OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2014. In January-November 2014, freight tariff turnover on the Russian Railways' railway network increased by 5.1% compared to the same period last year. Freight tariff turnover taking into account empty wagon runs was up 5.5%.

Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, announced these results today during a conference call summing up the operational performance of the railway network in the 11 months in 2014.

In total, these 11 months saw the network ship nearly 1.124 billion tons of cargo, 0.9% less than during the same period in 2013.

In November 2014, coal shipments increased by 3.1% compared to November 2013, while oil cargo rose by 3.3%, ferrous metals by 7.7%, grain by 20.4%, timber by 12.5% and freight imports by 31.4%.

In order to develop promising volumes for freight traffic, including hydrocarbon cargoes from Russia's Surgut region, the Company has identified the main principles for organising the transportation process. Above all, this involves developing routes for heavy oil tankers to the ports of the North-West Basin without having to remarshal the trains en route.

The first such train, with a weight of 9,000 tons, left Limbei station on Sverdlovsk Railways for Luzhskaya station on 1 December 2014. The train followed a special timetable developed by the four railway regions through which it passed.

It is planned to provide these services on a regular basis by exploiting the potential of the new 2ES10 Granite electric train with three sections, which is being introduced to carry out permanent operations.

"The regular unloading of wagons arriving at the ports will help to form a seamless link and play an integral role in the success of this project," said Vladimir Yakunin.

In January-November 2014, 59,700 freight trains departed on timetables.

Compared to November 2013, the route speed of loaded through-wagons has increased by 60 km per day to 533 km per day.

In January-November 2014, the route speed of container trains was 882 km per day, up 2.4% compared to the same period last year, while the route speed on the project Transsiberian in 7 days rose to 1,063 km / day, an increase of 1.1%.

According to Vladimir Yakunin, the Company has allocated additional funds to motivate employees working at production areas in order to ensure growth in labour productivity, as well as for the partial reduction of staff on part-time work arrangements. As a result, the number of employees working in part-time employment in November 2014 decreased significantly and amounted to 44,200 people.