Railway transport. The importance of railway transport. Main indicators of the operation of railways. What applies to railway transport

Transport infrastructure plays a primary role in strengthening and maintaining the state economy. Thanks to the development of railway transport in Russia, which transports large-sized and multi-ton cargo, the full functioning of all sectors of the national economy, supplying regions and industrial enterprises is ensured. Railway transport is of great importance for ensuring the economic security and integrity of the country.

Russian Railways

Today, Russian Railways is a comprehensive transport system with many thousands of passenger traffic and cargo turnover. Actual indicators of technical equipment indicate real prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia. It can be briefly described using the following data:

• operational length - more than 90 thousand km;
• the total length of double-track lines is more than 40 thousand km;
• electrified lines - about 40 thousand km;
• the length of the main routes is 126.3 thousand km.

The rolling stock and domestic railway infrastructure make it possible to carry out freight transportation on trains weighing 10-12 thousand tons.

The railway transport network occupies a leading position among all modes of transport. Despite the fact that bus and air services have been intensively developing over the past decades, Russian Railways remains the main instrument for ensuring the massive movement of goods and passengers both within the country and abroad.

The first railway tracks

The history of the development of railway transport in Russia dates back to the middle of the 16th century. The first analogues of modern rail tracks arose in the territory of stone and sand quarries, in mining excavations and coal mines. At that time, the road consisted of long tracks made of wooden beams. Along these routes, horses could carry heavier loads than on regular country roads. The beams quickly wore out, causing the carts to often go off track. In order for wooden beds to last longer, they began to be reinforced with iron, and in the 18th century - with cast iron sheets. The edges on the beds helped prevent the carts from leaving the tracks.

Thus, in Petrozavodsk in 1778, a cast iron rail road was built, the length of which was 160 m. At that time, the tracks were built much narrower than modern ones (no more than 80 cm), and the rail itself was angular.

The period of development of railway transport in Russia in the first half of the 19th century was characterized by a more intensive pace. 30 years after the construction of the first 160-meter cast-iron track, a two-kilometer horse-drawn cast-iron road appeared. A significant leap in the history of the development of railway transport in Russia occurred in the period from the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.

Thus, in 1913, the mileage of the railway network within the current borders of the country reached almost 72 thousand km. At the same time, the paths were placed chaotically and unevenly. The majority of roads were located in the European part of Russia. The locomotive fleet consisted of low-power steam locomotives (500-600 hp), and two-axle freight cars had an average load capacity of 15 tons.

Development strategies for Russian railways

In 2008, the Government approved a concept for improving the railway infrastructure until 2030. The strategy for the development of railway transport in Russia contains a description of a set of planned measures to create and improve rail roads, improve existing ones and adopt new requirements for rolling stock.

This program is divided into two stages. The first was implemented between 2008 and 2015, the second was launched in 2016. The development of railway transport in Russia is based on the principles of increasing the resource and raw material potential of the industry and introducing innovative modern technologies. The current Strategy involves the construction of more than 20 thousand km of roads by 2030.

To date, the construction of railways has already been completed with the following messages:

• Polunochnoe - Obskaya - Salekhard (length about 850 km);
• Prokhorovka - Zhuravka - Bataysk (the total length of the tracks is about 750 km);
• Kyzyl - Kuragino (460 km);
• Tommot - Yakutsk, including the section on the left bank of the Lena (550 km).

If the planned measures for the construction and commissioning of rail roads are implemented, the total length of the tracks by the end of the period will increase by 20-25%. The document, which defines the role of the prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia, focuses on the importance of this system of passenger and freight traffic for solving problems of strengthening economic sovereignty, national security and increasing the level of defense capability. In addition, the above Strategy implies a reduction in total costs in the transport segment of the national economy. An interesting detail in this context is that this kind of plan, which is being implemented in parallel with the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation, was drawn up exclusively for the development of railway transport in Russia.

The real state of affairs in the railway infrastructure

In recent years, Russian railways have seen a decline in production and a decline in labor productivity indicators. The rolling stock used not only prevents an increase in freight turnover, but also contributes to an increase in the number of accidents on the ruts. Urgent reconstruction and major repairs are required for a significant number of train stations and train stations.

Today, the railways of our country operate trains, wagons, locomotives and special equipment produced in the USSR, Germany and Czechoslovakia. The issue of production of new equipment is under the control of the commercial holding companies Transmashholding, Sinara, ICT and the state enterprise Uralvagonzavod. Over the past ten years, the rolling stock on the most popular routes "Moscow - St. Petersburg" and "St. Petersburg - Helsinki" has been replenished with high-speed trains from the German company Siemens and the French manufacturer Alstom.

The main player on whom the prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia depend is JSC Russian Railways. The companies of this largest holding company in the country own their own railway infrastructure, a fleet of wagons and rolling stock.

Freight transportation on Russian Railways

In Russia there are several types of freight traffic on rail tracks:

• local - within the same route;
• direct - within the boundaries of one or several railway junctions using a single travel document;
• direct mixed - implies combined transportation by several modes of transport (in addition to rail, water, road, air, water-vehicle, etc. can be used);
• direct international - is carried out when transporting cargo on road sections of two or more countries under a single document.

Features of the development of railway transport in Russia, engaged in the transportation of goods, lie in the differences in delivery speed. Thus, the bulk of freight trains transport goods that do not require specific transportation conditions. Cargo compartments in passenger trains (luggage compartments) are designed for the transportation of mail, correspondence, and personal belongings of passengers. High-speed rolling stock is used to deliver perishable goods. The maximum permissible speed at which trains can travel is 160 km/h.

Features of surface rail roads in the capital

The development of railway transport in Moscow may be the envy of other regions. Despite the demand for constantly modernizing metro lines, it is planned to build and reconstruct about 80 kilometers of rail tracks in the capital over the next 2-3 years. By 2019, according to a representative of the Moscow urban planning complex, five new stations will appear within the city.

Despite the fact that just a few years ago, intracity and intercity electric train services in Moscow were considered outdated and ineffective, today experts say: surface railways are capable of providing the same carrying capacity, the same frequency of movement, volume of transportation and passenger comfort as those available in Moscow. metro. In addition, the capital authorities are confident that the construction of railways is a less expensive industry than the construction of a metro.

The length of the Moscow railway is more than 13 thousand kilometers, despite the fact that this type of transport serves about 30 million passengers, which is approximately a fifth of the Russian population. Another feature of the development of railway transport in Moscow is that the infrastructure extends far beyond the boundaries of the agglomeration and covers about ten constituent entities of the Central Federal District. The thing is that the capital's railway was originally intended as an inter-subject infrastructure that would allow solving interregional and intercity transport communication problems. Fundamental changes have occurred since the launch of the MCC.

Moscow ring railway artery

Central, which launched the MCC, explained the success of the project by the emergence of the actual possibility of movement in any direction by rail with a transfer. This system of commuter trains was created with the aim of integrating radial stations. Now Muscovites and guests of the capital have no problems traveling outside the Moscow Ring Road. So, for example, it won’t be difficult to get from the Kazan direction to Severyanin by transferring to the MCC along Freser or towards the Yaroslavl highway.

Since the opening of the Moscow Central Circle, almost 100 million passengers have traveled along it in less than a year. Despite the increased popularity of electric trains, they are still used as an alternative and additional type of railway transport in Russia. The stages of development of the MCC are being implemented along the path of strengthening the integration of the metro with the surface railway network.

The main problems of railways in our country

Along with the strengthening of the industrial economic sector, the stage of formation and development of railway transport in Russia is taking place. The problems in this area are gaining significance against the backdrop of global trends in technological and technical modernization, and the introduction of innovative developments in railway transport.

At the moment, it is necessary to strive to reduce the gap between the quality of Russian railways, rolling stock and infrastructure of foreign competitors. In order to first of all, it is necessary to consistently solve the main industry problems and eliminate a number of issues that impede the targeted development of railway transport in Russia.

It is necessary to proceed from the fact that the main goal of the functioning of the railway system is fast, convenient, inexpensive (that is, economically profitable) and safe transportation of passengers and delivery of goods not only within the country, but also abroad. The main problems of Russian railways as an integral infrastructure are two negative predetermining factors:

• lack of economic progress and efficiency in the provision of transport services, including a lack of speed of movement, low level of comfort with unreasonably high costs of passenger transportation;
• low degree of technical reliability and operational safety of trains and rail tracks.

The first group includes collisions in the technological and management sectors, which nullify the feasibility of the railway infrastructure and hamper the growth of its financial efficiency. The second category includes the difficulties of technical production, equipment and operation: problems of safe operation of equipment, technical means, the lack of a fully functioning labor protection model for industry employees, and adverse environmental impacts on adjacent territories. These problems will only get worse as railway transport develops in Russia.

Briefly about ways to solve problems

To eliminate the described imperfections in the domestic railway infrastructure, it will be necessary to take a set of measures to effectively modernize it, guaranteeing the integrity and strengthening of the economic space of the Russian Federation, but at the same time not infringing on the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of movement. The current Strategy implies a step-by-step solution to the problems of railway transport by creating conditions in Russia for achieving the fundamental geopolitical and geo-economic goals of the state. No less important is the reboot and renewal of the existing infrastructure base, which is fundamentally important for the socio-economic growth in the country. For the development of the railway transport industry it is also necessary:

• ensure transport accessibility for points of resource provision and production progress;
• allocate additional jobs, provide railway transport workers with social guarantees, including the right to annual rest, the right to treatment, and education;
• bring the level of quality and safety of passenger transportation in line with the requirements of the population and international standards;
• ensure maximum carrying capacity and reserves to create the optimal number of offers when market conditions fluctuate;
• continue integration into the international railway system;
• maintain a high level of skills to act in emergency situations that meet the requirements of defense capability and safety;
• strive to increase the investment attractiveness of railway infrastructure;
• maintain social stability in the industry and ensure a decent quality of life for workers, respect the priority of youth policy and support for industry veterans;
• implement high standards of labor productivity with sustainable provision of the transportation process by qualified specialists.

Is it worth developing railway transport?

In the age of all-consuming integration processes, the railway infrastructure has acquired the status of a mechanism, a kind of lever for the division of labor. In addition, the railway sector can be considered as a strategic object of influence of globalization processes in the world. Russian railways are also a knowledge-intensive theoretical area of ​​economics. In order to maintain the achieved positions and continue to improve the infrastructure, it is important to create all the conditions for carrying out the latest scientific and technical developments in the country.

Railway tracks in Russia increase by several thousand kilometers every year. The railway transport sector is an integral segment of the modern economy of developed countries.

Railway transport today is the leading among universal types of passenger and cargo transportation in many large countries of the world, including Russia. This is due, first of all, to geographical features. In long-distance areas, traveling by rail is convenient, economical, and relatively safe.

Surface rail transport has roots in the distant past. It is known that in ancient times people did not have the need to move large cargo. Everything that was needed was carried on oneself. With the development of civilization, transport also improved. Rafts and then boats were used on the water. On land there are carts drawn by animals.

Appeared around the 16th century. At that time, wooden planks were used to deliver goods from mines and mines. But, as you know, wood is not a material of the highest strength. It was impossible to carry out such transportation over long distances and for a long time. The science of the past has found a way out. But the first above-ground rail track also had industrial significance. It was intended to transport coal from the mines to the villages of Wollaton and Strelley near Nottingham. And already in the 18th century, the first Russian cast-iron track with a length of 160 meters saw the light of day.

At first, only wide railway tracks were built in the world. Practical ones appeared only in the 19th century. They quickly gained recognition and distribution. Soon, narrow-gauge railways began to be used not only between raw material bases and industrial enterprises. They connected remote areas of various countries with their economic centers.

In the twentieth century, the development of railway transport went through different stages. In the last years of Tsarist Russia, narrow-gauge railways were actively built. After the revolution and with the emergence of the USSR, there was a certain calm. The Stalin era gave a new impetus to Russia. They became the famous "camp lines". After the collapse of the Gulag system, narrow-gauge railways ceased to be actively built. In general, such railways were used on a large scale in Russia until the 1900s.

Today, in most countries of the world, railway transport is divided into industrial, urban (trams) and general use (passenger, intercity freight). Modern compositions bear little resemblance to their predecessors from the 19th century. The history of railway transport is a two-century journey from the first steam locomotive in 1803 through electric and diesel locomotives of the early twentieth century to and. Today there is equipment for civilian and military purposes.

The history of the development of railway transport includes the names of engineers and mechanics from different countries: (Scotland), (France), (England), (England), (Russia), (England), Rudolf Diesel (Germany), Russian engineers, inventors, many others.

Today, many countries are connected by a network of railways. You can get by train to almost any European state, the pearls of the Middle East. The Indochinese railway network connects Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, and Singapore. Trains run throughout North and South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Haiti, the Philippine Islands, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Madagascar, Cuba, Fiji, Jamaica, and Japan. And progress in the field of railway transport is confidently moving forward.

Since the wooden canvas quickly deteriorated, this prompted the inventors to turn to more durable materials, such as iron or cast iron. But the modernization did not end there; due to the frequent derailment of carts, unique edges (edges) were invented.

The idea of ​​​​creating rail transportation came to the minds of representatives of mankind back in ancient times. Thus, in Ancient Greece there was a so-called diolcus, which was a stone path along which heavy ships were dragged across the Isthmus of Corinth. Then, deep gutters acted as guides, in which runners lubricated with animal fat were placed.

Initially, the railway track was very wide. This was due to the fact that a large distance between the wheels was considered safer, since a narrow gauge had long been considered much more susceptible to emergency situations involving derailments and overturning of wagons. Therefore, the first narrow-gauge railways began to appear only several decades after the appearance of their broad-gauge “brothers.”

Already by the beginning of the 20th century, a fairly impressive number of narrow gauge railways existed in the vastness of Russia. Basically, the intended use of this type of railway track was quite narrow - narrow-gauge railways were widely used for transporting peat and wood. In the future, it is these railway lines that will become the basis for the formation of narrow-gauge railways in our state.

There were quite a few people in Great Britain who considered railway transport very promising, but besides them there were also ardent opponents of the construction of railways. And then, when the question arose about the construction of a new railway line connecting Manchester and Liverpool, a great many rumors and discussions arose about this.

On land close to the city of Darlington, there were a huge number of coal mines, from which coal was delivered to Stockton (a city on the Tees) and from there it reached the North Sea ports. This transportation was initially carried out in carts driven by horses, which took quite a lot of time and was very unproductive.

Over time, it became clear that the transportation of passengers and goods by rail are two incommensurably different things. So different that they require not only different types of cars in the train, but also completely different locomotives. If for passengers the priority is a smooth ride and high speed, then for cargo transportation priority is given to power and a high level of traction force.

In the thirties of the 19th century, vast lands on the territory of the then Perm province belonged to a breeder named Ivan Demidov. These were iron and copper smelters, as well as iron manufacturing plants and mines. In total, about forty thousand souls of serfs worked for the landowner Demidov, one of whom was Efim Cherepanov.

England became the birthplace of the first public railway line, and this is where the form of transport known as the Underground Railroad originated. There were several prerequisites for the construction of the subway. The main one is considered to be the fact that already in the first half of the 19th century in London, people learned and experienced the meaning of the concept of “street traffic jams”.

The Newcomen steam engine was once successfully used to pump water in mines and ship repair facilities, which lasted for more than 50 years. At the same time, this entire structure had impressive dimensions and required constant replenishment of coal reserves. At times, up to 50 horses had to be used to supply the steam engine with fuel. In general, everything indicated that this unit required improvement; the only question was who would come up with this idea first.

This unit, invented by the Frenchman Nicolas-José Cugnot, was a fairly large design. Three wheels were attached to the large platform, which became the first prototype of both a steam locomotive and a car, with the front one acting as a steering wheel. A steam boiler was also fixed in the area of ​​the front wheel, and next to it was a two-cylinder steam engine. There was also a seat for the driver, and the “body” of the cart was intended for transporting military cargo.

The history of modern steam locomotives is integrally connected with the first experiments in creating compact steam engines. In this matter, at the end of the 18th century, great success was achieved by the famous English engineer James Watt. Its mechanisms were used in many industries and for the purpose of pumping water from mines.

Many people mistakenly believe that it was George Stephenson who first invented and designed the modern steam locomotive. However, this is not so; the English engineer entered the world history of technology as the first person who managed to prove the undeniable advantage of steam locomotive transport over horse traction.

The works of father and son Cherepanov became a bright page in the history not only of Russian technology, but were of great importance for the entire nascent locomotive industry. And it all started with the design of steam engines, the first of which had a power of only 4 horsepower. The elder Cherepanov, Efim, was greatly influenced by a trip to England, where he was able to see Stephenson’s steam brainchild with his own eyes.

The creators of the first mechanisms moving on rails were very worried that the smooth wheels of their units would begin to slip and lose traction with the railway track. And, despite the fact that by that time the Trevithick steam locomotive had already been designed, which successfully transported passengers and cargo, experiments in this direction continued.

The first internal combustion engine used to move a locomotive was designed by the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler. A demonstration of the new moving mechanism was made on September 27, 1887. Residents of Stuttgart and guests of the city could observe with their own eyes the movement of a motrice with a narrow-gauge transmission, which was driven by a two-cylinder internal combustion engine.

For a long time, locomotive manufacturers competed and collaborated to determine their optimal design and unit layout. In the 20s of the twentieth century, work was carried out in the young Soviet republic to create two vehicles at once for transporting goods and passengers. These were the diesel locomotives of Gakkel and Lomonosov.

After the end of World War II, many industrial giants gradually began to reorient themselves towards products of a peaceful nature. At this time, diesel traction, which is more profitable from an economic point of view, continues to push out steam locomotive traction on all fronts. In the United States of America, the leading position in the field of diesel locomotive construction is occupied by General Motors. Along with another technical “monster”, General Electric, this North American manufacturer is still one of the industry’s flagships today.

Before the main attention of the Russian diesel locomotive industry was focused on the implementation of the ideas of Yakov Gakkel and Yuri Lomonosov, many projects were considered in scientific circles. Some of the developments grew into prototypes, and some remained on paper; today history remembers both of them.

The idea of ​​using electrical energy to power machines that perform mechanical work appeared quite a long time ago. Thus, back in 1834, researcher Jacobi designed an electric motor with a rotating armature; subsequently, his developments had a great influence on the development of ideas of electric traction.

Even the carriages that the Russian Empire acquired abroad still had to be rebuilt and adapted to local conditions. Indeed, abroad, the cars were intended for travel over fairly short distances with frequent stops and for use in countries where the climate was significantly milder than in Russia.

Even during the construction of the very first public railway, laid between Manchester and Liverpool, some ill-wishers talked about the project manager, George Stephenson, that he started this whole construction project only in order to find practical use for the steam locomotives manufactured at Stephenson’s personal locomotive plant. .

Rail transport plays an important role in the functioning and development of the country's commodity market and in meeting the population's needs for movement. It is the main link in the transport system of Russia and most CIS countries. The special role of the railways of the Russian Federation is determined by long distances, the absence of inland waterways in the main East-West communications, the cessation of navigation on rivers in winter, and the remoteness of the main industrial and agricultural centers from sea routes. In this regard, they account for almost 50% of cargo turnover and more than 46% of passenger turnover of all types of transport in the country.

The main area of ​​application of railway transport is mass transportation of goods and passengers in interdistrict (interregional), intercity and suburban communications, with freight traffic predominating, which accounts for over 80% of income. Passenger transportation by rail is dominated by suburban and local traffic (about 90% of the total number of passengers). Long-distance passenger transportation accounts for over 40% of passenger turnover.

The importance of Russian railways in the development of interstate relations with the CIS countries and international transportation is great. Historically, railway transport in Russia, and then the USSR, developed as a single structure with the same, different from the Western, rail gauge (1520 mm) and rational placement of technical equipment and auxiliary production throughout the country. The total operational length of steel main lines in the USSR in 1991 was 147.5 thousand km. After the collapse of the USSR, almost 60% of the total railway network or 87.5 thousand km went to the Russian Federation. The material and technical base was also torn apart, in particular repair services, locomotive and carriage building. Currently, domestic production of technical equipment for railways (electric trains, freight and passenger cars) is being established, cooperation and mutually beneficial cooperation with the CIS countries and other states on these issues is developing. The density of the railway network in Russia is 0.51 km per 100 km 2, which is significantly lower than the density of railways not only in developed countries, but also in most former republics of the USSR (in Ukraine - 2.76 km, in Belarus - 2.77 km, Latvia - 3.60 km, Georgia - 2.2 km, Uzbekistan - 0.79 km, Kazakhstan - 0.53 km per 100 km 2). It is obvious that the construction of new railway lines is necessary in Russia, especially for the development of large deposits of fuel and raw materials in the east of the country.

The technical and economic features and advantages of railway transport are as follows:

The possibility of constructing on any land territory, and with the help of bridges, tunnels and ferries - implementing railway communications with separated, including island, territories (for example, between the mainland and Sakhalin Island);

Mass transportation and high carrying capacity of railways (up to 80-90 million tons of cargo on a double-track line or 20-30 million tons on a single-track line per year);

Versatility of use for the transportation of various goods and the possibility of mass transportation of goods and passengers at high speed;

Regularity of transportation regardless of the time of year, time of day and weather;

The ability to create a direct connection between large enterprises along access railway tracks and ensure the delivery of goods according to the “door to door” scheme without expensive transshipments;

Compared to water transport, as a rule, the transportation route for goods is shorter (on average by 20%);

Relatively low cost of transportation compared to other modes of transport, except pipeline.

Rail transport will continue to remain the country's leading transport, however, the pace of its development may be slower than road, pipeline and air transport, due to their insufficient development in our country. In addition, one should take into account increasing competition in the transport market, technological progress and some disadvantages of railways - the capital intensity of construction and the relatively slow return on advanced capital (6-8 years, and sometimes more). The construction of 1 km of single-track railway (in late 1995 prices) in moderately difficult conditions costs almost 7-9 billion rubles, and in difficult climatic and geological conditions in the east of the country - 2-3 times more expensive. The cost of constructing a double-track line is usually 30-40% higher than a single-track line. Therefore, the return on capital costs in railway construction largely depends on the capacity of the developed freight and passenger flows on the new line. Typically, per unit of investment in the development of railway transport there are more products (ton-kilometers) than in other modes of transport (with the current distribution of traffic).

Railways are large consumers of metal (almost 200 tons are required per 1 km of track). In addition, rail transport is a very labor-intensive industry, in which labor productivity is lower than in pipeline, sea and air transport (but higher than in road transport). On average, per 1 km of operational length of Russian railways there are almost 14 people employed in transportation, and in the USA - 1.5 people with approximately similar volumes of transport work.

The disadvantages of Russian railways also include the currently low level of quality of transport services provided to customers. At the same time, the good technical equipment and advanced technologies of Russian railways allow it to remain a completely competitive mode of transport.

The main elements of the technical equipment of railway transport are a rail track with artificial structures, stations and separate points with appropriate facilities, rolling stock (cars and locomotives), power supply devices, special means of regulating and ensuring traffic safety and managing the transportation process.

The railway track is a subgrade with a ballast prism made of crushed stone or gravel, on which reinforced concrete or wooden sleepers with steel rails attached to them are placed. The distance between the inner edges of the heads of two parallel rails located on sleepers is called the gauge. In Russia, the CIS countries, the Baltic states and Finland it is 1520 mm. In most European countries, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, the railway gauge is 1435 mm. This is the so-called normal or Stephenson gauge. In some countries (India, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal) railways have two types of broad gauge - 1656 and 1600 mm. In Japan, for example, they use medium and narrow gauge - 1067, 1000 and 900 mm. There are also short-length narrow-gauge railways in Russia.

The length of the railway network is compared, as a rule, by the operational (geographical) length of the main tracks, regardless of their number and the length of other station tracks. The expanded length of railways takes into account the number of main tracks, i.e. the geographical length of a double-track section is multiplied by 2. Double-track insertions on single-track lines are also taken into account. The total length of Russian railways as of January 1, 1995 was 126.3 thousand km. More than 86% of this length is occupied by tracks with heavy steel rails of the P65 and P75 type, laid on wooden (75%) and reinforced concrete (25%) sleepers and, mainly, crushed stone, gravel and asbestos (on the main tracks) ballast. Along the entire route there are more than 30 thousand bridges and overpasses, a large number of tunnels, viaducts and other artificial structures. The length of electrified railway lines is 38.4 thousand km, or 43.8% of the operational length of the network.

There are over 4,700 railway stations on the Russian railway network, which are the main freight and passenger generating points. Large passenger, cargo and marshalling stations have capital buildings and structures - stations, platforms, cargo areas and sites, warehouses, container terminals, loading and unloading mechanisms, branched rail tracks and other devices and equipment.

At large technical stations there are locomotive and carriage depots, enterprises for distance service, signaling and communications, cargo and commercial work, and centers for corporate transport customer service. Freight stations of cities and industrial centers, as a rule, are connected by rail with numerous access railway tracks of industrial, commercial, agricultural and other enterprises and organizations, as well as with existing sea and river ports, oil depots, etc.

Russian railways have a powerful fleet of modern locomotives - electric and diesel locomotives, mainly of domestic production. They carry out almost the entire volume of freight and passenger transportation, including 72.7% with electric and 27.3% with diesel traction. The total fleet of locomotives in the Ministry of Railways system in 1998 was about 20 thousand units. Among them are such powerful freight and passenger six- and eight-axle electric locomotives as VL60, VL80, VL85, as well as ChS7 and ChS4 produced in Czechoslovakia; two-, three- and four-section diesel locomotives TEYU, TE116, TEP60, TEP70, TEP80 and others

with a capacity of 3 to 8 thousand kW or more, shunting diesel locomotives TEM2, TEM7, ChMEZ, etc. Suburban passenger traffic uses electric trains of the ER2, ERZ, ER9P and ER9M types, as well as diesel trains D1, DR1 and DR2. To develop high-speed passenger traffic, the ER200 electric train was created, reaching a speed of 200 km/h. Work is underway to design and produce new locomotives and electric trains capable of achieving a technical speed of 300 km/h (for example, the Sokol high-speed train). The current locomotive fleet provides an average local speed of passenger trains of 47.1 km/h and freight trains of 33.7 km/h. The average technical speed of trains is approximately 15-20 km/h higher than the local speed, which takes into account the time of intermediate stops.

The fleet of freight cars (more than 700 thousand units) consists mainly of four-axle cars of predominantly metal construction with a carrying capacity of 65-75 tons. The structure of the fleet is dominated by gondola cars (41.7%), platforms (10.8%), tanks (11. 9%), including eight-axle and covered wagons (10.2%). The share of specialized rolling stock is insufficient and amounts to 32% of the fleet, including refrigerated cars and tanks. The container system, especially heavy-duty containers for intermodal transport, is still underdeveloped.

The fleet of passenger cars consists of all-metal cars equipped with four- and two-seater compartments, reserved seats or sofas for sitting with combined (electric-coal) heating, fluorescent lighting and air conditioning.

All freight and passenger cars are equipped with an automatic coupler and automatic brakes, over 60% of freight cars and all passenger cars have wheel bogies on roller bearings. In recent years, due to the economic crisis, the replacement and renewal of railway rolling stock has slowed down, as a result of which many cars and locomotives are in operation that have exhausted their service life.

The railway network contains a large number of power supply devices (contact network, traction substations), signaling, centralization and interlocking (signaling), telemechanics and automation, as well as communications equipment. There are information and computing centers on all roads. The main information and computing center of the Ministry of Railways is located in Moscow. Transportation control centers (TCC) are being created, and in large transport hubs - automated dispatch control centers (ADCC) for the transportation process.

The total cost of fixed production assets of Russian railways as of January 1, 1999 was more than 230 billion rubles, of which

59% is the cost of permanent equipment and 34% is the cost of rolling stock. The share of working capital is small: approximately 3% (in industry

25%). The predominance of the cost of permanent devices in the structure of railway funds reflects the specifics of this type of transport, the complexity of its financial situation during a period of decline in transportation volumes and a decrease in revenue receipts, which are insufficient to maintain a significant permanent part of the resources.

Railway transport in Russia is state (federal) property and managed by the Ministry of Railways, which controls 17 railways, which are state transport enterprises. The Ministry of Railways and territorial departments of railways carry out operational and economic management of the activities of lower structures: departments of roads and linear enterprises, locomotive and carriage depots, stations, track distances, communications, power supply, etc. In addition, the industry has a large number of industrial, construction, trade, scientific, design and educational organizations and enterprises, a solid social sphere (hospitals, dispensaries, housing stock, etc.). In recent years, railways have gained greater economic independence, and many of their industrial and auxiliary enterprises (car repair plants, industrial transport, construction and supply organizations) were separated from the Ministry of Railways system after corporatization and privatization (Zheldorremmash, Vagonremmash, Remputmash, Roszheldorsnab, Zheldorstroytrest, Promzheldortrans, Transrestaurantservice, etc.). Commercial centers and rental enterprises, a banking system, an insurance company (ZHASO) and other market infrastructure organizations have been created.

Despite the difficult financial situation, a sharp decline in transportation volumes, and limited budgetary funds, thanks to maintaining the integrity of the industry in its core activity (transportation), Russian railways stably satisfy the demand for transport services of cargo-owning enterprises and the population. In fact, they operate on self-financing, making substantial tax contributions to the state budget and ensuring industry profitability at 27.9% (1998). Many technical and economic indicators of the railways’ operation are generally maintained at an average level without sharp fluctuations (Table 4.1).

As you can see, railway transport in Russia as a whole is a profitable sector of the country's national economy. However, the decline in traffic volumes puts railways in difficult conditions. It should be noted that the decline in transportation is associated not only with the economic crisis and a decrease in industrial production, but with increasing competition from other modes of transport, especially road transport.

The result of the decline in transportation volumes is a sharp decrease (almost twofold) in the quality indicators of the railways - the productivity of rolling stock and labor productivity (see Table 4.1). Despite the decrease in the volume of work, the number of workers employed in transportation did not decrease during this period and amounted to almost 1.2 million people. Concern for retaining qualified personnel and social protection of workers is, of course, an important consideration. However, the economic situation requires a more flexible approach to the profitable operation of the industry, especially since labor productivity on domestic railways is several times lower than in developed countries.

From the table 4.1 shows that during the period of market reforms, railway expenses increased without taking into account the denomination of the ruble by 4260 times, and income from core activities - only by 3936 times. This indicates that the reproaches of some cargo owners, especially the fuel and raw materials complex, about excessively high railway tariffs that hinder the development of these industries are unfounded. However, recently, through the conclusion of inter-industry business agreements and the introduction of flexible tariffs taking into account the cost of goods

and the transport component in the price of products, this problem is solved positively.

Despite financial difficulties, in railway transport

technical reconstruction and electrification of certain

Table 4.1

Technical and economic indicators of railway operation

* In denominated terms

plots on a small scale and new railway construction. The Amur-Yakutsk highway is being built from Berkakit to Yakutsk (500 km), a line from Labytnanga to Bovanenkovo ​​on the Yamal Peninsula, etc. A program has been developed for the construction of a high-speed highway St. Petersburg-Moscow parallel to the existing line. A lot of work is being done to reconstruct and build railway stations, create centers for branded transport services for cargo owners, increase the number of branded passenger trains, develop suburban transportation, introduce double-decker passenger cars, etc.

The measures taken by the state to improve the economy will help stabilize transportation volumes and improve the performance of Russian railways. This will also be facilitated by closer interaction between the roads of the CIS countries, which have developed for many decades as a single infrastructure complex. Currently, the CIS Railway Transport Council is actively working on the integration of the railways of the former USSR.

The transport system plays an important role in the economic development of any country. In Russia, one of the main transport arteries is the railway, since it accounts for more than 40% of passenger turnover and 80% of the total freight turnover of the state.

The importance of railway transport in Russia is fundamental, because the country is characterized by long distances. The level of economic development of the state depends on the effective operation of this system. Every year, thanks to the well-coordinated work of the railway, the following is transported:

• about 98% manganese and iron ore,
• 92% ferrous metals,
• 88% mineral and chemical fertilizers,
• 87% coal and coke.

Since the first construction of the railway in Russia, which happened in 1830, this type of transport has required large investments, but despite this, the railway has a number of advantages:

1. operates around the clock in all weather conditions;
2. has a low cost of transportation (especially when transporting over long distances);
3. connects all regions and districts of Russia;
4. has the lowest environmental impact factor.

The role of railway transport

The role of railway transport in Russia is difficult to overestimate, because it is one of the largest in the world, thanks to which it provides 25% of the world's freight turnover and about 15% of the world's passenger turnover.

In Russia, railway transport is a branch of the economy, without which the uninterrupted operation of all economic sectors is not possible. In order to understand in more detail what role this transport system plays, it is necessary to consider its segments in more detail:

• Transporting passengers and cargo. Production of products can only take place when they are delivered to the consumer. For the manufacturing and mining industries, as well as for agricultural enterprises, railway transport (railway transport) is one of the most efficient and cheapest types of delivery.
• A developed transport system is the key to economic development.
• Acts as a link between different economic systems.
• As an independent industry, it offers its products with a number of features.

Namely, as a result of the implementation of measures aimed at increasing the efficiency of transportation, it was possible to improve the basic qualities of railway transport performance indicators. So in recent years in the country:

• the local speed of freight trains has increased,
• the turnover of freight cars has decreased,
• the average weight of freight trains has increased,
• The average daily productivity of locomotives and freight cars increased.

All districts and regions of Russia are connected together by railways, thereby meeting the transportation needs of not only the population, but also industry and agriculture. All modes of transport complement each other and form a single transport system.

Transportation of products has its own units of measurement:

• tonne-kilometers (freight turnover)
• tons (number of cargo)
• passenger kilometers (passenger turnover)
• passengers (number of passengers)

Key performance indicators of railways

• Freight density on railways. This indicator calculates the amount of cargo transported over a certain period of time. Sometimes the reduced load intensity can be calculated through the reduced cargo turnover. Freight density on railways is characterized by an average amount.
• Passenger turnover of railway transport is the volume of transport work for transporting passengers, calculated in passenger kilometers per year.
• Freight turnover of railway transport is the volume of transport work for the transportation of goods, calculated in ton-kilometers per year.

Strategy for the development of railway transport until 2030

In 2008, the government of the country developed a strategy for the development of railway transport until 2030. It provides for the expansion of the railway network, bringing technical and technological railway transport to the world level, and increasing the competitiveness of the country's railway transport. Over the next 14 years, it is planned to build important strategic, socially significant and cargo-generating lines, the total length of which will be more than 15,800 km.

The state strategy provides for:

• introduce more than 20,000 km of new railway lines,
• organize transport support for 18 promising mineral deposits and industrial zones,
• create lines that will ensure the movement of passenger trains at speeds of up to 350 km/h, with a length of 1528 km,
• update the rolling stock (purchase of 23,000 locomotives, 900,000 freight cars and 30,000 passenger cars),
• increase the density of the railway network by 23.8%, while completely eliminating transportation and capacity restrictions.

To achieve the set goals, more than 13 trillion have been allocated for the development of railway transport. rub., in addition, there are plans to actively use the mechanism of public-private partnership. 40% of investments will be allocated for the construction of new railway lines, 31% for the development of existing facilities, and 29% for the renewal of rolling stock.

If the above is implemented, it will be possible to ensure socio-economic growth, increase the mobility of the population, optimize the flow of goods, strengthen economic sovereignty, national security, and the defense capability of the country, reduce total transport costs, and increase the competitiveness of the national economy.

Land transport.

Railway transport– a type of transport that transports goods along rail tracks in wagons (trains) using locomotive traction. railway track – a complex of structures and devices that form a road with a guide rail track for the movement of railway rolling stock. The main elements of a railway track: superstructure, subgrade, engineering structures (bridges, tunnels...).

Rail transport is an inland mode of transport. Serving transportation in the states of any region, it acquires the significance of an international mode of transport. Railways do not always form a single system due to different gauges. In the Russian Federation, the track corresponds to Western European, but wider than Eastern European.

Advantages railway transport: high throughput and carrying capacity; reliability of operation due to independence from climatic conditions (with the exception of broken electrical wires during natural disasters); the possibility of constructing communication routes on any land and water territory in the presence of ferries; direct connection with industrial and agricultural enterprises of any sectors of the economy (individual sectors have their own access roads to access the main network); mass transportation combined with low cost and fairly high delivery speed; a shorter route compared to natural water transport routes.

Flaws railway transport: “linking” to the track; high initial cost of fixed assets (a carriage is more expensive than a car, but cheaper than an aircraft or sea vessel); high metal consumption, labor intensity, low labor productivity.

The technology of railway transport is complex. This is due to the connection to the railway track. The basis of the work technology is the theory of schedules (traffic schedule); plan for the formation of trains according to travel directions; an agreed plan for the formation of trains on the main line with the operating schedule of the access roads of enterprises connected to the main railway network.

Operating principles of railways:

1. another train cannot enter a busy stretch (to increase capacity, the stages are divided into sections);

2. movement is carried out only by trains (passenger, freight, mail, mixed), which are reorganized along the route;

3. cargo travels between marshalling stations where trains are reorganized;

4. the transport process is managed through a dispatch center;

5. The locomotive crew is changed after 100 – 120 km (water intake is necessary after 600 – 800 km); modern traction allows you to change the crew after 200 - 300 km, and the locomotive - after 1000 km;

6. transportation occurs at different track widths;

7. shipment of goods - by carload, in small batches, by train or by block trains (typical for the transportation of bulk cargo).

The rolling stock of railway transport includes: locomotives (freight, shunting, electric trains for suburban transport and the metro) and cars (freight, passenger, special, specialized by type of cargo).

The emergence and development of railway transport dates back to the first half of the 19th century. and is associated with the rapid growth of the capitalist mode of production. The birthplace of this type of transport is Great Britain.

The first public railway in Russia, with a length of only 26 km, St. Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo - Pavlovsk, was put into operation in 1837 and had a purely demonstration value. Three years earlier, the factory railway began operating in Nizhny Tagil. Russia was 10–12 years late in organizing railway communication compared to developed countries of that time.

The full-scale beginning of the formation of the domestic railway network dates back to 1851. Then the two-track railway line St. Petersburg - Moscow was put into operation. Subsequently, the construction of highways began in radial directions from Moscow (to Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov). And also from grain regions to sea export ports of the Baltic and Black Seas. Railway construction in Russia acquired a particularly large scale at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In the pre-revolutionary period, the main “backbone” of the country’s modern railway network was formed. By this time, the Trans-Siberian Railway (Moscow - Vladivostok) and railways connecting Moscow with the Caucasus and Central Asia were functioning along their entire length. The St. Petersburg – Warsaw – Berlin highway connected the capital of Russia with the railway network of Western Europe. Highways to Odessa and Murmansk gave St. Petersburg access to the Black and Barents Seas.

During the Soviet period, the main emphasis was not on the construction of new railways, but on the reconstruction and increase in capacity of the busiest existing highways. This approach was completely justified. The concentration of the main freight and passenger flows on relatively few highways made it possible to carry out a corresponding concentration of capital investments in their reconstruction and technical re-equipment. The result is a significant reduction in unit costs for transporting goods and passengers.

By the end of the 80s. The railway lines of the Soviet Union were the busiest in the world. They accounted for about half of the world's rail freight turnover. Moreover, Russian roads were characterized by the most intense train traffic. On the territory of our country there is the busiest highway in the world - the Trans-Siberian Railway. The maximum cargo flow on it is confined to the Novosibirsk - Omsk section, where more than 130 million tons of cargo were transported in both directions in the pre-crisis year of 1990.

The high intensity of traffic on Russian railways has made it possible to carry out such expensive and capital-intensive types of reconstruction as the transition of railway transport to electric traction.

New railways were built mainly in the newly developed regions of Siberia, the Far East and the European North. To relieve the load on the Trans-Siberian Railway, its “back-ups” were built - the South Siberian Mainline (Abakan - Novokuznetsk - Barnaul - Pavlodar - Tselinograd - Magnitogorsk) and the Central Siberian Mainline (Kamen-on-Obi - Kokchetav - Kustanai - Chelyabinsk). A significant part of these roads are in Kazakhstan. Consequently, today they have interstate significance. Along with domestic Russian connections, they play a big role in the international territorial division of labor between Russia and Kazakhstan. Railways were also built to develop the fuel and energy resources of the European (Vorkuta - Konosha) and Western Siberian North (Tyumen - Surgut - Urengoy). The most significant road in the territory of Eastern Siberia and the Far East is also the northern “backup” of the Trans-Siberian Railway - the Baikal-Amur Mainline (Taishet - Ust-Kut - Severobaikalsk - Tynda - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan). The Small BAM - the BAM - Tynda - Berkakit highway was built. This route gave the South Yakutsk TPK access to the Trans-Siberian Railway. In the future, it was planned to extend the Small BAM to Yakutsk and further through Susuman to Magadan in order to provide Russia’s third railway access to the Pacific Ocean. There are projects to connect the “island” railway Dudinka – Norilsk – Talnakh with the main Russian railway network by extending the Tyumen – Surgut – Urengoy highway to Dudinka with a bridge over the Yenisei. However, the implementation of all these projects requires large capital investments.

To characterize the operation of railway transport at the present stage of development, not quantitative, but qualitative indicators, in particular, electrification, are becoming increasingly important. In terms of the length of electrified railways, Russia ranks first in the world (75.3 thousand km), followed by Germany, France, Italy, India and China. In terms of the length of railways, Russia ranks 2nd - 124 thousand km. However, our country is one of the last in terms of network density. The railway network is especially rare in Siberia, the Far East and the European North. Although Russia still holds the lead in terms of overall freight turnover of railway transport, both the railway network and vehicles are physically worn out to a large extent and require immediate renewal.

This state of railway transport and railways is the result of a systematic reduction in capital investment in the industry, as well as the practical cessation of supplies of rolling stock and various equipment from the former Soviet republics and people's democracies. Russia, with its vast expanses and large volumes of transportation of bulk cargo over long distances, urgently needs well-developed railway transport (high-speed routes with high capacity and modern rolling stock).

The Government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution on the creation of JSC Russian Railways, the largest transport company that began business activities on October 1, 2003. Today, the reform of railway transport is recognized as one of the most successfully developing reforms in the economic sphere. As a result of the implementation of the program of structural reform of railway transport, a breakthrough was achieved in the field of passenger transportation - passenger turnover increased. Already in the first year of the company’s operation, the quality of cargo transportation was improved: the speed of cargo delivery increased by 6%, the share of cargo shipments delivered on time exceeded 90%.

The transportation of goods by railways in Russia has always been dominated by such bulk cargo as timber and timber, agricultural cargo and, to a large extent, grain and coal. Later - oil and oil products, raw materials, ferrous ores and metals, mineral construction materials. A much smaller share was made up of manufacturing products. And today this picture has changed little. Nevertheless, over the past 2–3 decades, a very positive trend has emerged - a gradual (extremely slow) increase in the share of manufacturing products in the total volume of cargo turnover and a reduction in the share of other types of cargo.

The geography of cargo transportation is dominated by cargo flows of fuel and raw materials from Siberia in a western direction (to the European part of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, as well as countries of Eastern and Western Europe). There is also a large flow of raw materials from the European North to central and southern Russia.

There is a project for an underwater tunnel connecting the Russian Federation with the United States, but so far it has no basis.

In passenger traffic, the Trans-Siberian Railway in its European part, the Moscow-St. Petersburg road, as well as other radial highways diverging from Moscow are especially busy.

Suburban passenger traffic is most developed in the vicinity of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities of Russia.

The seven largest cities in Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Novosibirsk - have a metro system. Construction of subways is also underway in Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Ufa. In Volgograd there is a metrotram - an underground high-speed tram system. The metrotram, despite the tram rolling stock, is actually considered a metro. The total length of Russian metro lines is about 453.0 km, with 280 stations operating on them. Every year, metro systems carry over 4.2 billion passengers. This is almost twice the passenger transportation of the entire Russian railway network. Russia ranks third among countries in the world in terms of the number of cities with operating metro systems and fourth in terms of the total length of the network. The leading place among Russian metropolitans is occupied by Moscow.

In 1992, the construction of Russia's first high-speed railway line Moscow - St. Petersburg began. Thus, the first high-speed passenger rail line in Russia - VSZhM-1 - is a Moscow-St. Petersburg passenger line for the circulation of specialized high-speed trains.

On December 18, 2009, regular scheduled service of the Sapsan train began between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The original travel time between the two capitals was 3 hours 45 minutes. In the future, it was planned to reduce travel time. However, on the contrary, it has been increased and now varies from 3 hours 55 minutes to 4 hours 45 minutes.

The high-speed train "Sapsan" (Velaro RUS) is a joint project of Russian Railways and Siemens. The first train in Russia is made up of 10 cars. On the way, it reaches speeds of up to 250 km/h. At the same time, during testing it accelerated to 281 km/h. Sapsan carriages have a two-class layout - tourist and business class. A number of problems during train operation arise due to the fact that high-speed traffic is organized along railway tracks shared with conventional trains. In this regard, a decision was made to build Russia’s first specialized high-speed railway line Moscow – St. Petersburg. Trains will be able to travel along the new route at speeds of up to 400 km/h. Completion of construction is scheduled for 2017. Also, JSC Russian Railways plans to issue a through ticket for passengers of Sapsan (Moscow - St. Petersburg) and Allegro (St. Petersburg - Helsinki) - travel on both trains will be carried out on one ticket.

The second high-speed railway of Russia - Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod. Travel time along the route is 3 hours 55 minutes, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h. Along the route, the train makes two-minute stops in Vladimir, as well as in Dzerzhinsk. The first flight was carried out on July 30, 2010. The traffic intensity is two pairs per day - one pair goes from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod and back through the Kursky Station in Moscow. Since September 6, 2010, the second pair has been traveling from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod from the Kursk station and back. The total travel time is 7 hours 55 minutes from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod and 3 hours 55 minutes from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod.

Currently, there are projects for the construction of new railway lines where Sapsan trains will be operated: 1) the Moscow - Kazan line; 2) line Moscow - Yaroslavl.