OREANDA-NEWS. October 05, 2009. Russian Railways marks the sixth anniversary of its founding."Over the past six years, the company has carried 8.2 billion tons of freight. The share of rail in total freight via all forms of transport increased by 2.3% in 2009 from the 2004 level, to 41.9%, taking into account pipeline transport, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The total number of passenger journeys was 7.4 billion", RZD President Vladimir Yakunin said during a press conference marking Company Day that the company’s share in this segment of the domestic transport market has grown by 3.4%, to reach 40.7%. The company’s investment from the date of its founding has exceeded 1.3 trillion rubles, of which 380 billion rubles were invested in 2008, and 252 billion rubles in 2009.

Vladimir Yakunin said that from the time of RZD’s founding, the rail network has received, taking into account leasing, more than 1550 locomotives, around 4000 passenger carriages, over 50,000 freight carriages, and over 3,500 motor-train rolling stock units. New lines and secondary tracks covering more than 860 km have been laid, along with more than 800 km of station track, and more than 670 km of track has been electrified. Fixed assets worth around 1.2 trillion rubles have entered operation. RZD’s share of national GDP, which five years ago was 3.5%, declined in 2008 to 2.5%.

Reducing transport intensity in the economy was one of the main goals of reforms. The transport component of total production prices in 2008 was reduced on average by 14% compared to the 2007 level. For oil transport it was reduced by 18%, for non-ferrous metals by 19%, and for coal by 36%.