The International Rail Business Forum for Area 1520 held in Sochi at the end of May was a good opportunity to come into contact with Russia’s ambitious plans for the railway sector. Connecting bridge between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, Russian railways chose in the beginning of 2000 the path of reforms in order to stabilize rail operations and rebuild the system as a powerful backbone of the Russian economy. A superb combination between the strong will of political leaders, the modern technical vision of the management team and private initiative, Russian Railways has become a generator of social stability, an income provider for the state budget and a major customer of the local and international industry.
Wrongfully perceived as a monopolist bloc, RZD is in fact a business platform for freight carriers, in the context in which more and more private companies focus their attention on owning and operating freight wagons. The international partnerships developed in the European and Asian regions brought a rebirth of traditional routes such as the Trans – Siberian, as well as the introduction of new international transport services to China, Kazakhstan or Germany and France. This interesting state – private combination is also reflected in the technological partnerships developed by RZD (as well as in the manufacture of locomotives, suburban and high-speed trains and bogies with variable axles) which, once implemented and approved by the state, will be transferred to the private operational sector. Bearing this in mind, it’s no wonder that the government authorities and RZD boast about the economic performances of the company’s subsidiaries, the revenues obtained and the modernised social system developed and financed by the railway sector (independent education system, independent sanitary network). And seeing as Sochi will host the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, RZD has become one of the large European railway operators and managers who sponsor this type of venues. RZD, as the official partner of the Olympic Winter Games 2014, will allocate massive investments in Sochi. RZD also plans to modernise the public transport system in the city known as the “Black Sea Nissa”, as well as the rail links between central and southern Russia, in order to reduce travel time. If Russia maintains its position as the engine for world economic growth alongside the BRIC countries, RZD and the private railway sector will most likely become one of the main operating pistons of this engine.
by Ştefan Roşeanu
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