OREANDA-NEWS. June 17, 2013. Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, summed up the rail network's operational performance in the first five months of the year, from January to May 2013, during a conference call.

"This year, it is necessary to ensure special control when implementing anti-crisis measures aimed at maintaining the Company's financial stability at a time transportation volumes are declining significantly," said the head of Russian Railways.

According to Yakunin, in January-May 2013, tariff freight turnover decreased by 3.5% compared to last year and by 1.9% when taking into account empty wagon runs owned by other entities. The average daily loading volume in May 2013 was 3,405,000 tons, which corresponds to the adopted plan. During the first five months, loading volumes fell by 3.8% to levels last recorded during 2004-2005.

In these circumstances, improving transport efficiency becomes particularly important.

"We are continuing to improving our process for dispatching freight trains according to the timetable. In May 2013, more than 2,700 such trains were assembled at stations for mass loading, including more than 700 on a contractual basis. Thanks to this service, we are seeing actual delivery times falling by an average of 2-3 days," said Vladimir Yakunin.

He also noted that the average speed of freight trains delivering goods under one consignment note in May increased to 555 km per day, up 0.9% compared to May 2012, while the block speed of container trains was 877 km per day, an increase of 67 km per day or 8.3% on the previous year.