The government has allocated 6.64 billion rubles to cover losses of railways in new constituent entities of the Russian Federation

FSUE Railways of Novorossiya, which unites the railways of new constituent entities of the Russian Federation, will receive 6.7 billion rubles from the budget. to cover losses. The subsidy is also expected to ensure the transportation of a guaranteed cargo base of 7.4 million tons of products from the mining and metallurgical industries. This is 25 times less than, for example, in 2012, analysts note, but investments amount to at least 20 billion rubles. per year in maintaining the condition of the railway infrastructure in the regions are necessary. Otherwise, due to its degradation, neither the restoration of industry and ports, nor the implementation of the announced trillion-dollar investments in regional development will be possible.

The government allocated 6.64 billion rubles. from its reserve fund to cover losses of the FSUE Novorossiya Railways, reports Roszheldor, which is in charge of the enterprise. The order came into force on January 1. The subsidy, as explained in Roszheldor, is aimed at financing the current activities of the enterprise, including organizing railway communications in the territories of new entities, ensuring the transportation of goods in the amount of at least 7.36 million tons, paying wages, paying taxes and fees, purchasing fuel and settlements with resource supply organizations.

FSUE Railways of Novorossiya was created by government decree at the end of May 2023 (see “Kommersant” dated May 31, 2023). It united the railways of new regions – State Unitary Enterprise DPR “Donetsk Railway”, State Unitary Enterprise LPR “Lugansk Railway”, State Unitary Enterprise “Kherson Railway”, State Enterprise “Melitopol Railway” and the concern “Donbass Railways”. The objectives of the enterprise are to meet the needs for passenger and freight transportation and gradually reach break-even.

As explained in Roszheldor, the transfer of property and personnel to the new enterprise is now being completed. “Railways of Novorossiya” received all the necessary licenses from Rostransnadzor, including for the transportation of passengers, cargo and cargo luggage. “The activities of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise are already supported by certain budget funding,” says the head of Roszheldor Alexey Druzhinin. “Today the enterprise has the funds to pay salaries for January. It’s important for us to inform employees about this so that people know that they have these guarantees.” In June 2023, in an interview with Zheleznodorozhnik Donbassa, Andrei Kazakov, then acting and now confirmed as the general director of Novorossiya Railways, noted the urgent need for personnel and the intention to increase the staff of all farms.

The basis of the indicated cargo flow of 7.4 million tons is the products of miners and metallurgists, these are coal, metal, fluxes, dolomites, they note in Roszheldor, adding that “this is a guaranteed volume of transportation.”

The existing volumes of cargo traffic are objectively small, especially in the civilian part, says the head of Infoline-Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov: its scale is more than 25 times less than in 2012. “But now for new territories, the functioning of the railway infrastructure is a matter of the possibility of restoring industry and ports,” he notes. “The degradation of infrastructure can be very, very fast, and the investments required even for simply maintaining the condition of the railways, not to mention the development , must be received in volumes of at least 20 billion rubles. in year”. It is necessary to either actively invest, or you may end up with a situation where the announced investments of trillions of rubles simply cannot be implemented, adds Mr. Burmistrov.

On January 16, Vladimir Putin said that the authorities had allocated 1.077 trillion rubles in investments to new regions. He also said on December 14, 2023 that the federal budget provides for approximately 1 trillion rubles. per year to finance new regions.

Natalya Skorlygina