. In fact, they work on self-financing, making substantial tax contributions to the state budget and ensuring the industry's profitability at the level of 27.9% (1998). Basically, many technical and economic indicators of the work of railways are kept at an average level without sharp fluctuations (Table 4.1).

As can be seen, the railway transport of Russia as a whole is a profitable sector of the national economy of the country. However, the decline in traffic puts the railways in difficult conditions. It should be noted that the decline in transportation is associated not only with the economic crisis and the decline in industrial production, but with increasing competition from other modes of transport, especially road transport.

The result of the decline in traffic volumes is a sharp decrease (almost two times) in the quality indicators of the work of railways - the productivity of rolling stock and labor productivity (see Table 4.1). Despite the decrease in the volume of work, the number of workers employed in transportation has not decreased over this period and amounts to almost 1.2 million people. Concern for the retention of qualified personnel and social protection of workers is, of course, an important circumstance. However, the economic situation requires a more flexible approach to the profitable operation of the industry, especially since labor productivity on domestic railways is several times lower than in developed countries.

From Table. 4.1 it can be seen that during the period of market reforms, the costs of railways increased 4260 times without taking into account the denomination of the ruble, and income from core activities - only 3936 times. This speaks to the groundlessness of the reproaches of some cargo owners, especially the fuel and raw materials complex, about excessively high railway tariffs that hinder the development of these industries. However, in recent times through the conclusion of cross-industry business agreements and the introduction of flexible tariffs that take into account the cost of goods

and the transport component in the price of products, this problem is solved positively.

Despite financial difficulties, rail transport

technical reconstruction continues, electrification of individual

Table 4.1

Technical and economic indicators of railway operation

Index	1990	1995	1996	1997	1998
Freight transported, million tons	2140,0	1024,5
Cargo turnover, billion tariff tons km	2523,0	1213,7
Average transportation distance, km
Average traffic density, mln t km/km	25,2	16,0	15,0	14,8 .	13,5
Average daily locomotive performance, thousand t km gross		802,0
Average productivity of a freight car per day, t km, net per 1 t of carrying capacity	134,9	116,4	121,5	120,2	121,0
Mass of cargo. trains, gross tons
				54,8	56,9	57,3	57,5	57,8
Average population pass. g.che	32,0	29,4	29,0	28,8	28.2
Number of employees engaged in transportation, thousand people	1119,2	1158,5
Revenue from transportation, billion rubles	25,0 2,7			91511 721	98,4* 1,1*
Income from other activities, billion rubles
Basic expenses. activity billion rubles	18,2				77,6*
Profit from all types of activities, billion rubles	7,6		-1247		21,9*
Cost of transportation, rub./10 pref. t km	0,044	390,5	635,6	661,9	0,596*
Profit rate for freight transportation, r./10 t km	0,060	420,8	627,2	714,9	0,757*
Profitability, %	40,7	26,1	-1,5	9,7	27,9

* In denominated terms

sites on a small scale and new railway construction. The Amur-Yakutskaya highway from Berkakit to Yakutsk (500 km), the line from Labytnanga to Bovanenkovo ​​on the Yamal Peninsula, etc. are being built. A program has been developed for the construction of a high-speed highway St. Petersburg-Moscow parallel to the existing line. A lot of work is being done on the reconstruction and construction of railway stations, the creation of centers for branded transport services for cargo owners, an increase in the number of branded passenger trains, the development of suburban transportation, the introduction of double-deck passenger cars, etc.

Measures taken by the state to improve the economy will help stabilize traffic volumes and improve the performance of Russian railways. This will also be facilitated by closer interaction between the roads of the CIS countries, which have been developing for many decades as a single infrastructure complex. Currently active work on the integration of railways former USSR leads the Council for Railway Transport of the CIS.

Purpose, scope, advantages, disadvantages of railway railway

Rail transport (RT) is a type of land transport designed to transport passengers and goods along rail lines. It is a single technological complex of linear enterprises and institutions for industrial, personnel and social purposes and is part of the country's unified transport system.

Types of rail transport:

main common use(in Ukraine it is subordinate to the Ministry of Transport and Communications and is the main one in terms of traffic),

intracity public rail - subway, tram (in Ukraine it is subordinate to the Ministry of Public Utilities),

industrial not for general use (railway transport of industrial enterprises and organizations of state and other forms of ownership),

military not for general use (subordinate to the Ministry of Defense).

Each of them has its own railway network (broad, narrow gauge), its own infrastructure, its own rolling stock and its own management structures.

Rail transport is highly versatile. Different types of rolling stock and freight wagons make it possible to transport completely different goods, including perishable and dangerous goods that require special transportation conditions. High throughput, high level of security, low cost of transportation (especially over long distances) and independence from weather conditions, seasons or time of day-- main Benefits railway transportation over other modes of transport.

AT modern conditions market relations, rail transportation is highly competitive compared to other modes of transport due to its economy, versatility and other advantages mentioned above. For these reasons, they still remain the most common in the field of passenger and cargo transportation.

Like every mode of transport, the delivery of passengers and goods by rail has its own limitations . First, not for everyone. settlements and other facilities have railroad tracks. In this case, it is required to first organize the delivery of cargo by rail, then reload it onto a road or other type of transport and transport the cargo to its destination. Such a delivery scheme increases the total cost of transportation. In addition, when organizing rail transportation, they are irrational for short distances, and for long distances, clear planning of transport connections and routes on the railroad is required. Due to the different gauge on the borders with other countries (in Ukraine - on the western border), additional technical means and downtime of the rolling stock are required when replacing their undercarriage or when reloading. Railway speeds below the speeds of air transport, approximately the same or higher than the speeds of motor transport and pipeline transport, but significantly higher than the speeds of water transport (river and sea).

Transport infrastructure plays one of the primary roles in strengthening and maintaining the state economy. Thanks to the development of railway transport in Russia, which transports bulky and multi-ton cargo, the full-fledged operation of all sectors of the national economy, the supply of regions and industrial enterprises is ensured. Rail transport is of great importance for ensuring economic security and integrity of the country.

Russian Railways

Today, Russian Railways is an all-encompassing transport system with thousands of passengers and freight. The actual indicators of technical equipment testify to the real prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia. It can be briefly described using the following data:

• operational length - more than 90 thousand km;
• the total length of double-track lines is more than 40 thousand km;
• electrified lines - about 40 thousand km;
• the length of the main routes is 126.3 thousand km.

Rolling stock and domestic railway facilities allow for freight transportation on trains weighing 10-12 thousand tons.

The railway transport network occupies a leading position among all types of transport. Despite the fact that over the past decades, bus and air traffic has been intensively developing, Russian Railways remains the main tool for ensuring the mass movement of goods and passengers both within the country and abroad.

The first railway tracks

The history of the development of railway transport in Russia dates back to the middle of the 16th century. The first analogues of modern railroad tracks arose in the territory of stone and sand quarries, in mine excavations and coal mines. Then the road was a stretching bed made of wooden beams. On such paths, horses could carry heavier loads than on ordinary country roads. The bars wore out quickly, causing the wagons to often go astray. In order for wooden beds to serve longer, they began to be strengthened with iron, and in the 18th century with cast-iron sheets. To prevent the convergence of wagons from the tracks helped the rims on the beds.

So, in Petrozavodsk in 1778, a cast-iron railroad was built, the length of which was 160 m. At that time, the gauges were built much narrower than modern ones (no more than 80 cm), and the rail itself was angular.

The period of development of railway transport in Russia in the first half of the 19th century is characterized by a more intensive pace. 30 years after the construction of the first 160-meter cast-iron track, a two-kilometer horse-drawn cast-iron road appeared. A significant leap in the history of the development of railway transport in Russia occurred in the period from the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.

Thus, in 1913, the mileage of the railway network within the current borders of the country reached almost 72 thousand km. At the same time, the paths were placed randomly and unevenly. The predominant part of the roads was in the European part of Russia. The locomotive fleet consisted of low-power steam locomotives (500-600 hp), and two-axle freight cars had an average load capacity of 15 tons.

Development strategies for Russian railways

In 2008, the Government approved a concept to improve the railway infrastructure up to 2030. The strategy for the development of railway transport in Russia contains a description of a set of planned measures to create and improve railroads, improve existing and adopt new requirements for rolling stock.

This program is divided into two stages. The first was carried out between 2008 and 2015, the second was launched in 2016. The development of railway transport in Russia is based on the principles of increasing the resource and raw materials potential of the industry and introducing innovative modern technologies. The current Strategy implies the construction of more than 20 thousand km of roads by 2030.

To date, the construction of railways has already been completed with messages:

• Polunochnoe - Obskaya - Salekhard (about 850 km long);
• Prokhorovka - Zhuravka - Bataysk (the total length of the tracks is about 750 km);
• Kyzyl - Kuragino (460 km);
• Tommot - Yakutsk, including a section on the left bank of the Lena (550 km).

If the planned activities for the construction and commissioning of railroads are implemented, the total length of tracks by the end of the term will increase by 20-25%. The document defining the role of prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia focuses on the importance of this system of passenger and freight traffic for solving problems of strengthening economic sovereignty, national security and increasing the level of defense capability. In addition, the above Strategy implies a reduction in total costs in the transport segment of the national economy. An interesting detail in this context is that this kind of plan, which is being implemented in parallel with the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation, was drawn up and approved exclusively for the development of railway transport in Russia.

The real state of affairs in the railway infrastructure

In recent years, Russian railways have seen a decline in production and a decline in labor productivity. The rolling stock used not only prevents an increase in freight turnover, but also contributes to an increase in the number of accidents on the tracks. Urgent reconstruction and overhaul is required for a significant number of stations and railway stations.

Today, the railways of our country operate trains, wagons, locomotives and special equipment manufactured in the USSR, Germany and Czechoslovakia. The issue of production of new equipment is controlled by the commercial holding companies Transmashholding, Sinara, IST and the state enterprise Uralvagonzavod. Over the past ten years, high-speed trains from the German company Siemens and the French manufacturer Alstom have been added to the rolling stock on the most popular Moscow-St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg-Helsinki routes.

The main player on which the prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia depend is Russian Railways. The companies of this largest holding in the country own their own railway infrastructure, a fleet of wagons and rolling stock.

Cargo transportation on Russian Railways

In Russia, there are several types of freight traffic on rail tracks:

• local - within one route;
• direct - within the boundaries of one or more railway junctions according to a single travel document;
• direct mixed - means combined transportation by several modes of transport (in addition to rail, water, road, air, water-car, etc. can be used);
• direct international - is carried out when cargo is transported on sections of roads of two or several states under a single document.

Features of the development of railway transport in Russia, engaged in the transportation of goods, are differences in the speed of delivery. Thus, the main part of freight trains is engaged in the transportation of goods for which specific transportation conditions are not required. Cargo compartments in passenger trains (luggage compartments) are intended for the carriage of mail, correspondence, personal belongings of passengers. For the delivery of perishable goods, high-speed rolling stock is used. The maximum allowable speed at which trains can move is 160 km/h.

Features of ground rail roads in the capital

The development of railway transport in Moscow may be the envy of other regions. Despite the demand for constantly modernized metro lines, it is planned to build and reconstruct about 80 kilometers of rail tracks in the capital over the next 2-3 years. By 2019, according to a representative of the Moscow urban planning complex, five new stations will appear within the city at once.

Despite the fact that just a few years ago, the intracity and intercity communication of electric trains in Moscow was considered outdated and inefficient, today experts say that land-based railways are capable of providing the same carrying capacity, the same passenger traffic in terms of frequency, traffic volumes and comfort that metro. In addition, the authorities of the capital are confident that the construction of railways is a less expensive industry than the construction of the subway.

The length of the Moscow railway is more than 13 thousand kilometers, despite the fact that this type of transport serves about 30 million passengers, which is approximately one fifth of the population of Russia. Another feature of the development of railway transport in Moscow is that the infrastructure goes far beyond the boundaries of the agglomeration and covers about ten subjects of the Central Federal District. The thing is that the railway of the capital was originally intended as an inter-subject infrastructure that allows solving inter-regional and inter-city problems of transport communication. Fundamental changes have taken place since the launch of the MCC.

Ring railway artery of Moscow

The central one, which launched the MCC, explained the success of the project by the appearance of the actual possibility of movement in any direction of the railway connection with a transfer. This system commuter trains was created with the aim of integrating radial stations. Now Muscovites and guests of the capital have no problems traveling outside the Moscow Ring Road. So, for example, it will not be difficult to get from the Kazan direction to Severyanin by transferring to the MCC along the Frezer or towards the Yaroslavl highway.

Since the opening of the Moscow Central Ring, in less than a year, almost 100 million passengers have passed through it. Despite the increased popularity of electric trains, they are still used as an alternative and additional form of railway transport in Russia. The stages of development of the MCC are being implemented along the path of strengthening the integration of the metro with the surface railway network.

The main problems of railway in our country

Along with the strengthening of the industrial economic sector, there is a stage of formation and development of railway transport in Russia. The problems of this sphere are gaining importance against the backdrop of global trends in technological and technical modernization, the introduction of innovative developments in railway transport.

At the moment, it is necessary to strive to reduce the gap between the quality of Russian railways, rolling stock and infrastructure of foreign competitors. First of all, it is necessary to consistently solve the main industry tasks and eliminate a number of issues that impede the targeted development of railway transport in Russia.

It is necessary to proceed from the fact that the main objective The functioning of the railway system is a fast, convenient, inexpensive (that is, cost-effective) and safe transportation of passengers and delivery of goods not only within the country, but also abroad. The main problems of Russian railways as an integral infrastructure are two negative predetermining factors:

• lack of economic progress and efficiency in the provision of transport services, including a lack of speed of movement, a low level of comfort with an unreasonably high cost of passenger transportation;
• low degree technical reliability and operational safety of trains, rail tracks.

The first group includes conflicts in the technological and managerial sectors, nullifying the expediency of the railway infrastructure operation and hindering the growth of its financial efficiency. The second category includes the complexity of technical production, equipment and operation: the problems of safe operation of equipment, technical means, the lack of a fully functioning model of labor protection for industry employees, unfavorable environmental impact to the adjacent territories. These problems will only get worse as rail transport develops in Russia.

Briefly about ways to solve problems

To eliminate the described imperfections of the domestic railway infrastructure, it will be necessary to take a set of measures for its effective modernization, which guarantees the integrity and strengthening of the economic space of the Russian Federation, but at the same time does not infringe on the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of movement. The current Strategy implies a phased solution to the problems of railway transport by creating conditions in Russia for achieving the fundamental geopolitical and geo-economic goals of the state. No less important is the reboot and renewal of the existing infrastructure base, which is fundamental to the socio-economic growth in the country. For the development of the railway transport industry, it is also necessary:

• ensure transport accessibility for points of resource provision and production progress;
• allocate additional jobs, provide employees of railway transport with social guarantees, including the right to annual rest, the right to treatment, education;
• bring the level of quality and safety of passenger traffic in line with the requirements of the population and international standards;
• ensure maximum carrying capacity and reserves to create the optimal number of offers in case of market fluctuations;
• continue integration into the international railway system;
• maintain a high level of skills in emergency situations, corresponding to the requirements of defense capability and security;
• strive to increase the investment attractiveness of the railway infrastructure;
• maintain social stability in the field and ensure a decent quality of life for employees, respect the priority of youth policy and support for industry veterans;
• to introduce high standards of labor productivity with a sustainable provision of the transportation process with qualified specialists.

Is it worth developing railway transport?

In the age of all-consuming integration processes, the railway infrastructure has acquired the status of a mechanism, a kind of lever for the division of labor. In addition, the railway sector can be considered as a strategic object of the impact of globalization processes in the world. Russian railways are also a science-intensive theoretical area of ​​economics. In order to maintain the achieved positions and continue to improve the infrastructure, it is important to create all conditions for the latest scientific and technical developments in the country.

Railways in Russia are increased by several thousand kilometers every year. The sphere of railway transport is an integral segment of the modern economy of developed countries.

Land transport.

Railway transport- a type of transport that transports goods on rail tracks in wagons (trains) using locomotive traction. railway track - a complex of structures and devices that form a road with a guide rail track for the movement of rolling stock of railway transport. The main elements of the railway track: superstructure, subgrade, engineering structures (bridges, tunnels ...).

Rail transport refers to the inland mode of transport. Serving transportation in the states of any region, it acquires the significance of an international mode of transport. Railways do not always form a single system due to different gauges. In the Russian Federation, the gauge corresponds to the Western European one, but is wider than the Eastern European one.

Advantages railway transport: high throughput and carrying capacity; reliability due to independence from climatic conditions(exception - breakage of electrical wires during natural disasters); the possibility of building communication lines on any land and water territory in the presence of ferries; direct connection with industrial and agricultural enterprises of any sectors of the economy (individual sectors have their own access roads for access to the main network); mass transportation combined with low cost and a fairly high speed of delivery; a shorter route compared to natural water transport routes.

Flaws railway transport: "binding" to the track; high initial cost of fixed assets (a wagon is more expensive than a car, but cheaper than an air or sea vessel); high metal consumption, labor intensity, low labor productivity.

The technology of rail transport is complex. This is due to the binding to the railway track. The basis of the technology of work is the theory of schedules (traffic schedule); plan for the formation of trains in the directions of movement; an agreed plan for the formation of trains on the main line with a schedule for the operation of access roads of enterprises that have a connection with the main railway network.

Principles of operation of railways:

1. another train cannot enter the busy haul (to increase the throughput, the hauls are divided into sections);

2. movement is carried out only by trains (passenger, freight, postal, mixed), which are reorganized along the route of movement;

3. goods move between marshalling yards where trains are re-formed;

4. management of the transport process is carried out through the dispatch center;

5. the locomotive crew is changed after 100 - 120 km (water intake is required after 600 - 800 km); modern traction allows you to change the crew after 200 - 300 km, and the locomotive - after 1000 km;

6. transportation takes place at different gauges;

7. shipments of goods - carloads, small batches, train or block trains (typical for the transportation of bulk cargoes).

The rolling stock of railway transport includes: locomotives (freight, shunting, electric trains for suburban traffic and metro) and wagons (freight, passenger, special, specialized by type of cargo).

The emergence and development of railway transport dates back to the first half of the 19th century. and is associated with the rapid growth of the capitalist mode of production. The birthplace of this type of transport is Great Britain.

The first public railway in Russia with a length of only 26 km St. Petersburg - Tsarskoye Selo - Pavlovsk was put into operation in 1837 and had a purely demonstration value. Three years earlier, the factory railway in Nizhny Tagil began to operate. Russia was 10-12 years late in the organization of railway communication in comparison with the developed countries of that time.

The full-scale beginning of the formation of the domestic railway network dates back to 1851. Then the two-track railway line St. Petersburg - Moscow was put into operation. Subsequently, the construction of highways in radial directions from Moscow (to Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov) began. And also from grain regions to sea export ports of the Baltic and Black Seas. Railway construction in Russia has acquired a particularly large scale in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century. In the pre-revolutionary period, the main "backbone" of the country's modern railway network was formed. By this time, the Trans-Siberian Railway (Moscow - Vladivostok) and railways connecting Moscow with the Caucasus and Central Asia were functioning throughout their entire length. The highway St. Petersburg - Warsaw - Berlin connected the capital of Russia with the railway network of Western Europe. Highways to Odessa and Murmansk gave St. Petersburg access to the Black and Barents Seas.

AT Soviet period the main emphasis was placed not on the construction of new railways, but on the reconstruction and increase in the capacity of the busiest existing highways. This approach was entirely justified. The concentration of the main cargo and passenger traffic on relatively few highways made it possible to carry out an appropriate concentration of capital investments in their reconstruction and technical re-equipment. The result is a significant reduction in unit costs for the transportation of goods and passengers.

By the end of the 80s. railroads Soviet Union were the busiest in the world. They accounted for about half of the world's rail freight traffic. Moreover, the roads of Russia were distinguished by the most intensive movement of trains. On the territory of our country is the busiest highway in the world - the Trans-Siberian. The maximum freight traffic on it is confined to the section Novosibirsk - Omsk, where in both directions in the pre-crisis 1990 more than 130 million tons of cargo were transported.

The high intensity of traffic on Russian railways has made it possible to carry out such expensive and capital-intensive types of reconstruction as the conversion of railway transport to electric traction.

New railways were built mainly in the newly developed regions of Siberia, the Far East and the European North. To unload the Trans-Siberian, its “understudies” were built - the South Siberian Railway (Abakan - Novokuznetsk - Barnaul - Pavlodar - Tselinograd - Magnitogorsk) and the Central Siberian (Kamen-on-Obi - Kokchetav - Kustanai - Chelyabinsk). A significant part of these roads falls on Kazakhstan. Therefore, today they have interstate significance. Along with internal Russian ties, they play an important role in the international territorial division of labor between Russia and Kazakhstan. Railways were also built to develop the fuel and energy resources of the European (Vorkuta - Konosha) and West Siberian North (Tyumen - Surgut - Urengoy). The most significant road on the territory of Eastern Siberia and the Far East is also the northern "understudy" of the Trans-Siberian Railway - the Baikal-Amur Mainline (Taishet - Ust-Kut - Severobaikalsk - Tynda - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan). The Small BAM was built - the BAM - Tynda - Berkakit highway. This route gave the South Yakut TPK access to the Trans-Siberian. In the future, it was planned to extend the Small BAM to Yakutsk and further through Susuman to Magadan in order to provide Russia's third railway access to Pacific Ocean. There are projects to connect the "island" Dudinka-Norilsk-Talnakh railway with the main Russian railway network by extending the Tyumen-Surgut-Urengoy line to Dudinka with a bridge across the Yenisei. However, the implementation of all these projects requires large capital investments.

To characterize the operation of railway transport on present stage development, not quantitative, but qualitative indicators, in particular, electrification, are becoming increasingly important. In terms of the length of electrified railways, Russia occupies the first place in the world (75.3 thousand km), followed by Germany, France, Italy, India and China. In terms of the length of railways, Russia occupies the 2nd place - 124 thousand km. However, in terms of network density, our country is one of the last places. The railway network is especially rare in Siberia, on Far East and the European North. Although today Russia holds the lead in terms of the total freight turnover of railway transport, however, both the railway network and vehicles are physically worn out to a large extent and require immediate renewal.

This state of railway transport and railways is the result of a systematic reduction in capital investments in the industry, as well as the practical cessation of the supply of rolling stock and various equipment from the former Soviet republics and countries of people's democracy. Russia, with its vast expanses and large volumes of bulk cargo transportation over long distances, urgently needs well-developed rail transport (high-speed lines with large capacity and modern rolling stock).

The Government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution on the creation of Russian Railways, the largest transport company, which began economic activity since October 1, 2003 Today, the reform of railway transport is recognized as one of the most successfully developing reforms in the economic sphere. As a result of the implementation of the program for the structural reform of railway transport, a breakthrough was achieved in the field of passenger transportation - passenger turnover increased. Already in the first year of the company's operation, the quality of freight transportation was improved: the speed of delivery of goods increased by 6%, the share of shipments of goods delivered just in time exceeded 90%.

The transportation of goods by Russian railways has always been dominated by such bulk cargo as timber and timber, agricultural cargo and, to a large extent, grain and coal. Later - oil and oil products, raw materials, ferrous metal ores and metals, mineral building materials. A much smaller share was made up of manufacturing products. And today this picture has changed little. Nevertheless, over the past 2-3 decades, a very positive trend has emerged - a gradual (very slow) increase in the share of manufacturing products in the total volume of cargo turnover and a decrease in the share of other types of cargo.

The geography of cargo transportation is dominated by cargo flows of fuel and raw materials from Siberia to the west (to the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, as well as the countries of Eastern and Western Europe). The flow of raw materials from the European North to the central and southern regions of Russia is also great.

There is a project of an underwater tunnel connecting the Russian Federation with the United States, but so far it has no basis.

In passenger traffic, the Trans-Siberian Railway in its European part, the Moscow-St. Petersburg road, as well as other radial highways diverging from Moscow are especially busy.

Suburban passenger traffic is most developed in the vicinity of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large Russian cities.

At seven largest cities Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Novosibirsk - has a subway. Subways are also being built in Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Ufa. In Volgograd, there is a metrotram - an underground high-speed tram system. Metrotram, despite the tram rolling stock, is actually considered a subway. The total length of Russian metro lines is about 453.0 km, with 280 stations. Subways carry over 4.2 billion passengers annually. This is almost twice the passenger traffic of the entire Russian railway network. Russia ranks third among the countries of the world in terms of the number of cities with operating subways and fourth in terms of the total length of the network. The leading place among Russian subways is occupied by Moscow.

In 1992, the construction of Russia's first high-speed railroad Moscow - St. Petersburg began. Thus, the first high-speed passenger railway line in Russia - VSZhM-1 - a passenger line Moscow - St. Petersburg for the circulation of specialized high-speed trains.

On December 18, 2009, the regular movement of the Sapsan train between Moscow and St. Petersburg began according to the schedule. The initial travel time between the two capitals was 3 hours and 45 minutes. In the future, it was planned to reduce travel time. However, on the contrary, it was increased, and now varies from 3 hours 55 minutes to 4 hours 45 minutes.

The Sapsan high-speed train (Velaro RUS) is a joint project of Russian Railways and Siemens. The first train in Russia was formed from 10 cars. On the way, it develops a speed of up to 250 km / h. At the same time, in tests, it accelerated to 281 km / h. The Sapsan carriages have a two-class layout - tourist and business class. A number of problems in the operation of the train arise due to the fact that high-speed traffic is organized along the same railway lines as conventional trains. In this regard, a decision was made to build Russia's first specialized high-speed railway Moscow - St. Petersburg. Trains will be able to run at speeds up to 400 km/h along the new route. Completion of construction is scheduled for 2017. Russian Railways also plans to issue a through ticket for Sapsan (Moscow - St. Petersburg) and Allegro (St. Petersburg - Helsinki) passengers - travel on both trains will be carried out on one ticket.

The second VSZhM of Russia - Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod. The travel time on the route is 3 hours 55 minutes, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h. Along the way, the train makes two-minute stops in Vladimir, as well as in Dzerzhinsk. The first flight was made on July 30, 2010. The traffic intensity is two pairs per day - one pair goes from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod and back through the Kursky railway station in Moscow. Since September 6, 2010, the second pair has been running from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod from the Kursk railway station and back. The total travel time is 7 hours 55 minutes from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod and 3 hours 55 minutes from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod.

At present, there are projects for the construction of new railway lines, where Sapsan trains will be operated: 1) Moscow-Kazan line; 2) line Moscow - Yaroslavl.

For economic development The transport system plays an important role in any country. In Russia, one of the main transport arteries is the railway (RHD), since it accounts for more than 40% of passenger traffic and 80% of the total cargo turnover of the state.

The importance of railway transport in Russia is fundamental, because the country is distinguished by long distances. From effective work This system depends on the level of economic development of the state. Every year, thanks to the well-coordinated work of the railway, the following are transported:

• about 98% manganese and iron ore,
• 92% ferrous metals,
• 88% mineral and chemical fertilizers,
• 87% coal and coke.

Since the first construction of the railway in Russia, and this happened in 1830 this species transport requires large investments, but despite this, railway has a number of advantages:

1. operates around the clock at any weather conditions;
2. has a low cost of transportation (especially when transporting over long distances);
3. connects all regions and districts of Russia;
4. has the lowest environmental impact factor.

The role of railway transport

The role of railway transport in Russia can hardly be overestimated, because it is one of the largest in the world, thanks to which 25% of the world's freight traffic is provided, and about 15% of the world's passenger traffic.

In Russia, rail transport is a branch of the economy, without which the smooth operation of all economic sectors is impossible. In order to understand in more detail what role this transport system plays, it is necessary to consider its segments in more detail:

• Transportation of passengers and cargo. Production can take place only when it is delivered to the consumer. For the manufacturing and mining industries, as well as for agricultural enterprises, rail transport (ZhD transport) is one of the most efficient and cheap types of delivery.
• A developed transport system is the key to economic development.
• Acts as a link between different systems economy.
• As an independent industry, it offers its products with a number of features.

Namely, as a result of the implementation of measures aimed at improving the efficiency of transportation, it was possible to improve the main qualities of the performance indicators of railway transport. So in recent years in the country:

• increased the speed of freight trains,
• the turnover of freight wagons decreased,
• the average weight of freight trains has increased,
• the average daily productivity of locomotives, as well as freight cars, increased.

All districts and regions of Russia are linked together by railways, thereby providing for the transportation needs of not only the population, but also industry, Agriculture. All modes of transport complement each other and form a single transport system.

Transportation of products has its own units of measurement:

• ton-kilometers (cargo turnover)
• tons (number of cargo)
• passenger-kilometres (passenger turnover)
• passengers (number of passengers)

Key performance indicators of railways

• Railway traffic. This indicator calculates the amount of transported cargo for a certain period of time. Sometimes the reduced freight intensity can be calculated through the reduced freight turnover. The freight intensity of railways is characterized by an average amount.
• The passenger turnover of railway transport is the volume of transport work for the transportation of passengers, calculated in passenger-kilometers per year.
• Freight turnover of railway transport - the volume of transport work for the transport of goods, calculated in ton-kilometers per year.

Railway transport development strategy until 2030

In 2008, the government of the country developed a strategy for the development of railway transport until 2030. It provides for the expansion of the railway network, the exit of technical and technological railway transport to the world level, and the increase in the competitiveness of the country's railway transport. Over the next 14 years, it is planned to build important strategic, socially significant and cargo-forming lines, the total length of which will be more than 15,800 km.

The strategy of the state provides:

• to introduce more than 20,000 km of new railway lines,
• organize transport support for 18 promising mineral deposits and industrial zones,
• create lines that will ensure the movement of passenger trains with a speed of up to 350 km / h, a length of 1528 km,
• upgrade the rolling stock (purchase of 23,000 locomotives, 900,000 freight cars and 30,000 passenger cars),
• to increase the density of the railway network by 23.8%, while completely eliminating restrictions on carriage and throughput.

To achieve the set goals, more than 13 trillion rubles were allocated for the development of railway transport. rub., in addition to the plans to actively use the mechanism of public-private partnership. 40% of investments will be allocated for the construction of new railway lines, 31% for the development of existing facilities, and 29% for the renewal of rolling stock.

When the above is put into practice, it will be possible to ensure socio-economic growth, increase the mobility of the population, optimize the movement of goods, strengthen economic sovereignty, National security, the country's defense capability, total transport costs will decrease, and the competitiveness of the national economy will increase.