OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2012. Russian Railways’ President Vladimir Yakunin summed up the Company’s performance in October 2012 and the January-October period during a network conference call, reported the press-centre of RZD.

During the call, Yakunin noted that the average daily loading volume in October 2012 amounted to 3.586 million tons, which is 1.2% more than in October 2011.

According to Yakunin, priority has traditionally been focused on the transportation of bulk socially important goods, in particular grain.

Despite the drought this year, the volume of grain loading had increased significantly, said Yakunin, but constant regular work by the railways meant that in January-October this year, 15 million tons of grain were shipped, 18% more compared to January-October 2011, with 7.7 million tons going for export, an increase of 75% on the same period last year.

Yakunin also underlined the importance of unifying tariffs on empty wagon runs, which was introduced on 1 November 2012. Yakunin said that this had created a level playing field for transporting freight in different kinds of wagons and also provided economic incentives for concurrent loading, a reduction of wagon standing time and the growth rate in dual operations.

"It is still too early to speak about the results of unifying tariffs, but we expect that it will have a positive impact on the quality parameters of the rolling stock," said Vladimir Yakunin.

The Company President also said that passenger turnover on the infrastructure of Russian Railways between January-August 2012 increased by 3.8% compared to the same period last year, with long-distance traffic up by 2.6% and suburban commuter traffic by 8.3%.

Labour productivity at Russian Railways between January and October 2012 increased by over 4%.