Freight customers

Operating in a highly competitive and volatile market, Russian Railways seeks to provide comprehensive services across all transportation types and expand the range of services available to customers. Advanced logistics technologies lie at the centre of our business, ensuring our ability to serve the maximum number of consumers.

Improving the quality of transportation services

Russian Railways’ key priority in freight transportation is to attract additional cargo volumes and expand the range of logistics products offered to customers. To this end, we launched the following services: Scheduled Freight Traffic, Freight Express, Modular Express, and SME Export Express, a service for containerised monthly shipments of mixed export cargoes for small and medium businesses.

Automated Management System for the Terminal and Warehouse Complex

In 2023, users switched to the Automated Management System for the Terminal and Warehouse Complex, which is completely domestic and included in the Unified Register of Russian Software and Databases. The system integrates with Russian Railways’ 19 automated systems, and all freight terminals have put it into operation. It makes terminal and warehouse services more accessible for customers, including the conclusion of contracts, execution of orders and applications for admission, and all reporting documents online using digital signatures. These services are available in the Personal Account of the Russian Railways freight transportation.

RZD Market

In 2023, the Russian Railways Group’s portfolio of digital services saw robust growth. The RZD Market, an innovative IT platform facilitating companies to broaden their geography of supplies, discover novel market opportunities for their products, and minimise costs for end consumers, is gaining significant traction. The service’s mission is to foster the growth of turnover and export potential of Russian companies by leveraging digital technologies and maximising utilisation of railway infrastructure capacity.

Freight Transportation electronic trading platform

The Freight Transportation electronic trading platform (FT ETP) integrates transportation, rolling stock supply, terminal, warehousing, and logistics services of Russian Railways’ subsidiaries into a single marketplace. Sales of container transportation services and “transportation with subsequent transshipment” (a new bundled offering), alongside the orchestration of transit and import cargoes, and empty railcar management, were introduced.

The platform provides shippers with non‑discriminatory access to handling, transit, and other transportation services. It offers end‑to‑end logistics solutions, including multimodal transportation, warehousing, and cloud services.

In 2023, the deployment of pioneering digital services, primarily the Spot TransactionsA dynamic pricing mechanism enabling operators and shippers to attain price equilibrium in real time and arrange transportation online. service, facilitated the integration of new rolling stock providers into FT ETP. The service currently connects 144 providers (up 12% y‑o‑y), including 131 rolling stock operators. Since the platform’s inception, there has been a sevenfold increase in supplier base.

New functionalities were also rolled out for cargo redirection en route and for raising additional funding. For international companies – non‑residents of the Russian Federation – we enhanced the payment system for export/import and transit freight shipments, launched a multi‑currency settlement module. FT ETP’s capabilities are now available to users of the Electronic Marketplace for Secondary Resource Trading, established under the auspices of the Russian Environmental Operator.

Development of cargo transportation in specialised containers

As part of creating a service for transporting smaller cargo consignments, prototypes of five‑ and ten‑tonne medium‑tonnage modules (MTMs) and container adapters for their transportation were manufactured. They successfully underwent preliminary and acceptance tests, including lifting by relevant equipment and a trial run on a container train.

In 2023, we developed a new freight train service called Container Express. Containers are transported on high‑speed 80‑foot flat wagons, capable of speeds up to 140 km/h, or 1,367 km per day – twice as fast as conventional container trains.

Improving the quality of transportation services

In 2023, the Group’s railway network comprised 86 sales offices employing over 250 people. In 2023, Russian Railways acquired more than 3,000 new customers who signed contracts for opening unified personal accounts.

In December 2023, the Standard Workflow for Sales OfficesRussian Railways’ Order No. 3107/r dated 6 December 2023. was approved. Based on this process, employees actively engage with existing customers to broaden the scope of services offered and expand transportation geography.

An intensive effort is underway to improve sales offices’ competences in active sales and customer service. The Company keeps expanding the range of its one‑stop‑shop services.

All sales transactions at sales offices were digitalised in 2023, and customer interactions are now documented in the automated customer relationship management system (ACRMS).

During 2023, sales offices’ staff for international sales focused on liaising with overseas partners and prospects.

In 2023, we processed more than 117,000 customer complaints using the FOCus technology, while the number of customer enquiries returned for revision went down nearly twofold to 4.3% of all enquiries.

We have customer hotlines in place and provided information to over 184 shippers and consignees in 2023.

Environmental Calculator

Russian Railways attaches great importance to environmental issues, this is why we gave shippers an opportunity to calculate their environmental impact. The Company offered its customers the Environmental Calculator in their personal accounts. This tool helps to determine the extent to which GHG emissions are reduced if rail transportation is preferred for any given shipment. We also launched a meter telling customers how many trees they saved by switching to electronic workflow. As a result, more than 90% of shippers chose to use electronic workflow.

The Russian Railways website features an Environmental Memorandum and provides live updates on the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions year to date.