Connectivity & Railroads in Russia

Now that you’re sufficiently chilled and ready for a toddy after those last two photos, we’ll get on with the topic of logistical connectivity and the role of railroads in Russia’s past, present and future. It’s all part of an extremely ambitious master plan for the development of Russia’s Arctic, Siberia, and Far East. In an earlier article focused on Siberian development, the point was made that not all of Siberia is in the Arctic. Lots of agricultural production occurs there and to move it railroads are needed just as they were when the Trans-Siberian was built. What you’ll read are Putin’s remarks as he reveals part of his plan to the 4th Railway Congress. Unlike the USA, Russia’s rail system is a public utility, which is something to keep in mind as you read. After the Congress, the scene shifts to Moscow where Putin conducts a conference about the development of what’s called the Eastern Polygon of Railways, which combines the facilities of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). Several important announcements are made during Putin’s talk at the Congress.

Vladimir Putin: Dear friends,

I welcome the participants and guests of the IV Railway Congress and, of course, all employees of this key, without any exaggeration, strategic industry, which makes a huge contribution to the development of Russia, our regions and the strengthening of national sovereignty.

Our railway network ranks first in the world in terms of usage, providing 87 percent of the country's cargo turnover and about a third of passenger traffic. Russia's railways are used by over a billion passengers a year. Such impressive numbers.

The industry leader, Russian Railways, is one of the main customers for the domestic engineering industry, industry in general, for the construction complex and the professional education system. It provides many sectors of the economy, science, and technology business with stable, long-term orders. Thus, over the past 20 years, the company has purchased over 9,000 Russian locomotives. More than 700 new mainline diesel locomotives entered the routes.

Today, more than 1 million 300 thousand freight cars run on the railways – more than at any time in our entire history. Moreover, the Russian railcar fleet is one of the youngest in the world: the average age is about 13 years. And in the next three to four years, it is necessary to completely complete the renewal of the passenger car fleet.

I repeat: Russian Railways ' development policy encourages key, innovative sectors of our economy. Of course, we need to continue to do this: to develop new types of equipment and other products, and I will tell you about new innovative areas of development of Russian Railways a little later. Of course, including locomotives for super-heavy trains, which are especially in demand at the Eastern Railway Test Site, how important this is not necessary to say in this audience. And of course, we need to develop infrastructure for high-speed and high-speed passenger traffic. This is the future of Russian railways, new quality of services, additional opportunities for millions of people, the country's economy, business, tourism, our trade relations, and the development of regions and cities.

A large-scale modernization of the Central Transport Hub is already underway. Complex projects such as Moscow's Central Diameters are also being implemented. In the future, they will become the basis for connecting modern, convenient, high-speed routes to Moscow, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Tver, Kaluga, Vladimir and other regions of Central Russia.

I would like to note that it is passenger transport that clearly demonstrates the new look of the Russian railway network and of Russian rail transport as a whole. Stations and railway complexes are being upgraded. Many of these railway stations are, as we all know, architectural monuments, this is our heritage. It is important that they are updated carefully. They become truly modern and at the same time retain their unique historical appearance.

It is no coincidence that railway tourism has become an interesting and promising area. When Oleg Valentinovich [Belozerov] told me about this at the beginning of this project, it sounded a little strange, but there is nothing strange, it turned out that a wonderful product is very popular with citizens. Currently, there are more than 50 such routes. They pass through Karelia, the Urals, the Central part of Russia and many other regions of our country, allowing tourists to get acquainted with national parks, such natural monuments as Lake Baikal, for example, and other unique places of our Homeland.

Passenger traffic to Crimea is also steadily growing, and communication with the regions of Donbass and Novorossiya is being established. I would like to emphasize that our railways are successfully coping with the increased load in the southern and south-western directions, reliably providing military transportation, supplies of raw materials and components to defense enterprises.

Last year, it was Russian Railways and other domestic carriers that were able to restructure logistics in the shortest possible time and direct additional cargo flows to the Far East, to our ports in the north and south of the country. By doing so, we have made a huge contribution to repelling the sanctions attacks against our country, provided conditions for economic recovery and growth, and for our products to enter promising global markets.

In general, both passenger and freight trains in Russia follow the schedule. And this is also the result of modernizing railway management, working out in practice modern, more modern and more efficient methods of train movement, including "virtual coupling" technologies. Such an interesting innovation is developing, and it turns out that you can do this due to the training, of course, of specialists.

Today, Russian railways are a powerful high-tech complex. One of the flagships of our economy in introducing innovations and digital solutions. At the same time, the emphasis is placed on domestic developments, on the use of a Russian software product.

By the way, I will add that thanks to the new services, queues at railway ticket offices have actually become a thing of the past. Today, three-quarters of tickets are issued in an online system, on an Internet site or using a mobile application.

Russian Railways is also our leader in the development of quantum communications. This is one of the end-to-end technologies where Russia has a serious scientific and practical background and growing competencies of its own. A backbonec is already being created, which will ensure the quality and security of communications at a new level, increase the speed of data transmission, and therefore strengthen the connectivity of the country. For Russia – the largest territory in the world-this is an absolute priority. A base is being created for the rapid development of industries and services of the big data economy – the economy of the future.

By the end of this year, the length of the quantum network will exceed 3,200 kilometers. It will unite Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Kazan and other major cities of Russia.

The pace of network development will increase. Next year, its length will increase to seven thousand kilometers, Sochi and Yekaterinburg will join. And by the end of the current decade, the quantum infrastructure will provide such a geographical coverage that will fully meet the internal needs of our country, and will lead Russia to one of the world leaders in this area. I very much hope that Russian Railways, as the parent company in this strategic area, will fully implement such large-scale plans.

Dear friends!

The projects and achievements that I have just mentioned are based on hard, everyday and conscientious work – the work of hundreds of thousands of people: drivers and conductors, dispatchers and repairmen, trackworkers, engineers and transport builders, and many other specialties.

I would like to thank everyone who works on Russian railways, as well as industry veterans, for your solidarity, for your responsibility, and for your ability to achieve your goals even in the most difficult and sometimes harsh conditions.

Selflessness and the highest discipline of railway workers are shown not only in the professional field. I regularly communicate with the commanders of units that participate in a special military operation, and I have repeatedly said and heard from them that where railway workers serve, there is always a reliable order and a clear implementation of the combat mission. And of course, they celebrate the valor and personal courage of the fighters.

Such qualities, real professional hardening are passed down from generation to generation among railway workers. Your work always enjoys special honor and respect. And we will definitely strengthen the personnel potential of the industry, improve working conditions on the railway, and social protection of employees and veterans of enterprises. Of course, there are many unresolved issues here. We, including the industry and government leaders, will certainly work together with the company's management to solve these problems.

Let me remind you that Russian Railways is the largest corporate employer in Russia. Just now, the head of the trade union organization was talking about this. Moreover, in many regions, primarily in Siberia and the Far East, the railway plays a decisive role in the life of entire cities and towns: it not only provides jobs, but also solves other important social tasks.

In this regard, I would like to thank all the managers of the former Ministry of Railways, the Russian Railways company and its divisions created on its basis, and, of course, the branch trade union that I just mentioned, for preserving the extensive social infrastructure and thinking about how they will live in difficult times people, labor collectives and their families.

Today, this social infrastructure is developing. And such investments, investments, such care for employees really work for the future of the industry, increase its competitiveness, attractiveness for new personnel, for young people.

Thus, in 2020, the Russian Railways corporate University was recognized as the best in the world. What is especially important: the company builds a full-fledged educational path-from the school bench to the modern workplace. Special attention is paid to students, the development of their abilities and talents. This is done by professional centers attached to schools and lyceums. There are 26 children's railways, on the basis of which six "Quantoriums" are opened, their specialization is IT and robotics. Such initiatives certainly deserve the highest praise.

Dear friends!

Many generations of railway workers in Russia have created a powerful infrastructure, production and technological base that allows us to move forward, achieve great results, and set new, ambitious goals.

Today, Russia is implementing a large-scale development agenda, strengthening its sovereignty, creating new opportunities for economic growth and expanding interregional ties, and creating a global competitive market for transport services and corridors.

The coming decade will be a decade of big construction projects, big projects, including on the railway – projects that are significant not only for Russia, but also for the whole of Eurasia.

We are expanding the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway, upgrading other highways and approaches to seaports, including the Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins, and simultaneously launching a large-scale project to create high-speed railway networks.

As a first step, such a route should dramatically reduce the travel time between the two largest agglomerations of our country – Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then such routes should connect the capital with fraternal Belarus, with Minsk, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on – Don, and ensure the availability of resorts on the Black Sea coast-greater, better accessibility for our citizens. And I would like to emphasize that in the future, we will certainly build them to Luhansk and Donetsk.

It is planned that high-speed highways will pass through the territories where more than 111 million of our citizens live, which is 80 percent of the country's population.

I will also tell you today about the plans that allow us to strengthen the transport and logistics framework of the whole of Eurasia, diversify cargo flows through more efficient, more reliable and secure deliveries.

For example, we are developing the North – South international corridor in the European part of Russia. It will connect Russian ports in the Baltic Sea with ports on the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean coasts, as well as the Murmansk transport Hub – one of our most important support hubs in the Arctic, which we will definitely increase in capacity.

Experts say that the entire route – from Murmansk to Iran's Bandar Abbas-will be provided with a seamless railway connection along the broad gauge of the "1520" standard. Cargo delivery from Murmansk to Mumbai will take about fifteen days. Compared to traditional routes, the travel time will be reduced by four times.

Another North-South transport meridian will pass through the Urals and Siberia. Its key elements are the modernization of the central section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, including the West Siberian Railway, in the Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo and Tomsk regions, and the Altai Territory. This includes the construction of a Northern latitudinal Route with a promising access to the ports of Yamal, Taimyr and the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as well as the creation of a new North Siberian Railway-from the Khanty – Mansi Autonomous Okrug to its junction with the Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM.

These combined projects will not only relieve the Trans-Siberian Railway, transfer part of the cargo flow, such as coal-we understand all the issues related to this problem-from the existing routes, but also create a powerful logistics cluster in the Urals and Siberia, and give an impetus to the development of this entire macro-region.

At the same time, we are working with foreign partners to develop railway routes from Central Siberia in the southern direction: towards China, Mongolia, and the ports of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Finally, we are planning another corridor from the Arctic to the South in the Far East. Its elements are also formed: This is a railway line from BAM to Yakutia, bridges across the Lena and Amur Rivers, and the Pacific Railway.

All these three North-South corridors, which I have just mentioned, in the European part of Russia, Siberia and the Far East open up the possibility of integrating and directly connecting our railway and transport routes with logistics hubs in the south and southeast of Eurasia.

What is especially important, these projects will create a huge space for the long-term development of entire industries and vast territories of the Russian Federation, and will provide a powerful positive effect for our country and for our citizens.

Dear friends!

Railways are the most important part of the Russian transport system. Their stable and reliable operation on the domestic market and in the field of international transportation largely determines the dynamics of the development of our entire country, the quality of the national economy, and its global competitiveness.

Of course, we will continue to strengthen the railway industry, increase the carrying capacity of highways. Of course, we need to think and solve the issue of improving the speed of transportation, quality, convenience of passenger service and cargo transportation, all this is among our tasks. Taking into account new challenges, we should increase the capabilities of domestic industry, technology, industry science and education.

Of course, we will act in a coordinated manner, together, combining the efforts of the state, regions, business, and your wonderful labor collectives-millions of talented people, true professionals in their field, who are determined to achieve great results and are ready for this work, I have no doubt about it. And we will definitely solve all the tasks set in the interests of Russia.

Thank you very much.

[Break for award presentation and speeches]

Vladimir Putin: I won't go back to the strategic importance of the railway industry. This has already been said, and I think that everyone in Russia understands this significance. I would like to return to what we have just seen: the opening of two important facilities in different parts of our vast country – in the North and in the East, in the European and eastern parts of the country.

I think that for me, and even for you, people who have devoted many years of their lives to the railway sector, it is still for you, maybe for many, at least, it is some current event, one of the current events, but for people who are still watching from the outside. on the other hand, it makes an impression. Which one? The first, of course, is a sense of gratitude to those people who, in such conditions, achieve such bright results, despite the fact that it is now a polar night in Murmansk and it has been dark for a long time in the Far East, but still bright in their content and significance. So a special big thank you to them again. And, secondly, when you look, the trains went through the tunnel, on the bridge, some feeling of nadega arises. The country lives, develops, achieves results and success, and, as they said back in Soviet times, there is a sense of confidence in the future. For this, thank you very much to all of you and, of course, to those who received state awards today. I know that there are, of course, many, many more such people in the railway industry. As I say at awards shows in such cases, it is always just a symbol, a symbol of the country's attention to the railway industry and gratitude for the results of your work.

Thank you very much

And now on to our next much shorter talk, which as you’ll see ends when the technical talk begins:

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good evening!

As you know, the next Railway Congress was held last week. During the congress, colleagues paid special attention to the importance of further development of the so-called Eastern Railway Polygon for the Far East and for the whole of Russia. And this once again underlines the great importance of the work that is being done within the framework of this large-scale, complex project.

Let me remind you that we have been consistently expanding the capacity of the Eastern Landfill since 2013. During the first stage, more than five thousand kilometers of tracks were laid and updated, bridges, tunnels, traction substations and locomotive facilities were built and reconstructed. As a result, in 2021, the carrying capacity of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway increased to 144 million tons per year. However, the target figures were higher, namely 157-168 million tons per year. At the same time, some work in the first stage is still ongoing.

In the same year, 2021, the second stage of the project was launched, it is designed for 2024 inclusive, when the cargo flow of highways should increase to 180 million tons per year.

Today, I would like to discuss separately how the work is progressing in the first and second stages, and whether all the tasks for the current year have been completed.

I would like to emphasize once again that the eastern direction of railways, as we all understand very well, is in high demand. Traffic volumes have increased significantly in recent years and continue to increase, which means that the loading of highways is guaranteed for years to come. Given these prospects, we need to clearly define the parameters of the third stage of development of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway, in what terms, in what directions and in what exact volume their carrying capacity will increase.

I would like to draw the attention of my colleagues in the Government and in Russian Railways: in this work, it is important to ensure that the plans of the railway and cargo senders, owners of seaports, builders of related infrastructure, including energy capacities and networks, as well as the development of border crossings are connected. At the same time, it is necessary not only to achieve the set benchmarks, but, as they say, to lay down capacity reserves in order to expand the capabilities of railways in a short time and at low cost, if necessary.

I would like to add that when building new facilities, we should not forget about the existing infrastructure and its maintenance in a standard state. There are also problem areas here.

Let's discuss approaches to solving these problems today. At the same time, I would like to emphasize once again that the priority should be the same – the effective development of the railway network of the Eastern Polygon, the timely increase in the carrying capacity of its highways in the interests of the whole country, all our regions, the entire domestic economy, and therefore our citizens, since the new infrastructure means additional jobs, increased family incomes, and broad prospects for example, to update the appearance of cities and towns.

Let's move on to the agenda items. The floor is given to Andrey Ramovich Belousov. You are welcome.

Not being allowed to read the technical discussions at times is annoying, but that’s how it is. When the work begins, we’ll find out what was decided. The projects Putin mentioned aren’t all the connectivity and logistics projects on the planning boards or already in motion. Plans now are being pushed out to 2035 and here’s the official document, “On the Strategy for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation and Ensuring National Security for the Period up to 2035,” that refuses to translate well and with its annexes is about 26 pages. And a quantum communications network spearheaded by Russian Railways?! And what else related to new physical properties that aren’t weapons?

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