OREANDA-NEWS. February 13, 2012. Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, held a conference call in Moscow to discuss the Company’s performance in January 2012, reported the press-centre of RZD.

"The most important result in terms of January’ production was the high dynamics in freight traffic," said Yakunin during the call.

According to Yakunin, freight turnover including empty runs of private and leased wagons, increased by more than 12% compared to January 2011. The average daily shipping volume on the rail network was 3.275 million tons, which exceeded the 2006 level for the first time since the economic recovery. As a result, about 1 million tons of freight above the planned amount were shipped.

Wagon utilisation rates on the network increased by 1.2% compared with standard performance indicators.

Passenger turnover on the infrastructure of Russian Railways increased 0.7% to 10.2 billion passenger-kilometres compared to last year’s level. Vladimir Yakunin also noted the positive dynamics in the suburban commuter segment, where passenger turnover and the number of passengers increased by 7%.

Referring to the work of the suburban segment, Yakunin emphasised that Russian Railways has currently agreed with all suburban rail passenger companies on the volume of transport work in 2012 and sent more detailed budget requests with confirmation of the revenue shortfalls and draft contracts for transport services to the subjects of the Russian Federation. As of 27 January 2012, 72 contracts had been signed for transport services with 57 subjects of the Russian Federation.

Yakunin said the priority task for the passenger side in the coming months was to ensure passenger transport during the February and March holiday periods.

"It is necessary to designate and appoint the required number of additional trains and carriages on the most popular routes," said Vladimir Yakunin.

Speaking about the planned structural changes in the passenger sector, Yakunin said that in 2012 various measures would be carried out to set up and begin the commercial activity of the Central Directorate for Motorised Rolling Stock and the Central Directorate of Passenger Stations and Platforms, which belong to Russian Railways.