OREANDA-NEWS. June 18, 2012. During a conference call Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin summed up the company’s performance between January and May 2012, reported the press-centre of RZD.  

He noted that May 2012 in particular saw an increase of 2.6% in passenger traffic. In the first five months of 2012, passenger traffic was up 4.8% compared to the same period last year, but suburban passenger numbers increased 3 times more than long-distance passengers, rising by almost 10% compared to 3.2% respectively. In total, there were 402.6 million passengers in the January-May period, 8.2% more than during the same months in 2011.

On the freight side, Yakunin said that the Company exceeded the May loading plan by 0.9%, primarily due to lower-revenue freight such as coal, construction materials, industrial raw materials and moulded materials. The loading volume in the low-revenue segment, according to Yakunin, increased by 6%, while shipments of higher-revenue freight came in slightly below last year’s level. The average daily loading volume in May 2012 amounted to 3,525,000 tons.

During the conference call, Yakunin stressed the importance to the Company of the decision to unify the rates for empty runs of universal open wagons and platforms from 1 November 2012, which was taken during a May meeting of the Board of Russia’s Federal Tariff Service.

"This measure is designed to reduce the critical load on the infrastructure by increasing the number of dual operations, reducing the idle time of wagons at loading stations and cutting down on empty runs," said Vladimir Yakunin.

In addition, Yakunin noted that more efficient operational work should contribute to ongoing structural changes within the Company. At the moment, the creation of a vertically integrated holding company is entering the home straight. Regional corporate governance centres are being set up on the network and tasks and functions clarified.

Yakunin also drew attention to another important document for further work on the network - the draft plan for developing a single technological network process for freight traffic, which was approved by the Company’s Board of Directors in May 2012. However, according to Vladimir Yakunin, the new technological process should be based on the relevant regulatory provisions. He noted that more work was needed with the authorities in this regard.