Russian industries produced much fewer wagons and locomotives in 2025 compared to 2024. This follows from official data published by statistics agency Rosstat. Russian companies may not have enough money to renew their locomotive fleets.
There were two rolling stock segments that showed year-on-year production growth: metro wagons and tank wagons. Russia produced less of all other types of rolling stock.
In total, around 52,700 freight wagons were produced (-29.5%). Notable declines took place for gondola (open) wagons (-28%) and hopper wagons, the production of which declined by 5.3 times.
The production of locomotives also fell rather dramatically. Russia produced 22.2% fewer electric mainline locomotives, 15.3% fewer mainline diesel locomotives and 44% fewer diesel shunting locomotives.
Declining business and financial challenges
The contraction in rolling stock production is at least in part caused by the declining rail freight business in Russia. Russian Railways is transporting fewer and fewer goods each month, which reduces the demand for new rolling stock.
However, Russian wagon keepers have also been writing off their assets much more than previously. Around 16,000 freight wagons were decommissioned from the Russian Railways network in the first half of 2025. This was a 66% increase compared to the first half of 2024. The decommissioning trend was expected to continue at a lower pace throughout 2025.
Domestically produced locomotives are too expensive for many Russian companies, the president of the Russian National Research Centre for Transportation and Infrastructure had stressed earlier. This could also contribute to the decline in locomotive production – especially considering the levels of wear and tear among the fleet.