THE decline in freight traffic on the Russian railway network that has become apparent over the last year is becoming more pronounced, according to data published by Russian Railways (RZD).
Just 92.9 million tonnes of freight moved by rail in Russia in April, a year-on-year decline of 8.6% and a 16-year low.
RZD blamed the weak national economy for these disappointing results. “The main losses in volumes are associated with a decrease in domestic transport of construction materials, coal, ferrous metals and scrap metal, owing to a decrease in demand from the sectors of the economy consuming these commodities,” RZD says.
Observers note that rail freight is an important indicator of the general health of the Russian economy. "If we look at the Russian economy through the prism of rail transport, Russia has plunged into a deep depression," according to news outlet RZD Partner.
In 2024, rail freight dropped by 4% to 1.18 trillion tonnes, the lowest level in the last 15 years. RZD attributed the decline to a significant surplus of wagons, estimated at approximately 400,000 of the total fleet of 1.38 million.
“The number of empty wagons is rising," says Pavel Ivankin, president of the National Research Centre for Transportation and Infrastructure. “But on private tracks, there is not enough space for idle rolling stock, so they remain on public infrastructure and start interfering with the movement of loaded trains.”
Surplus wagons
RZD embarked on a programme to reduce the size of its surplus wagon fleet in October 2024, withdrawing around 75,000 wagons in the fourth quarter of last year. However, these efforts have yet to translate into tangible results in terms of freight traffic. Russian businesses have also warned of the costs of disposal, as revealed by the Russian Steel Association in a letter sent to the government in February 2024.
Under current regulations, surplus wagons are removed from traffic at their current location, even if it is unsuitable for wagon storage, causing congestion that consumes capacity. "Often, the manufacturer receives raw materials, unloads them, and the empty wagons are not removed,” says Ivankin. “After some time, it can no longer accept raw materials, because all the access tracks are filled with empty wagons."
Reports suggest that Russian businesses are switching from rail to road due to the resulting disruption. In 2024, road freight volumes increased by 5% in Russia to reach 291 billion tonne-km, as estimated by BusinessStat, a Moscow-based think tank. Congestion on the railway network was one of the key factors driving the growth in freight moving by road, the analysts said.
“The increase in tariffs for rail transport and the limited capacity of the rail network on the most popular routes after the introduction of sanctions have led to the redistribution of some rail freight to road transport,” BusinessStat says.
