{"id":147602,"date":"2024-11-06T21:34:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T11:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=57710"},"modified":"2024-11-06T21:34:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T11:34:14","slug":"russian-railways-leaked-audio-we-want-hundred-thousand-wagons-off-the-rails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=147602","title":{"rendered":"Russian Railways leaked audio: \u2018We want hundred thousand wagons off the rails\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a leaked conversation with Russian government officials, Russian Railways\u2019 (RZD) head Oleg Belozerov ordered no less than 100,000 wagons to be removed from the rail network. The measure was met with dissatisfaction, but Belozerov insisted that he cannot work with the current amount of wagons on the network. The leaked audio file also seems to confirm that RZD is losing out on 192,000 tonnes of freight daily due to a locomotive shortage.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The leaked audio file was published by a Russian anti-corruption organisation on Telegram. Belozerov wants to reduce the working fleet of wagons in Russia by 100,000 to 1,1 million. He seems to leave it up to Russia\u2019s Central Direction for Transport Management to figure out which operators are going to have to leave their wagons in which locations.<\/p>\n

An attendee of the recorded meeting laments the measure. Belozerov responds defeatedly: \u201cI understand that a million is little for you. Well, this is all I can do for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Operational chaos<\/h2>\n

It is a well-known issue of the Russian railway network that there are too many idling wagons, which cause \u201coperational chaos\u201d. The anti-corruption organisation claims that there is no freight to carry, which is supposedly why there are so many empty wagons that need to be removed.<\/p>\n

This, however, seems unlikely and does not correspond to publicly available information, nor to what the RZD head said in the recorded meeting. Earlier, an RZD source told Russian media that the company is losing out on 192,000 tonnes daily due to a persistent locomotive shortage. This number is also brought up by Belozerov: \u201cThis 192,000 daily, translate them into freight classes and [report] that we are not accepting that number for transportation due to a lacking fleet, and that we cannot make such billions [of rubles].\u201d<\/p>\n