| Russian Railways (RZD) Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (RZhD) «Российские железные дороги» |
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A train at Rostov-Glavny station. |
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| Reporting mark | RZhD, RZD |
| Locale | Russia |
| Dates of operation | 1992– |
| Predecessor | Soviet Railways |
| Track gauge | 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in) |
| Electrification | 3 kV DC, 25 kV AC |
| Length | 86,000 km (53,000 mi) |
| Headquarters | Moscow |
| Website | Russian Railways |
The Russian Railways (RZhD) (Russian: Российские железные дороги (РЖД), Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (RZhD)), is the government owned national rail carrier of the Russian Federation, headquartered in Moscow.[1] The Russian Railways operate over 86,000 km (53,000 mi) of common carrier routes as well as a few hundred kilometers of industrial routes, making it the second largest network in the world exceeded only by the United States.[2] The Railways also are one of the largest companies in the world employing 950,000 people and is also a monopoly within Russia.[3]
The Russian Railways were created in 1992, to take over existing lines within Russia from the Soviet Union.
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The Soviet Railways ended operations in December 1991, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. On January 20, 1992, the Ministry of Russian Railways was founded, to operate railways within the Russian Federation. However the Russian Railways were declining rapidly, mainly due to loss of direct government support. Investments were cut and funds were dropped. The railways declined greatly because there weren't enough funds to repair rolling stock, stations and maintain rapidly aging track. In 1992, freight traffic within Russia fell by 60%.[4] Passenger travel also declined greatly. Many trains were taken out of service and the passenger sector was heavily subsidized to the freight industry. The decline greatly affected Russia's economy, since railways were the only reliable transportation system within the country. Since the railways were a vital social importance to Russia, due to low usage of automobiles, heavy usage by low income citizens, lack of roads, great distances and connections to remote parts of Russia, the railways needed to rebuild and modernize the system to meet the demands of the country.
In 1996, the Ministry of Railways developed a program to greatly restructure Russia's railways. The ministry looked into programs used in the Soviet Union and Russian Empire as well as other countries in Europe, Asia and North America. The program was set into motion May 18, 2001, when it was approved by the government. The general plan was to modernize and expand the industry to meet the demands of the economy by 2010. Many tracks were rebuilt with cement ties and expanded to two tracks or more. On September 18, 2003, a decree was passed to separate the railways from the ministry of transport, thus the Russian Railways was created as a public company, owning all track, stock and equipment. These new reforms proved successful as passenger traffic increased by 30% and freight traffic doubled by 2005.[5]
Russian Railways accounts for 2.5% [6] of Russia's GDP. The percentage of freight and passenger traffic that goes by rail is unknown, since no statistics are available for private transportation such as private automobiles or company-owned trucks. In 2007, about 1.3 billion passengers [7] and 1.3 billion tons of freight [8] went via Russian Railways. As of 2007, the company operated state-owned 19,700 goods and passenger locomotives, 24,200 passenger cars (carriages) and 526,900 freight cars (goods wagons).[9] A further 270,000 freight cars in Russia are privately owned .
Russia (in 2009) has 86,000 kilometers of common-carrier railroad line, of which about half is electrified and carries most of the traffic. Almost half of the total is double track or better [10][11]
Russian Railways operate commuter rail and/or regional rail services throughout the country, using mostly electric trains (known as elektrichka) as well as some diesel ones, on the non-electrified railway sections. As of 2007, 4085 commuter trains a day (in each direction) were running on the Russian Railways network; 1069 of them, in Moscow metropolitan area.[12]
In October 2010, RZD announced that its 2010 investment programme had increased to 3.15Bn Roubles (€7.45 billion), and announced an energy efficiency partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[13]
In December 2010, RZD announced a plan to buy 1250 new locomotives between 2011 and 2013, possibly including 2ES10.[14]
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