According to a statement by Sergey Galkin, Deputy Director of the Department for Managing the Business Block "Railway Transportation and Infrastructure" of Russian Railways, starting in 2025, Russian Railways will need more than 1,000 locomotives annually to ensure cargo transportation. Galkin made this assessment during a round table dedicated to expanding the carrying capacity of railway transport for the potential of the port of Vanino.
Galkin reported that, due to the general economic situation, rolling stock suppliers put forward additional conditions for increasing production, but did not specify their nature.
There are also plans to revise upcoming contracts. In 2023, Russian Railways intends to purchase 600 locomotives, of which 402 units have already been received by the monopolist.
In August of this year, the volume of loading through the Russian Railways network increased by 0.1% compared to the previous year, reaching 103.7 million tons. Initially, Russian Railways predicted a decrease in loading volumes by the end of 2023 by 2.5%, but in the spring they began to focus on maintaining current indicators. Analysts suggest possible growth, but note that the situation is complicated by a decrease in the technical readiness of locomotives with imported components and an increase in construction work.
As a reminder, at the beginning of summer, the Russian electric locomotive "Malachite" (2ES8/3ES8) successfully passed inspection by a special interdepartmental commission. The main innovations in the "Malachite" compared to previous models are a new asynchronous traction drive with Russian traction converters and engines, as well as the use of a monocoque body instead of the main frame. Another notable improvement is the software with self-learning and automatic train driving functions. The appearance of the 3ES8 model laid the foundation for the development of the basic "Malachite" platform, the development of which involves the production of AC locomotives and dual-system machines of the platform in the Russian railway engineering industry.
