Well-known partners and new plans
When foreign investors and the Russian railway industry meet up to discuss what’s on their minds, then technology and business are usually at the heart of the matter. The Russian state railway RŽD is focusing on a global growth strategy. Its plans are no longer limited to Eurasia, but extend as far as Africa.
Shcherbinka is located around 30 km south of the Moscow city centre. The suburb is home to the Russian Railways’ research institute, which has a 6 km circular test track considered the oldest of its kind. Where researchers normally tinker on developing the railway technologies of the future there was a lot of activity late in the Russian summer. The Russian Railways RŽD organised its Pro//Motion.Expo trade fair, a mix of exhibition, fair and conference, with participants from 37 countries attending.
Growing without broad gauge
One of the participant countries – Austria – was particularly in the limelight. Austria’s state-owned federal railway Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) and RŽD have been working together for quite some time now, a collaboration effort that was especially emphasised on what the event called ‘Austrian Technology Day’.
Austria’s transport minister Andreas Reichhardt told participants that “ÖBB expects the volume of goods transported from Russia to Austria to double by 2030. A prospective broad-gauge line to Vienna remains one of the central issues in these forecasts.” In the first half of 2019 alone, freight traffic between the two countries grew by 8.8%.
In future the two railways also want to promote data exchange and jointly use terminal facilities in Kaliningrad. With regard to the broad-gauge expansion to Vienna, ecological impact analyses are currently underway, and the partners are also awaiting the results of a feasibility study. The partnership with Austria is part of RŽD’s expansive international strategy, which accounts for approximately 21% of sales.
In the meantime, the Russian freight railway is present in 40 countries, putting in a transport performance of no less than 2.6 billion tkm. All of the player’s managers expect the figure to rise even higher, as deputy RŽD managing director Alexander Misharin underlined at a media conference with trade journalists. Misharin is the man in charge of international cooperation in the railway enterprise, which has no less than 1 million employees.
RŽD’s Caribbean activities
When the Russian Railways look to activities abroad, then it frequently focuses on regions with great economic potential for railfreight transport operations. Sometimes, however, it also concentrates more on reviving rusty relationships.
This is the case with Cuba, for example. RŽD is participating in a programme to modernise the railway infrastructure on the Caribbean island. The project was launched two years ago, but has not really got off the ground and running yet.
This is set to change now, as Misharin explains. “Russian companies have already supplied locomotives to pull freight trains. Now the railtrack network has to be upgraded on approximately 500 km of its overall length. We want to upgrade the sections of the network to allow trains that travel at 30 km / h today to speed along at 120 km / h.”
African potential
Africa, on the other hand, is new territory for RŽD. It has only exchanged technology with South Africa so far. “There are almost 70,000 km of railways in Africa, half of which are in a rather poor state. If governments are willing to invest in modernisation, then the potential is huge,” Misharin said.
His superior, RŽD CEO Oleg Belozerov, met with his Egyptian counterpart Ashraf Raslan during Pro//Motion.Expo. Belozerov confirmed RŽD’s intention of participating in the renewal of Egypt’s railway infrastructure. The North African country is also interested in acquiring rolling stock from Russian manufacturers. Iran has also placed an order for locomotives, but their delivery has been delayed on account of the economic sanctions. Misharin is nevertheless optimistic. “We’re confident that we can meet this order for 45 locomotives. There are risks in every business, after all.”
Automatic transmission and drive
Apart from that, the Russian Railways prefers to deal with opportunities rather than risks. Belozerov predicted that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the railway industry. One example is Russia’s first train to operate without a driver, which was carrying out test runs on said test track during the expo itself. However, RŽD said that further tests remain necessary before it can be deployed in scheduled services.
The source of power for freight trains on non-electrified lines was also a recurring topic during the various panel discussions held at the meeting. While the event’s foreign guests propagated hydrogen technologies, Russian industry representatives emphasised the need to rely on natural gas first, which is available in large quantities in Russia, after all.
Whether the railway sector will actually change fundamentally in the short term remains to be seen, even after the light the rendezvous in Moscow shed on said future. Siemens Mobility CEO Sabrina Soussan was cautious when gazing into the crystal ball. “In 100 years’ time, trains will still run on wheels and on rails.”
