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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Russian Railways CEO Oleg Belozerov: Mr President, on behalf of the Russian Railways team, I would like to thank you for your continuous attention and support. Russian Railways has turned 20. As we looked back, we discovered that while the documents establishing Russian Railways were indeed executed in 2003, the transformation they enacted in the railway sector stemmed from a decision adopted by the State Council held on April 25, 2001. You chaired that meeting. Almost all of the goals have been achieved.

Cargo shipments are probably the key performance indicator I wanted to mention. You have consistently emphasised that railways constitute a core sector of the economy. In 1999, railways accounted for 81 percent of all shipments. Today, this figure has increased even further to 87 percent – this is the share of railways in our national cargo traffic.

Vladimir Putin: What do you mean by freight traffic density?

Oleg Belozerov: Freight traffic density is an indicator reflecting how many million tonnes we carry per kilometre. In this regard, we have an absolutely outstanding, unrivalled performance with over 30 million tonnes per kilometre of rail.

We are second in terms of haulage, and third in terms of route length. We are the fourth largest operator as far as passenger traffic is concerned. There is an obvious explanation why India and China are ahead of us, since more people live there. As for Japan, it has always prioritised railway transport, which explains why it ranks so high. Overall, these impressive results have been made possible by the hard work of our team.

In 2023, there was a 12 percent increase in long-distance travel. I would like to draw your attention to something we have been saying all along: we surpassed the records set in 2019 and reached an all-time high. After all, there are pre- and post-Covid eras in long-distance passenger traffic.

As for commuter rail service, we have fallen slightly short of our 2019 performance, but I can assure you that we will catch up. We know why this happened: Moscow opened the third and the fourth Moscow Central Diameters, which required us to prioritise construction over traffic numbers. However, we are already witnessing higher commuter traffic numbers.

We have achieved good results in terms of technological independence. We have successfully created a Lastochka train that is fully, 100 percent Russian made. These trains manufactured in Russia will be supplied to 21 regions.

We have laid the groundwork. A new passenger coach of the T dimension category will be certified by the end of the year and will be launched into operation. It is 30 cm wider than the previous model, which means that the berth will be longer, 2 m instead of 1.83 m. We have also addressed the common problem of narrow aisles by widening them by 5 cm. More personal space will be created for passengers. Thus, we have started renovating passenger coaches to incorporate these enhancements.

Vladimir Putin: When will this type of coach become available?

Oleg Belozerov: The expanded T dimension type will be available in December.

We have made significant progress in the construction of modular railway stations and platforms. Small stations and platforms have been a long-standing issue in terms of their appearance and maintenance.

Vladimir Putin: Are you using new materials?

Oleg Belozerov: Yes, we are using durable and low-maintenance materials. We have designed a fully domestic modular railway station, with manufacturing facilities located in two regions, St Petersburg and Chechnya. The station has a sustainable framework made of pressed wood beams. It has increased fire-resistance. The interior is fully finished, and assembly and installation are quick and easy.

We plan to install 15 modular stations. Assembly takes only four days. No permanent foundation is necessary, and this design can be quickly replicated. Most importantly, these stations have a life span of 50 years, thanks to the use of plastic and new-generation materials that provide durability.

Similarly, we now have composite platforms that take two months to assemble instead of 20, and they are cheaper. They are made entirely of domestic materials.

Vladimir Putin: And they are durable, aren’t they?

Oleg Belozerov: Yes, they have a life span of 50 years. It is exactly what we aimed to achieve.

As concerns freight operations, specifically, container freight, I would like to express my gratitude for overseeing container operations incoming from the Russian Far East. The facilities are currently operating at 60 percent capacity. This result was achieved by increasing the number of terminals where freight cars are formed into trains from six to 17 in the Far East. You set a goal for us and we have achieved it. Now, my colleagues picked it up and formation is happening very quickly. There has been a 25-percent increase.

In terms of innovation, we have designed new fitting platforms for containers that can travel at a speed of 140 kmph. This means they can be transported by passenger trains without disrupting our railway schedules. We have also reduced the departure times from Vorsino in the Kaluga Region to Novorossiysk from three days to one day. We are continuously striving to improve performance.

The development of transport corridors is another important issue that you always pay attention to. All the corridors are growing. Every one of them. The Eastern corridor has added 5 percent overall, and exports have grown 7 percent. Transportation with China is a separate issue. You said earlier that trade with China would grow, to over 200 billion. We can see this in the growing traffic today.

Goods are shipped via both old and new border crossings. Here I would like to express my gratitude to the Ministry of Transport and Vitaly Savelyev for their dedicated work at checkpoints. They have changed their work modes and introduced new technologies, giving us the opportunity to transport a greater volume of cargo.

I would also like to mention the North-South corridor, which has shown considerable growth in all branches.

Another trend that we have noticed over the past 20 years is of high interest to railway workers. Previously, we delivered only 40 percent of exports through seaports; but now, we deliver 78 percent of cargo by rail to ports, and it is then exported by sea. In other words, this link with the ports is very, very important for us, and the ports are growing, too.

As for innovative technologies, we are working on the heavy-haul service, primarily in the Eastern Operating Domain. There has been a 17 percent increase in trains weighing more than 7,100 tonnes, which means a growth of more than 2 million tonnes overall.

When we operate five trains as a virtually coupled train set, say, a group of five trains that are virtually connected and coordinated: two container trains, and three empty trains. But the length, if you add up all the trains, is more than five kilometres – 5,250 metres. They operate at short distances between them so far, about four kilometres, which allows us to use the infrastructure more effectively. We have calculated that 21 kilometres – we have a virtually coupled train set almost as long – provides for a very serious increase.

Our investment programme is almost 1.2 trillion [rubles]. The key construction projects are part of the Eastern Operating Domain.

Mr President, I would like to assure you that Russian Railways will meet all the target indicators and tasks you have set.

Vladimir Putin: I have no doubt about it. Thank you.

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