Russian Railways Collects Valuable Data

JSC Russian Railways proposes to create a unified system for monitoring pricing in all parts of the transport chain and, in particular, asks to oblige wagon operators to provide it with information on rates. The monopoly explains the need for such monitoring by the need to ensure the profitability of deliveries of Russian goods for export. Market participants are against, indicating that such information is already being collected by the FAS, which also does not support this proposal.

Russian Railways offered to engage in a consolidated collection of information on rates in related segments: operating, transshipment, freight. As reported in a letter from the deputy general director of the monopoly Alexei Shilo to the Ministry of Transport dated July 22 (“Kommersant” saw the document), while tariffs for Russian Railways are set by the state, “other market participants (operators of rolling stock, sea terminals, shipping companies) when determining tariffs and the availability of the services provided, they are primarily focused on their own profit, often not taking into account the interests of the state and the social significance of ensuring the transportation of certain nomenclatures of goods. Information on the cost of providing services by operators and shipping companies in most cases is not published, the letter says, terminal operators, despite the existence of non-discriminatory access rules, “do not post information on their official websites or do not post it in full”.

It also mentions that earlier Russian Railways and the authorities received information from Argus Media and Industrial Freight, which is now published in a limited form, and the owners of Industrial Freight, from where the entire market took data on the rates of rolling stock operators, are Ukrainian citizens. .

In this regard, Russian Railways proposes to create a domestic institute for monitoring and publishing cost information on commodity and transport markets. In particular, Russian Railways proposes to oblige rolling stock operators to provide them with data on rates or to give them the right to collect such information when accepting applications for transportation.

Russian Railways JSC explained to Kommersant that “in the context of unprecedented sanctions restrictions, the transport industry is faced with the state task of ensuring the profitability of the supply of Russian products to international markets.”

The solution to this problem is possible only by ensuring non-discriminatory access and transparency of pricing for all links of the transport chain, they say in the monopoly, in connection with which the proposals indicated in the letter appeared.

However, these proposals were not accepted by all departments. According to the FAS, “it is inappropriate to provide a natural monopoly entity – a market participant providing services within the supply chain – with information about the activities and conditions for the provision of services by other market participants – ports, operators and owners of rolling stock, etc.”, Kommersant was told in the service .

The FAS emphasized that the cost of the services of operators for the provision of wagons is not regulated by the state, the rate is formed on market principles.

They also recalled that since April 2022, the service has been monitoring the transport component in the cost of the main types of cargo transported along the main transport corridors (including railway tariffs, services of railway transport operators, services of stevedoring companies in seaports and ship charter).

A source in the operator market says that the proposals of JSC Russian Railways, “unfortunately, are more like another attempt by the monopoly to create a “mega-regulator” in its own person.” Key operator companies send weekly data on the dynamics of operating rates to the FAS, he says, and “in this regard, the proposals of JSC Russian Railways mean replacing or at least duplicating the monitoring system established by the state.” However, unlike a government agency that does not conduct economic activities, Russian Railways (its subsidiary operating companies) operates in this market, he emphasizes, and the creation of a monitoring system will give it access to information that represents, among other things, the commercial secrets of other companies operating in that area. same segment. In his opinion, the attempts of Russian Railways to secure regulatory functions “shift the focus of attention from the problematic issues of Russian Railways itself as an economic entity, which include the lack of traction, the problems of developing the Eastern range, and the maintenance of infrastructure.”

Another interlocutor of Kommersant agrees that “in general, the factors of the internal state of Russian Railways have a tremendous impact on the transport component.”

“Initially, they replaced the state regulator with the abolition of non-discriminatory access rules,” he says. For monitoring the private sector is now ready to undertake. And who will carry it? Another interlocutor of Kommersant, emphasizing that the information is already being transferred to the FAS, says that “the benefits of the new monitoring option for Russian Railways in terms of helping business and the country’s economy are doubtful” and “it can rather be regarded as a potential tool of pressure on business “.

Natalya Skorlygina