OREANDA-NEWS  A steady decrease in loading on Russian railways over the past seven months has been associated with a decrease in world coal prices, a drop in exports of petroleum products, as well as the workload of the Eastern Landfill (Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur mainlines). Thus, the relevant statistics were explained by experts interviewed by Forbes.

In April, loading fell by 3.6 percent year-on-year, since the beginning of the year the drop was 2.2 percent. Cargo turnover (loading multiplied by distance traveled) decreased by 4.9 percent. If we take into account the empty mileage of the wagons, the decrease was 5.5 percent. Since the beginning of the year, these figures have fallen by 6.6 and 6.9 percent, respectively.

Pavel Ivankin, President of the Transportation and Infrastructure Research Center, stressed that coal has the most significant impact on the situation, because it occupies a little less than 30 percent of the total loading.

Overall, its loading fell by 5.3 percent over the four months on the network. The southern direction has become unprofitable, including due to high transshipment tariffs, and the situation will not improve in May. The confirmed volume for cargo transportation to the port of Taman is six times less than expected — 0.5 million tons against 3 million.