Russian Railways

Russian Railways, known as RZD, is a massive, state-owned corporation.

It is a vertically integrated company. This means it controls every part of the railway system. It manages the physical infrastructure, such as tracks and stations. It also operates the actual services, like freight and passenger trains. Because it handles so much, it has a near-monopoly on long-distance travel in Russia. The company is headquartered in Moscow.

To understand how RZD works, we must look at its structure. RZD acts as a holding company. It oversees 63 different subsidiaries, which are smaller companies that belong to it. Some of these units include TransContainer and the Rail Passenger Directorate. The company also manages the tracks that other carriers use. In 2003, a federal law required RZD to allow other operators access to its infrastructure. This created a more competitive environment for moving goods. However, RZD remains the dominant force in the Russian transport market.

The history of RZD is defined by a major shift in how the government manages transport. Before 2003, the railways were managed by the Ministry of Railways. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Russian Federation inherited 17 of the 32 former Soviet railway regions. By the mid-1990s, the ministry was losing money and facing criticism for being too bureaucratic. In 2000, Vladimir Putin approved a plan to turn the railway into a joint-stock company. This reform officially began on 18 September 2003. Gennady Fadeyev served as the first president of the newly formed RZD.

Since its creation, RZD has undergone massive modernization. In 2006, the company signed a deal with Siemens to bring high-speed trains to Russia. One of the most famous examples is the Sapsan, a flagship high-speed train.

RZD also manages various types of carriages. These include the long-distance Platzkart carriages used by many travelers.

The company has also worked on large engineering projects. For instance, it spent years replacing the narrow gauge tracks on the Sakhalin Railway with the standard broad gauge used elsewhere in Russia. This project was finally completed in August 2019.

The scale of RZD is truly enormous. By 2012, it was ranked as one of the three largest transport companies in the world. During that same year, its procurement activities reached $22.5 billion. The company has also undergone significant workforce changes. In the 1990s, the railway employed 2.2 million people. By 2012, that number had been reduced to 934,000 people. Despite its size, the company faces financial challenges. As of 2026, reports indicate that RZD is in heavy debt, totaling approximately $45 billion or 4 trillion rubles.

Looking toward the future, RZD has developed an ambitious plan called Strategy 2030. This is a massive investment plan to expand and modernize the network. The program involves building several new high-speed lines. These include routes connecting Moscow to Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Saint Petersburg. Some of these projects are divided into three different stages of construction. There have even been large-scale ideas like the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development. This proposed route would use high-speed rail to link Asia with Europe, potentially reaching as far as the United States via the Channel Tunnel.

Finally, RZD connects to the wider world through international business and complex geopolitics. The company has won contracts to work on rail lines in Iran and Serbia.

However, international relations have impacted its operations. In 2023, a joint venture with the Finnish Railways, known as VR Group, ceased operations. This happened after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Additionally, RZD has faced legal and financial scrutiny. In 2022, a "failure to pay" event was determined regarding certain Swiss franc loans linked to the company. These events show how deeply the railway is tied to global economics and politics.