OREANDA-NEWS. December 26, 2013. The Company's priority at this stage is to ensure the legal protection of technological innovation and to improve mechanisms for protecting its intellectual property.

"Since 2008, the number of protected documents covering intellectual property has risen by almost 5 times. We are systematically increasing the volume of patenting our inventions abroad. Next year we plan to increase the holding's patent portfolio by 10 %," said Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice President at Russian Railways, who was speaking at the end-of-year meeting of the Company's Board of Directors.

Russian Railways is one of the few Russian companies which in terms of R&D investment is on a par with the world's leading corporations.

However, due to the difficult economic situation, the Company will be forced to reduce significantly its spending on R&D in 2014 and maintain funding only for the most important areas.

Among the inventions and developments created by the RZD holding's scientific and technical staff and which meet the world's best standards, Valentin Gapanovich singled out the smart train management system for the transporting visitors and athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

A new stage in the development of a train management system is the project to modernise the Small Ring of Moscow Railways, which has been formed as a single microprocessor software and hardware system.

In addition, the technology for organising freight trains according to timetables which optimise energy use underwent further development this year. The technology incorporates the foundations for supporting decision-making when organising train movement according to the timetable.

The implementation of a hardware and software suite to manage station processes has been completed. Also commissioned is the ITAUR operating system at Yaroslavl Main Station, which has enabled the Company to realise a fundamentally new technology for planning the work of the station. Clear cooperation and interaction with the traffic control centre has been established based on an electronic system which issues job tickets and then monitors their execution.

According to the Senior Vice-President, using the ITAUR system will save at least 7.5 million roubles in operating costs every year. In 2014, it is planned to extend the system to a further 5 stations on the rail network.

One of the most important criteria for evaluating the technological and economic stability of Russian Railways as the largest consumer of energy in the country is the Company's level of energy efficiency.

In order to reduce transportation costs by optimising the use of energy resources within the Company, Russian Railways has therefore implemented an energy management system which solves the main problems laid out in RZD holding's Energy Strategy.

Based on the experience of the operations of the first gas turbine locomotive, in September 2013 a second industrial design GT1h was made.

"Russian gas turbine locomotives have no analogues in the world. In 2014, it is planned to complete the full range of tests. In the future, they could operate between Novy Urengoy – Surgut – Tyumen, and later on the Baikal Amur Main Line. By 2020, the Company will take delivery of 40 gas turbine locomotives," said Valentin Gapanovich.

One development in this direction was the creation of 1,000 kW shunting gas locomotives with hot gas reciprocating engines running on liquefied natural gas which were produced by Maminyh Volgodieselmash in Balakovo. This locomotive is currently undergoing tests.

Gapanovich recalled that the year 2013 was dedicated to environmental protection in Russia. On all 16 railway divisions comprising Russian Railways, systematic work was therefore conducted at all directorates to minimise negative impacts on the environment. Targeted measures on the Programme of the Year of Environmental Protection were implemented. As a result, compared with the previous year, in 2013:

emissions of harmful substances released into the atmosphere decreased by more than 2%;

discharges of polluted wastewater decreased by 4%;

the use and recycling of waste increased by 12%.

According to Gapanovich, the Company's effective environmental protection has been praised by Russia's federal executive bodies and public organisations. In 2013, the Company was awarded five prestigious national and international prizes and certificates in competitions in the field of environmental protection.

Gapanovich particularly emphasised the need to involve young people in innovation. According to the Senior Vice-President, a vital tool for achieving this at Russian Railways was the "New Link" contest of innovative projects, which this year was held for the sixth time. In all, more than 10,000 young employees have participated in the contest since 2008 and there have been more than 5,000 projects, with 255 receiving organisational and financial support from the Company's management.

Yet another way of motivating scientific and technical creativity is the traditional review competition "The Ideas of Russian Railways", which presents the best inventions and rationalisation proposals from the Company's employees and examples of the technical creativity young railway staff.

"The implementation of these projects is an investment in our future, in our youth and in Russia's future revenues which no financial analyst can forecast or calculate," said Valentin Gapanovich.