Russian Railways financial indicators

Main article: Russian Railways

2025

Reduction in locomotive purchases by 29% to 399

In 2025, locomotive sales totalled 399 units. This figure is 29% lower than in 2024, when 562 locomotives were purchased by Russian Railways. The data provided by the press service of the Russian Railways company (Russian Railways) was published by the Interfax news agency on January 15, 2026.

In the total volume of purchases carried out by Russian Railways, 258 units were electric locomotives and 141 units were diesel locomotives. Most of the new vehicles were sent to operational depots to serve the directions of Siberia, the Far East and the northwestern part of the country.

Locomotive sales in Russia for the year decreased by 29% to 399 units

The supply structure included various models. The fleet of freight electric locomotives was replenished with 162 cars of the Yermak ES5K series, 84 locomotives of the Sinara 2ES6 and 3ES6 series and one electric locomotive of the Malakhit 3ES8. For passenger transportation, 4 electric locomotives EP1M, 7 electric locomotives EP2K and 9 diesel locomotives TEP70BS were purchased. The freight diesel fleet included 51 main locomotives of the 3TE28 and 2TE25KM series, as well as 81 shunting diesel locomotives of the TEM18DM.

Purchases were carried out within the framework of the investment program of Russian Railways for 2025, approved in the amount of 890.9 billion rubles. This is 1.4 times less than the initially approved volume of the program for 2024 (1.275 trillion rubles), while the actual implementation of the investment program-2024 reached almost 1.5 trillion rubles.

It was planned to allocate 257.2 billion rubles for the renewal of rolling stock in 2025 in order to purchase 400 locomotives and 239 cars of motor-car rolling stock. Thus, the actual purchases of locomotives (399 units) almost completely corresponded to the planned indicator.

In December 2025, the Russian Railways Board of Directors approved the investment program for 2026. Its total volume amounted to 713.6 billion rubles. Of this amount, 161.7 billion rubles are provided for the purchase of rolling stock, including the purchase of up to 400 locomotives and up to 190 passenger cars. Earlier, in July 2024, the company estimated its total need for locomotives until 2035 at 9.9 thousand units.^[1]

Rail passenger transportation in Russia for the year increased by 2% and reached 1.3 billion people

In 2025, over 1.3 billion passengers were transported through the railway infrastructure of Russia. Passenger traffic increased by 1.9% compared to 2024. These statistics were published on the official portal of Russian Railways on January 12, 2026.

As follows from the published indicators, the growth was due to suburban traffic, where the figure amounted to 1 billion 183.5 million passengers (+ 2.2%). Long-haul transportation slightly decreased to 126.7 million people (-0.6%). At the same time, the total passenger turnover decreased by 0.9% to 142.4 billion passenger-kilometers.

Passenger rail transportation in Russia increased by 2% over the year

The volume of cargo work decreased by 5.6%. Freight turnover amounted to 2478.3 billion tariff ton-kilometers (-1.8%). The decline affected most categories of cargo. The shipment of coal decreased by 2.1% to 324.5 million tons, oil and petroleum products - by 5% to 197.1 million tons, ferrous metals - by 17.7% to 50.6 million tons.

A significant drop of 32.2% was recorded in the transportation of ferrous scrap. Grain loading decreased by 12.2% to 27.4 million tons, which is associated with a decrease in harvest due to weather conditions in 2024. The growth was noted only in certain segments: the shipment of chemical and mineral fertilizers increased by 3.8%, non-ferrous metal ores - by 5.1%.

Company representatives attribute the decrease in loading for a number of nomenclatures to the influence of external economic factors and repairs at refineries. The key positive trend was the growth of export supplies in the eastern direction by 6.5% to 163.5 million tons.

According to Russian Railways, in December 2025, passenger traffic amounted to 106.2 million people (+ 1.2% by December 2024). Loading in the last month of 2025 amounted to 94.5 million tons (-4.8%), while the shipment of grain (+ 34.1%), iron ore (+ 0.3%) and raw materials for non-ferrous metallurgy (+^[2]%) increased^[3][4]tons

2024

3rd place in terms of debt among Russian companies - 2.771 trillion rubles

In mid-October 2025, Forbes magazine published the results of a study listing Russian companies with the largest debt at the end of 2024. Read more here.

Revenue growth of 8.6% to ₽2,83 trillion

Revenue of Russian Railways in 2024 increased by 8.6% and exceeded ₽2,83 trillion. This is evidenced by the company's report published on March 7, 2025. The Russian railway operator also increased its investment to a record ₽1,5 trillion, directing funds to modernize infrastructure and update rolling stock.

According to Russian Railways, EBITDA at the end of 2024 amounted to ₽846,7 billion, and net profit - ₽13,9 billion. Total assets of the company increased by 15.6% and reached ₽10 trillion 391.4 billion as of December 31, 2024.

Annual revenue of Russian Railways increased by 8.6% and exceeded ₽2,83 trillion

In 2024, Russian Railways demonstrated significant production results. Freight turnover on the railway network amounted to 3.1 trillion ton-km. At the same time, a historical maximum was provided for tariff freight turnover within the boundaries of the eastern landfill. Container transportation reached a record level - 7.9 million DFE (twenty-foot equivalent), which is 5.9% higher than in 2023.

Significant growth was also observed in the field of passenger transportation. Passenger turnover in 2024 amounted to 143.7 billion pass.-km, which is the highest figure since 2012. In total, 1 billion 285.8 million passengers were transported by railways over the year, the largest number since 2008.

The Company fully fulfilled its obligations under the collective agreement and retained the status of a socially responsible employer. During 2024, employees' salaries were indexed twice, and the total indexation was 7.3%. In addition, the minimum wage was raised. From February 1, 2025, additional indexation of workers' wages was carried out to the actual level of the consumer price index for goods and services according to Rosstat data (109.5%).^[5]

Rail construction growth triples to 450km

In 2024, 453.8 km of public railways were commissioned in Russia, which is three times higher than in 2023, when 152.9 km were opened. This became known on February 21, 2025.

According to the press service of the Russian Ministry of Transport, 199.23 km of tracks have been opened in the eastern direction, which is four times more than in 2023. In the North-West direction, the volume of introduced tracks increased fivefold to 254.57 km.

The construction of railways in Russia tripled over the year and reached 450 km

Distribution of new railway tracks on the roads of JSCo Russian Railways:

• October railway - 164.7 km.
• East Siberian Railway - 87.9 km.
• Trans-Baikal Railway - 85.2 km.
• Sverdlovsk railway - 60.4 km.
• The remaining roads are 34 km.

Additionally, Rubikon built 21.6 km of tracks on the border with China, which in 2024 became the property of IFR-1 LLC.

For the period from 2015 to 2024, 1987.1 km of public tracks were opened in Russia. Since the start of Roszheldor in 2005, the total length of the introduced tracks has been 3304.4 km. The 2024 figure is comparable only to the 2019 result, when 459.1 km of tracks were opened.

In 2024, the procedure for opening public railways was reduced from 45 to 25 days. This public service became available on the Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services in 2023.

The decision to open the tracks is made on the basis of an appeal from the owner of the public railway infrastructure and a commission examination by specialists of the territorial administration of Roszheldor. The main applicant is Russian Railways.

Record rates of railway commissioning demonstrate a significant expansion of the transport network of Russia. Special attention is paid to the development of the east and north-west directions, which contributes to the strengthening of transport ties with key economic partners.^[6]

Transportation of Russian Railways passengers for the year increased by 7% and reached 1.28 billion people

The total volume of passenger traffic of Russian Railways increased to 1.284 billion people in 2024, which is 7% more than in 2023. TAdviser got acquainted with such data in January 2025.

According to the press service of Russian Railways, 1.157 billion passengers were transported in suburban traffic, which is 7.3% more than the previous period. Long-distance transportation increased by 4.4% to 127.4 million people.

Transportation of Russian Railways passengers for the year increased by 7%

The total passenger turnover of the company reached 143.7 billion passenger-kilometers, an increase of 5.5%. In suburban traffic, the figure increased by 6.4% to 35.3 billion passenger-kilometers, in long-distance traffic - by 5.2% to 108.5 billion passenger-kilometers.

In December 2024, 103.2 million passengers used the railway infrastructure, which is 2.1% more than in December 2023. Of these, 93.8 million people made trips in suburban traffic (an increase of 2.2%), and 9.4 million - in long-distance traffic (an increase of 0.6%).

The December passenger turnover amounted to 10.2 billion passenger-kilometers, exceeding the result of the same period in 2023 by 1.7%. In suburban traffic, the figure reached 2.8 billion passenger-kilometers (an increase of 3.8%), in long-distance traffic - 7.4 billion passenger-kilometers (an increase of 1%).

The growth of passenger traffic occurred against the background of a decrease in freight indicators. The total volume of loading on the Russian Railways network in 2024 decreased by 4.1% to 1.181 billion tons. Freight turnover decreased by 4.3% and amounted to 2523.8 billion tariff ton-kilometers.

The most significant decrease in loading volumes was recorded in the segments of ferrous scrap (-18.5%), construction cargo (-14.5%) and ferrous metals (-9.3%). At the same time, the transportation of chemical and mineral fertilizers (+ 6.2%), coke (+ 2.3%) and container cargo (+ 1.1%) increased^[7][8]

2023

Profit growth 2.5 times to 118.3 billion rubles

In 2023, the net profit of Russian Railways amounted to 118.3 billion rubles, which is 2.5 times more than the profit a year ago. Revenue reached 2.61 trillion rubles, an increase of 16.4% compared to 2022. Such data in accordance with Russian accounting standards (RAS) were released in early March 2024.

EBITDA in 2023 amounted to 736.9 billion rubles, which is 38.5% more than in 2022. Gross profit amounted to 556 billion rubles, an increase of 35% on an annualized basis.

Net profit of Russian Railways amounted to 118.3 billion rubles

According to Interfax, citing materials from Russian Railways, by the end of 2023, open and unused Russian Railways credit lines were measured at 1.37 trillion rubles, which roughly corresponds to the result of a year ago. The company has the opportunity to use an overdraft in the amount of up to 45 billion rubles for more efficient work with cash balances.

In 2023, freight turnover on the railway network amounted to 3.3 trillion ton-km, while a historical maximum was provided for tariff freight turnover within the boundaries of the Eastern landfill in 2023. Container transportation at the end of 2023 reached a historically record value of 7.4 million DFE, which is 14.1% more than in 2022. The volume of passenger traffic in 2023 amounted to 136.3 billion pass.-km (+ 11.0% by 2022), 1 199.6 million passengers were sent (+ 5.7% by 2022).

By the end of 2023, the total assets of Russian Railways reached 8.99 trillion rubles, which is 13.1% more than a year earlier. The results of the work of Russian Railways for 2023 include performance indicators of more than 50 branches and representative offices of the company and largely reflect the situation in the Russian economy and industry, given the close connection with the work of the largest manufacturers of products and goods in the country, the company noted.^[9]

Record volume of traffic in communication with China - 161 million tons

The volume of rail traffic between Russia and China in 2023 amounted to a record 161 million tons, which is 36% more than a year earlier. The CEO RUSSIAN RAILWAY Oleg Belozerov announced this in mid-February 2024.

More than a year ago, taking the planned indicators for 2023, we considered the growth in the volume of traffic in communication with the PRC by 10% as an optimistic estimate. The results exceeded all expectations, "he said.

The volume of railway traffic between Russia and China in 2023 amounted to a record 161 million tons

According to Belozerov, the work of border crossings played an important role in these transportation. The new transition Nizhneleninskoye - Tongjiang has entered the stage of active operation, more than 3 million tons have already been transported through it, the head of Russian Railways said.

We are talking about a bridge across the Amur River Nizhneleninsky (Jewish Autonomous Region, Jewish Autonomous Region) - Tongjiang (Heilongjiang Province, China), which was commissioned in November 2022. Its construction was carried out as part of an agreement concluded between Russia and China in 2008. Financing at the level of more than 70% of the total budget for the construction of the Russian part of the bridge, together with Chinese partners, was provided by the Russian Direct Investment Fund. It was reported that the investors of the project were also "ВЭБ.РФ" and Russian Railways.

According to the general director of Russian Railways Alexei Shilo, the removal of covid (we are talking about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic) restrictions on cross-border transportation with China has a positive effect on the volume of container traffic. After the removal of covid restrictions in China, the situation should become more positive, because it was they who largely interfered with the operation of the terminals, agrees Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of Infoline Analytics. Due to the congestion of the Far Eastern ports, there is a great potential for increasing the passage of goods through land terminals, the expert believes.^[10]

Growth in the number of traffic by 5.4% to 1.2 billion passengers

In 2023, Russian Railways transported almost 1.2 billion passengers, which is 5.4% more than in 2022. The company published such statistics on January 9, 2024.

As reported on the Russian Railways website, in 2023, 1.07 billion passengers were sent from stations and stations as part of suburban traffic, which is 4.6% higher than the result of a year ago. Passenger traffic on long-distance trains increased by 12.7% and reached 122 million people.

According to Russian Railways' own data, passenger turnover at the company in 2023 increased by 11% compared to the previous year and amounted to 136.2 billion pass.-km, including in suburban traffic - 33.1 billion pass.-km (+ 5.3%), in long-distance travel - 103.1 billion pass.-km (+ 12.9%).

The carrier also cited data according to which 4.9 million people were transported by long-distance trains on the infrastructure of Russian Railways during the New Year holidays from December 29, 2023 to January 8, 2024. This is 6.8% more than in the same period of the New Year holidays last year, and by 8% - the pre-pandemic (we are talking about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic) period (2019/2020), when passenger transportation was record.

The peak departure date for passengers was December 29, 2023. On this day, 495 thousand passengers left the stations and stations. For their transportation, a record number of trains sent on the same day were involved - 741.

According to Russian Railways, in December 2023, 97.8 million passengers used the company's services, which is 3.6% more than in the same period of the previous year.

In December 2023, passenger turnover amounted to 9.9 billion passenger-kilometers (+ 11%), including 2.6 billion passenger-kilometers (+ 3.4%) in suburban traffic, and 7.3 billion passenger-kilometers (+ 14%) in long-distance traffic^[11] said^[12]

Railway freight transportation in Russia decreased

Railway freight transportation in Russia in 2023 decreased by 0.2% compared to 2022 and reached 1.23 billion tons. This was reported to Russian Railways on January 9, 2024. Read more here.

2022

Cargo loading station up to 109 million tons in February

Loading into the railway of the Russian Railways network increased by 2.1% YoY to 109.1 million tons - this is the maximum growth rate from January 2022. However, if we compare with the maximum cargo turnover of 119 million tons in March 2008, over 15 years a decrease of 8.5%.

Growth of freight turnover with China by 28% to 123 million tons

In 2022, the Russian Railways (RZD) transported the maximum volume of cargo in the entire history in the eastern direction - 276 million tons. This is 3.3% more compared to 2021, said Deputy Head of Russian Railways Alexei Shilo in mid-February 2023. According to him, the record was also the transportation of goods in communication with China - 123 million tons (+ 28%).

Shilo also cited data according to which coal exports to the east reached 101.1 million tons, an increase of + 0.5% compared to 2021. Freight transportation increased by 42% in communication with Turkey, including through the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin, as well as by 65% along the North-South international transport corridor (MTK).

After the sanctions imposed due to the military special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, difficulties arose in sending goods in a number of directions, but the Chinese direction remained stable. This year, there was a sharp increase in container traffic in the direction of ports and border crossings of the Far East.

Earlier, Russian Railways reported that in 2022, cargo transportation through the Eastern landfill amounted to 148.8 million tons, which is almost 5 million tons more than the current transportation indicators of the landfill. At the same time, the company plans to increase the carrying capacity of the Eastern landfill (BAM and Transsib) to 173 million tons by the end of 2023 and transfer more than 160 million tons.

The growth in transit container traffic from China to Europe through the territory of Russia in 2022 was replaced by a fall. According to Alexei Shilo, in 9 months of 2022, container transit through the Russian Railways network decreased by 17.6%, including in the China-Europe-China message by 35%. For comparison: from January to September 2021, transit transportation of goods in containers by rail from China to the EU through the territory of Russia increased by 47% compared to the same period in 2020 and amounted to 568,700 TEU (equivalent to a 20-foot container).^[13]

Freight transportation on railways in Russia for the year decreased by 3.8%

Freight transportation by rail in Russia in 2022 decreased by 3.8% compared to 2021 and amounted to 1.23 billion tons. This was reported to Russian Railways in January 2023. Read more here.

Passenger transportation increased by 7.8%, but did not reach pre-pandemic indicators

Passenger transportation by rail in Russia in 2022 increased by 7.8% compared to 2021 (up to 1.136 billion people), but did not reach pre-pandemic indicators. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. Regarding 2019, the passenger traffic of the railway (then it was measured by 1.2 billion passengers) in 2022 decreased by 5.3%, according to Russian Railways data released on January 9, 2023.

According to Vedomosti, citing company statistics, long-distance transportation increased the most in 2022 - by 17.8% to 108.3 million people. This is due, among other things, to the closure of 11 airports in the south and in the central part of the country after the start of a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine: to meet the demand for transportation in the southern direction, Russian Railways appointed additional trains during the year.

Independent industrial expert Maxim Shaposhnikov adds that the achievement of 2019 indicators, among other things, was prevented in 2022 by the "total drop in disposable incomes of citizens."

The failure of Russian Railways to achieve dock-like indicators in the volume of passenger transportation by the end of 2022 is due to the preservation of a generally difficult socio-economic situation, "agrees Mikhail Shirybov, a leading expert analyst at the Institute for Problems of Natural Monopolies (IPEM).

Pavel Ivankin, President of the Transportation and Infrastructure Research Center, recalls that this year Russian Railways has increased the number of passenger trains not only to the south, but also in other directions, in particular, the geography of tourist trains has expanded. When assessing the dynamics of passenger transportation, in his opinion, it is also necessary to take into account the insignificant volumes of international passenger traffic in 2022 "due to foreign policy reasons."

Passenger turnover on the Russian Railways network in 2022 increased by 18.8% compared to 2021 and reached 122.9 billion passenger-kilometers, including in suburban traffic - 31.4 billion pass.-km (+ 8.5% compared to 2021), in long-distance travel - 91.5 billion passenger-kilometers (+ 22.8%).

Suburban traffic in 2022 accounted for 1.027 billion passengers, which is 6.8% more than a year ago.^[14]

Take-off of transportation of rare earth metals from China to the EU

The main railway route for freight trains passes through the territory of Russia, which carry rare earth metals from China to the EU, necessary in the production of microchips, electronics and other modern military equipment.

EU data shows that Russian railways are a key conduit for strategic metals. China supplies more than 90% of the volume of rare earth metals used in the EU. For nine months of 2022, the volume of railway supplies through Russia increased to 36 thousand tons, which is twice as much as for the entire 2021. At the same time, raw materials were transported, among other things, by Russian Railways trains, despite the company's inclusion in the EU sanctions list.

2021: Revenue growth by 11% to RUB 2.5 trillion

According to the results of 2021, Russian Railways revenues amounted to more than 2.5 trillion rubles, an increase of 11% compared to 2020 (according to international financial reporting standards). The state-owned company received a net profit of 50.7 billion rubles, while in 2020 there were net losses of 6.3 billion rubles (although other losses appeared in the annuity for 2020 - 52.9 billion rubles; the reason for the revision of the numbers is not named). Such data for 2021 were released at the end of March 2022.

In 2021, Russian Railways revenues from freight transportation and access to infrastructure increased by 8% - to 1.6 trillion rubles. Revenues from passenger traffic increased significantly - by 43.7%, to 223.7 billion rubles. Operating expenses in 2021 increased by 11.4% and reached 2.4 trillion. rubles. EBITDA in 2021 rose 1.2 times and amounted to 503.82 billion rubles.

As of December 31, 2021, the volume of long-term borrowed funds of Russian Railways amounted to 1.32 trillion rubles (as of December 31, 2020 - 1.32 trillion rubles), short-term - 289.99 billion rubles (as of December 31, 2020 - 298.5 billion rubles).

By the end of 2021, the operating length of Russian Railways was 85.6 thousand km, the share in the cargo turnover of the Russian Federation - 47.2%, in the passenger turnover - 25%. Russian Railways operated about 20 thousand locomotives, through subsidiaries they own 145.2 thousand freight cars, 18 thousand long-distance passenger cars. Commuter service was operated by 24 commuter passenger companies.

As of December 31, 2021, the authorized capital of Russian Railways was measured at 2.56 billion ordinary shares and 150 million preferred shares with a par value of 1 thousand rubles each.^[15]

2020

Combined revenue of Russian Railways - 13,685,367 thousand rubles

At the end of 2020, Russian Railways reduced revenue by 2% - to 13,685,367 thousand rubles Data include the combined revenue of four Russian Railways insourcing companies with the following turnover for 2020: Infotrans Industry Service Company LLC (2,626,758 thousand rubles), JSC (NIIAS 6,250,612 thousand rubles), (CRF 4,272,372 thousand rubles), "" (Russian Railway technology 535,625 thousand rubles) In the ranking, " TAdviser "The largest IT insourcing companies in Russia Russian Railways took third place. In 2019, the same figure was 13,944,228 thousand rubles.

Revenue decrease by 9% to RUB 2.27 trillion, loss of RUB 52.9 billion

According to IFRS, the net loss of Russian Railways in 2020 amounted to 52.9 billion rubles against profit in 2019. The reason for this result is the unprofitability of the passenger segment. Russian Railways revenues against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 decreased by 9.1% compared to the level of 2019 and amounted to 2.279 trillion rubles. Revenues from freight transportation and access to infrastructure, which are included in this value, decreased by 4.2% (in comparable conditions, excluding Transcontainer indicators for 2019 - by 2.2% with a drop in loading by 2.7%).

Revenues from passenger traffic in the context of anti-coronavirus measures fell by 41.7%. Revenues from the provision of logistics services - by 8.1%. Operating expenses decreased by 4.1%. They amount to 2.252 trillion rubles. Russian Railways also noted that the investment program of the holding in 2020 was implemented in the amount of more than 717 billion rubles. This is the maximum since the creation of Russian Railways.

2014: Net loss under RAS - 44 billion rubles

Revenue of Russian Railways in 2014 increased by 1.8%, to 1.402 trillion rubles. At the same time, the cost of sales increased by 1.9% (to 1.343 billion rubles). As a result, gross profit remained at the level of 58.569 billion rubles, and profit from sales - at the level of 58.5 billion rubles. (both indicators decreased by 0.5%)^[16].

As a result, Russian Railways in 2014 received a net loss under RAS in the amount of 44.078 billion rubles, the company said in a report.

In 2013, the carrier received a net profit of 740 million rubles. The main reason for the loss in 2014 was a significant increase in "other" expenses - from 233.9 billion rubles. up to 315.5 billion rubles. A source in Russian Railways explained to Interfax that we are talking about an increase in exchange rate differences due to the devaluation of the ruble at the end of the year.

"During 2014, Russian currency markets were subject to high volatility, and the ruble exchange rate against the main world currencies decreased significantly. Part of the loan portfolio (RZD - IF) is denominated in foreign currency (dollars, euros, Swiss francs and pounds sterling). As a result of a significant depreciation of the ruble in the IV quarter, there was an increase in financial costs in ruble equivalent and losses from exchange rate differences arose, "the reporting says

.

The representative of Russian Railways reminded Interfax that the "freezing" of tariffs for freight railway transportation led to the fact that the company received less than 67 billion rubles. revenues. Also, according to him, the continuing slowdown in economic growth in Russia had a negative impact on financial results in 2014, which is why loading decreased by 0.8%.

To compensate for the negative impact of these factors, according to the interlocutor of the agency, allowed to increase internal efficiency, reduce costs and increase the efficiency of operating activities (including by increasing the share of more marginal cargo in the transportation structure). In addition, structural transformations ensured the growth of other revenues, supported by liquidity management, interest income and risk management.

The amount of Russian Railways liabilities on loans and loans increased in 2014 by 32.3%, to 856.22 billion rubles, while short-term debt increased by 3.8 times, to 140.5 billion rubles. (from 5.7% to 16.4% of the total portfolio).

Despite the fact that the share of Russian Railways in the total volume of cargo turnover is 86.6%, which allows the company to be considered a monopolist, financial results indicate an almost dire situation. According to the results of 2014, the share in passenger turnover was 26.4%, but this figure is also decreasing.

In 2005, net profit reached 114.4 billion rubles, but over the next 10 years, the indicator not only did not grow, but Russian Railways slipped into a loss. At the end of 2014, the loss amounted to 99.3 billion rubles. In the company itself, the loss is explained by negative exchange rate differences, under this article the loss amounted to almost 140 billion rubles^[17].

It should be noted that compared to 2013, the losses of Russian Railways significantly decreased, since then the loss exceeded 198 billion rubles. In 2013, such a huge amount of loss is associated with impairment of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. In any case, for a state-owned company, such inefficiency can hardly be justified.

At the same time, the problems were traditionally explained by too weak an increase in tariffs, and at the beginning of 2014 Yakunin called the freezing of tariffs for the transportation of oil and petroleum products the reason for the loss. However, the company then received 26 billion in the form of compensation for losses for the modernization of infrastructure. The total amount of state support in 2014 amounted to 112.2 billion rubles.

It is noteworthy that, based on an increase in losses, Russian Railways in 2015 achieved an increase in tariffs for cargo transportation by 10%, and should also receive about 30 billion rubles. in the form of new subsidies. And already in 2016, according to the head of Russian Railways, the company will need subsidies in the amount of 140 billion rubles.

Experts note that the state-owned company has chosen the easiest way to increase revenues by increasing tariffs, and not, for example, by increasing revenues from loading due to the modernization of infrastructure, increasing turnover due to more favorable conditions, and so on.

Back in 2014, large metallurgical companies of the country complained about the tariff policy of Russian Railways. A corresponding letter was sent to President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In it, representatives of companies noted that they were forced to reduce the volume of traffic, and this would strike both at the enterprises themselves, several dozen of which would be forced to close or be on the verge of bankruptcy, and at the railway company.

At the same time, automobile and air carriers are quite successful in competing with Russian Railways, offering customers favorable conditions, thereby taking away the company's share even in export transportation.

Although the share of passenger traffic in the income of Russian Railways is low and it is several times less than the income from cargo transportation, the latest scandals were associated with this segment.

In 2014, about 580 electric trains were canceled in 26 regions, while their total number does not exceed 6.5 thousand. Of course, some settlements were offered alternative bus routes, but it must be borne in mind that there are simply no normal roads to some, and the train was the only way to get to the place without your car.

On the other hand, since 2010, not Russian Railways itself has been responsible for suburban traffic in the regions, but its subsidiaries, and each region, setting tariffs, must pay the difference between the carrier's costs and real expenses.

Suburban service was not profitable at all, as often occupancy is provided only in season, and at other times they run half-empty; some destinations are less popular than others, etc.

According to RAS Russian Railways, before the allocation of suburban traffic to subsidiaries, losses reached 25-30 billion rubles. in year. But then no one talked about cancellation. When the burden of expenses fell on the shoulders of the regions, it turned out that many were simply dissatisfied with the opaque tariff policy, and the costs were considered overestimated.

"We are not ready to compensate for the ineffective costs of the Russian Railways subsidiary. Approximately 80-85% of the costs are for maintenance of rolling stock and its lease from the parent company. These are opaque figures for us, we do not recognize these figures, "said Oleg Kuvshinnikov, Governor of the Vologda Region

.

Only after the intervention of Vladimir Putin, the decision to cancel electric trains was canceled and the issue of reducing the load on carriers and regions began to be worked out. But it is unclear why Russian Railways, knowing about all the problems, chose to simply evade responsibility for suburban services, rather than offering alternative options to the government?

The volume of the investment program of Russian Railways is simply colossal. In 2015, expenses on these items are planned at the level of 414 billion rubles, and usually at least 300 billion rubles are allocated for these purposes. (in 2014, 396 billion rubles were allocated).

But the effectiveness of such costs, judging by the indicators, is very doubtful. The government, apparently, understands this, since in 2014 the KPI indicators for Russian Railways were introduced. Commercial, operational efficiency, efficiency of locomotives, maintenance and modernization of infrastructure, wagons are assessed. It is unclear when they will be published or whether they will be implemented at all.

Recall that Vladimir Yakunin came to Russian Railways in order to implement the reform of railway transport, which began back in 2000. At the same time, the reform itself was developed by the consulting company McKinsey.

Perhaps initially the reform, which was based on European countries, did not correspond to Russian reality. Now Russian Railways simply does not have sources of domestic financing with a growing debt.

If you try to balance the budget at the expense of income, then it will be necessary to increase tariffs so much that hardly anyone can use the railways at all. The only way out is government subsidies. But this, of course, does not negate issues of low efficiency.

2014: The share of Russian Railways in the total volume of cargo turnover is 86.6%, in passenger turnover - 26.4%

According to the results of 2014, the share of Russian Railways in the total volume of cargo turnover is 86.6%. The share in passenger turnover was 26.4%.

2012

Without subsidies from the federal budget, Russian Railways shows zero profit

The net profit of Russian Railways in 2011 amounted to almost 170 billion rubles, in 2012 - 78 billion, of which 56.7 billion fell on direct subsidies from the federal and local budgets. Russian Railways receives them as compensation for tariff regulation by officials.

Without taking into account budget money, Russian Railways would actually be at zero, and without taking into account the sale of non-core assets, it would be completely unprofitable. Numerous subsidiaries brought Russian Railways in the form of dividends only a modest 14 billion rubles.

In the structure of Russian Railways expenses, most of them are wages and social contributions - they accounted for 649 billion rubles out of 1.5 trillion in total expenses.

Company value: 1.1 trillion rubles or $34 billion

At the end of 2012, the head of the company Vladimir Yakunin noted that with the existing situation, 25 percent of the shares of the monopoly could be sold on the market for 280 billion. rubles It turns out that Yakunin estimated the entire company at 1.12 trillion rubles (about 34 billion at dollars current rates). It turns out that Russian Railways estimates its assets cheaper than the market estimates other large state-owned companies - "" (Gazprom 3.1 trillion rubles), "" (Rosneft 2.4 trillion) and (Sberbank almost two trillion). In addition, according to such an estimate, Russian Railways is even cheaper "" (Lukoil 1.6 trillion).

Yakunin's assessment can be considered conservative, especially since at the end of 2012 he himself was extremely interested in underestimating it: a small amount of income from privatization was supposed to scare away (and scare away) the government from selling 25 percent of Russian Railways shares. Yakunin himself stated that in four to five years Russian Railways should cost 86-129 billion dollars (2.8-4.3 trillion rubles at current rates).

This assessment is already from the category of extremely optimistic: the monopoly was not so expensive at least all post-crisis times. Earlier, Finance magazine annually published a rating of the largest companies in Russia, including non-public ones, and in the latest issue of this rating, Russian Railways was estimated at $90 billion (2.5 trillion rubles at the then rates). Over the year, Russian Railways, according to Finance, has risen in price by 90 percent, and in two years - three times.

The team of analysts at Finance moved to another publication - CEO. According to the expert of the magazine Andrei Shkolin, who managed to contact "Ленте.ру," as of August 2013, the cost of Russian Railways could be estimated at $50-60 billion, that is, significantly more expensive than Yakunin did, but cheaper than it was quoted a couple of years ago. Among the main reasons for the decline in the assessment, Shkolin named the general fall in the Russian stock market and the weakening of the ruble.

The expert explained that he considered the capitalization of Russian Railways by conducting analogues with publicly traded companies of a similar profile, primarily Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. "At the same time, it was conditionally believed that the lower efficiency of Russian Railways was compensated by the exclusive position of the monopoly in the Russian market," added Andrei Shkolin.

There are other methods of evaluating Russian Railways on the market. Thus, Alexey Pavlov from the brokerage house "Otkritie" suggested looking not at the capitalization of foreign analogues, but at Russian companies, say, at Globaltrans, a transport operator in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic countries. It is valued on the market at five EBITDA measures (earnings before amortization and taxes). According to Pavlov, Russian Railways, as a state-owned company, is less efficient, so the market can give it a slightly smaller valuation than Globaltransa, somewhere in the region of 4 EBITDA. In 2012, Russian Railways had a profit of 319 billion rubles before depreciation and taxation, which gives the company an overall estimate of 1.28 trillion rubles ($38.7 billion). Of this amount, Pavlov also proposes to deduct net debt, which is about one annual profit.

At the same time, the analyst emphasizes that in August 2013, an extremely unsuccessful situation developed on the market for Russian companies, especially state companies, which are now estimated at the lowest multipliers.

The most optimistic estimate of the value of Russian Railways "Ленте.ру" was given to Alpari: according to the calculation of the analyst of this company Anna Kokoreva, based on the latest financial statements of the monopoly, Russian Railways can cost 95-100 billion dollars.

The range of estimates is primarily due to the fact that although the capitalization of the company, which investors are guided by, is determined by market quotes, traders react not only to the financial indicators of the issuer. Almost more important for them are "secondary" factors: how many shares are traded on the market (free float), what is the situation, how much the company is ready to pay as dividends, and so on. One thing is clear: in recent years, Russian Railways has not risen in price in any way and it is not known when investors will be able to evaluate it in the same way as several years ago - especially if the company does not clear the rubble from non-core business and continues to seek funding for large projects exclusively in the country's treasury. The time for ultra-profitable privatization of the monopoly is gone, now it makes sense for Russian Railways to sell only in order to improve the investment climate: the notorious minority shareholders will take care of the effectiveness of Russian Railways much more carefully than the state.

Notes