OREANDA-NEWS. August 08, 2012. Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, held a conference call on 3 August 2012 during which he congratulated Company staff on the upcoming Day of Rail Workers and summarised the performance of the Russian Railways’ Holding during July 2012 and the first seven months of the year, reported the press-centre of RZD. 

"The average daily loading volume in July 2012 amounted to 3,520,000 tons, up 3% on July 2011. The plan was fulfilled," said the head of Russian Railways.

According to Yakunin, the first seven months of 2012 saw an increase in shipping volumes of 3.4% compared to same period last year. Freight turnover including empty runs of private and leased wagons during the same period increased by 4%.

Vladimir Yakunin said that January-July 2012 saw high growth in passenger turnover on the infrastructure of Russian Railways, which was up 3.9% compared to last year, with long-distance figures up 2.7% over the same period in 2011 and suburban passenger numbers up 8.7%.

Since the beginning of the year, Russian Railways carried almost 600 million passengers, up 7.2% over the same period last year.

During July 2012, passenger traffic to the resorts of the North Caucasus increased by 3% and by 6% in the reverse direction. As of 1 August 2012, 90 additional trains have been laid on for the summer period to undertake 315 runs.

"Russian Railways will carry about 500,000 children during the summer season. To achieve this, we have laid on 35 special trains using carriages built in recent years which are equipped with air conditioning units and bio-toilets and which will only be used to transport groups of children. Before the end of the summer campaign, special attention should be paid to the safe transportation of children," said Vladimir Yakunin.