Key Projects of 2024

Daytime trains

As of year‑end 2024, 20.0 million passengers were carried by daytime long‑distance trains, up 0.6% year‑on‑year. Daytime service accounted for 18% of the total annual passenger traffic of JSC FPC.

In the 2023/2024 time schedule, there were 67 pairs of daytime trains on 38 routesIncluding Moscow – Minsk, Moscow – St. Petersburg, Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow – Lipetsk, Moscow – Yaroslavl, Moscow – Belgorod, Moscow – Smolensk, Moscow – Kursk, Moscow – Bryansk, Moscow – Voronezh, Moscow – Saransk, Krasnodar – Adler, Krasnodar – Imeretinsky Kurort and others..

Double‑decker trains

In 2024, double‑decker trains carried over 14.3 million passengers, which is 12.1% higher than in 2023. Double‑decker service accounted for 12.9% of total annual passenger traffic of JSC FPC.

The 2023/2024 train schedule provides for the operation of 32 pairs of double‑decker trains on 22 routesThose include the following routes: St. Petersburg – Moscow, St. Petersburg – Belgorod, Moscow, St. Petersburg – Adler, Voronezh – Moscow, Moscow – Samara, Izhevsk, Penza, and Togliatti, Kislovodsk – Moscow, Petrozavodsk – Moscow, Moscow – Bryansk, St. Petersburg – Murmansk, Moscow to Ulyanovsk, Yoshkar‑Ola, and Cheboksary, Moscow – Orsk, Ufa/Samara – Imeretinsky Kurort, Imeretinsky Kurort – Moscow, Petrozavodsk – St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg – Samara, and others..

As part of the expansion of the double‑decker train range, new trains have been scheduled from December 2024: No. 61/62 St. Petersburg – Moscow in common rotation with No. 63/64 Samara – St. Petersburg, No. 265/266 Moscow – Novorossiysk, No. 391/392 Chelyabinsk – Moscow, which is the first among double‑decker trains connecting Moscow with the Urals region of Russia, higher‑speed double‑decker Aurora trains No. 741/742, No. 743/744 St. Petersburg – Moscow.

Higher‑speed trains

In 2024, higher‑speed trains made up by JSC FPC carried over 11.4 million passengers, which is 6.8% higher than in 2023, accounting for 10.2% of JSC FPC's total annual passenger traffic.

The 2023/2024 train schedule provides for the operation of 28 pairs of JSC FPC's higher‑speed trains on eight routesMoscow – Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow – Smolensk, Moscow – Voronezh, Moscow – Kursk, Moscow – Bryansk, Moscow – Belgorod, Moscow – Minsk, Moscow – St. Petersburg..

The Aurora higher‑speed trains (trains No. 741/742 and No. 743/744) resumed serving the Moscow – St. Petersburg route in December 2024 after 14 years.

Tourist trains

In 2024, the number of JSC FPC's tourist trains increased to 28. Over the year, 114,400 people travelled on tourist trains (+16.5% year‑on‑year).

Traditionally popular routes include The Pearl of the Caucasus, To Karelia, Sochi, Along the Golden Ring, Winter Fairy Tale, and others.

Passengers were offered new tourist products: Zhiguly Weekend, the Pearl of the Caucasus (departure from Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, and Samara), Malakhit, and Two Guberniays.

Tours to the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Abkhazia were operated under the projects Belarusian Voyage, Sochi, and Ritsa.

Car carriers

In 2024, around 4,900 motor vehicles were transported in JSC FPC's car carriers on the following routes:

• Khabarovsk – Novy Urgal
• St. Petersburg – Adler
• Moscow – St. Petersburg
• Moscow – Adler
• Moscow – Vladivostok

In 2024, the most popular transportation routes were: Moscow – Adler, St. Petersburg – Adler, Vladivostok – Moscow, and Khabarovsk – Novy Urgal.

Amount of traffic and new trains

In the 2023/2024 standard train schedule, the overall traffic of JSC FPC's passenger trains amounted to 491 train pairs, including 298 pairs of express trains, 165 pairs of passenger trains and 28 pairs of higher‑speed trains. In order to improve efficiency and rationalise the use of rolling stock, the 2023/2024 train schedule included 162 pairs of multi‑group trains.

To enhance transport accessibility of the regions and attract additional passenger traffic, the following trains were assigned to new routes:

• No. 141/142 Smolensk – Arkhangelsk
• No. 265/266 Tyumen – Kislovodsk
• No. 559/560 Volgograd – Rostov
• No. 517/518 Saratov – Murmansk
• No. 143/144 Smolensk – Murmansk
• No. 203/204 St. Petersburg – Belgorod
• No. 27/28 Vladivostok – Blagoveshchensk
• No. 149/150 Samara – Minsk
• No. 117/118 St. Petersburg – Labytnangi
• No. 99/100 Nizhny Novgorod – Labytnangi

In addition, non‑stop carriages have been introduced on new routes:

• Elista – Adler
• Perm – Kislovodsk
• Astrakhan – Anapa
• Grozny – Kazan
• Chelyabinsk – Tashkent
• Tyumen – Derbent

International service

In the reporting year, JSC FPC focused on the development of international passenger traffic with friendly neighbouring countries. The Company provides passenger railway service between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Abkhazia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mongolia, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Given the capacity of the passenger market between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, international cooperation in 2024 was focused on increasing the transportation volumes. In particular, the third pair of Lastochka train No. 719/720, Moscow – Minsk, commenced to run three times a week.

Since December 2024, passenger railway service has been resumed between the capital of the Russian Federation and the capitals of the Kyrgyz Republic (Bishkek) and the Republic of Uzbekistan (Tashkent), and a major industrial and cultural centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Karagandy), between the administrative centre of the Novosibirsk Region and the centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan's mining and metallurgical industry (Ridder), as well as between border stations of the Russian Federation (Grodekovo) and the PRC (Suifenhe) and the DPRK (Tumangang).

Now, trains No. 80/79, Kaliningrad – St. Petersburg, and No. 148/147, Kaliningrad – Moscow, which transit through the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania, travel daily; also, non‑stop groups of carriages were introduced on the following routes: Minsk – Murmansk, Smolensk – St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad – Murmansk, and Kaliningrad – Mineralnye Vody.

Import substitution

The activities aimed at import substitution (i.e., launching manufacture in Russia) of parts used in passenger rolling stock were initiated by JSC FPC in March 2022 and are being undertaken as part of industry‑wide measures conducted by Russian Railways. To manage the import substitution process across the industry, Russian Railways has created the Import Substitution Automated Information System (AIS), which tracks imported and import‑containing products used in the Holding divisions and enables follow‑up and selecting analogues of products requiring substitution. Starting from the second half of 2023, the Company was granted access to the said system. As of the beginning of 2024, 334 units of import‑dependent products (including 264 units used in the manufacture of new rolling stock and 70 units used in its maintenance and repair) are covered by the AIS. Based on the results of activities undertaken jointly with manufacturers of rolling stock and components for railway equipment, analogues for 301 units of products have been identified.

On 2 July 2024, the Consolidated Programme for Achieving the Production Independence of the Russian Railways Holding for 2024 No. 1625/r was approved; it includes the Sub‑programme for Achieving the Production Independence of the Federal Passenger Company as an integral part.

The Sub‑programme includes a list of imported and import‑containing products (spare parts, components and materials) to be purchased and required to be purchased in 2024 for the maintenance and repair of locomotive traction passenger carriages. The list includes 33 items, of which:

• Three items – locomotive traction passenger carriages
• 30 items – spare parts and materials for maintenance and repair of passenger carriages (based on the results of research conducted in 2024, the number of items was reduced to 11)

In 2024, brake tests of double‑decker carriages featuring air‑suspension bogies with Russia‑made units and components (brake disk, calliper unit, anti‑skid system) were completed with positive results.

Based on the test results, Russia‑made components were introduced into the design documentation for carriages to be purchased, thus strengthening the Company's production independence.

Digital projects

Digital Transformation at JSC FPC

In 2024, digital transformation was carried out at JSC FPC in accordance with JSC FPC's Digital Transformation Strategy (hereinafter, the Strategy), which was developed in accordance with the requirements of Russian laws for joint stock companies with state participation and approved by the resolution of the Board of Directors of JSC FPCMinutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors of JSC FPC No. 21 dated 19 June 2023.. In 2024, the Strategy was updated by the resolution of the Board of Directors of JSC FPC in line with the requirements for full import substitution of certain classes of software and the use of artificial intelligence technologiesMinutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors of JSC FPC dated 2 September 2024..

The digital transformation in 2024 saw over 5,000 automated workstations migrated to the domestic Astra Linux operating system and over 9,500 devices for checking the validity of electronic tickets replaced (all devices were migrated to the Russian Aurora operating system), with 7,000 units of radio stations, peripheral, network and server equipment, and 34 out of 38 classes of software used by the Company fully replaced with domestic equivalents.

Thanks to the measures aimed at import substitution of software and electronic products, the Company managed to increase its production independence, ensure uninterrupted functioning of business processes, and secure customer comfort and safety.

As part of the Strategy, the following digital transformation projects were implemented in 2024:

• FPC INFO corporate portal allows any employee, regardless of their location, to receive information on their income, vacation, benefits, pension, order various certificates and copies of documents, as well as to use self‑education resources and administer their career. The active audience of the FPC INFO corporate portal in 2024 amounted to 39,000 employees.
• An automated system for evaluating and rating personnel, carriages and trains based on customer opinions allows for automated analysis of passenger feedback and the creation of ratings for the Company employees. In 2024, train crew employees received 1.3 million ratings within the system. Based on the information received, ratings are formed and decisions are promptly made to improve customer satisfaction.
• An automated management system for user support of IT services, as well as for planning, implementation, and monitoring of the informatisation programme, allows for the automation of the support procedures and the processes related to shaping and administering JSC FPC's digitalisation programme. Over 700 requests for technical support for users were processed within the system in November and December 2024.

To automate routine operations at JSC FPC, the first software robots were introduced in 2024, including robots to generate reports from the Unified Corporate Automated Financial and Resource Management System, process job applicants' CVs, and automate legal operations. A total of eight programme robots were put into operation.

The implementation of the projects described above has improved the customer experience, increased the transparency of business processes and facilitated more efficient use of the Company's resources.

In the reporting year, JSC FPC's projects were recognised with various prestigious awards in the area of digital transformation:

• Digital Leaders Award 2024 as the Platform of the Year
• Time of Innovation Award as a VR/AR and Mobile Application
• ComNews Awards 2024 as the Best Digital Solution Based on a Russia‑Made Mobile Operating System for Transportation

For 2025, it is planned to design and develop information systems and digital services, as well as to continue the transition to Russia‑made software and radio‑electronic products.