The old park will be added to the new territories

The railways of the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, which the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has begun to integrate, need additional cars both for internal needs and for traveling to the network of Russian Railways. Gondola cars and grain carriers are mainly required. Operators are reluctant to release their fleet to these regions because of the increased risks that are not covered by insurance, but are interested in working there because of the high rates. In order to eliminate the shortage of the fleet, the possibility of leasing new territories of wagons to the railways, the service life of which is close to the expiration, is being discussed. They cannot be used on the Russian Railways network, but in the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, this can be temporarily allowed.

Sources of Kommersant in the railway market reported that at the end of May, a meeting of Roszheldor (the agency is in charge of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Railways of Novorossiya, created on the basis of the railways of the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions) with Russian rolling stock operators. It discussed the provision of railroads of new territories with freight cars.

In particular, according to Kommersant’s sources, the possibility of creating a reserve fleet was considered, including at the expense of rolling stock with an expired service life.

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors says that in Ukraine, unlike the Russian Federation, restrictions were not imposed on the operation of freight cars, the service life of which was extended after modernization. After the ban on this in the Russian Federation, old Russian wagons were actively imported into the neighboring country, until Ukraine introduced an embargo in 2019. For example, at the TC “Railways of Donbass” (SUE “Donetsk Railway” and SUE “Lugansk Railway”), according to Kommersant, half (5.2 thousand out of 10.4 thousand) gondola cars, 89% covered wagons, 92% of flatcars and 100% of cement trucks have expired. Another Kommersant source clarifies that some of the cars, “despite the expiration of their service life, are technically sound.”

At the same time, the railways have a need both for a fleet for domestic transportation (within the region) and for access to the network of Russian Railways or neighboring railways. As follows from the documents seen by Kommersant, the need for four railways in rolling stock for external operations is about 3.2 thousand gondola cars and 1 thousand grain carriers, as well as a few other types of rolling stock.

Part of the wagons with expired service life can be operated as a utility park, one of Kommersant’s sources tells.

But in order for the park to be able to carry out commercial operations with shippers and consignees, “acts of authorities are needed that, during the transition period, can allow its operation on a limited scale.”

Russian operators, says Kommersant’s interlocutor on the market, are financially interested in fulfilling applications for transportation to new territories, since there are high rates. However, banks do not include in insurance the increased risks of working in these regions.

The Union of Railway Transport Operators and Roszheldor did not comment. According to the forecasts of the Information Center of Operators, in the Russian Federation only during 2023, more than 4.5 thousand grain carriers (7% of the fleet), about 2.8 thousand oil and gasoline tanks (1.4% of the fleet), the same covered wagons (5% of the fleet) and 1.9 thousand open wagons. The production of new cars in January-May, according to the OPZhT, increased by 5.2%, but unevenly: in the gondola car segment, there is a decrease by 1.6 times, while for hopper cars – an increase of 2.4 times, for tanks – 2 times. times, for covered wagons – 7.6 times.

The head of Infoline-Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, notes that now the rates of operators in the direction of new territories are 30–50% higher than on comparable traditional routes, and a number of shippers simply have no alternative.

At the same time, in the market as a whole, rental rates under new long-term contracts continue to grow and approach 2,000 rubles. per day for tanks, to 2.2 thousand rubles. for long-base fitting platforms, to 2.5 thousand rubles. gondola cars and covered wagons, while operators’ rates are 20-30% higher.

In the expert’s opinion, “the launch of a decommissioned fleet on these routes is a rather cynical decision, but there are no simple alternatives.” Mr. Burmistrov says that after the outbreak of hostilities, “there were cases when, during foreign flights, they signed an agreement, according to which, in the event of an arrest of the fleet, the shipper promised to reimburse the operator for the cost of the car, and some even agreed, but this cannot be a mass solution.” And now, when the intensity of hostilities has increased, the expert emphasizes, even the Belgorod region is reluctant to go. Putting these risks on banks, he believes, is also impossible, so the only reasonable way out is state guarantees.

Natalya Skorlygina