Sanctions grind Russia's railways to a halt: freight speeds and volumes plummet to record lows
Russia's rail system finds itself in a crisis not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse. The nation’s railways are struggling with a record-low average train speed of just 35 km/h, a key issue underscored by The Moscow Times. For a consecutive third year, there's been a marked decline in freight traffic, a situation largely attributed to the harsh economic sanctions imposed by Western countries in response to Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine.
The railway sector has hit such a dire state that experts draw parallels to the early 1990s, post-Soviet era decline. Currently, the trains’ movement speed is at its slowest in 12 years, sometimes dipping to historical lows of 35 km/h. This November, freight volume plunged by 5.8% year-over-year, down to 95.6 million tons, while the cumulative decline over the past ten months stands at over 4%. Alarmingly, The Moscow Times reports that out of 15 assessed indices, 11 show negative trends, reminiscent of the 2008-09 economic downturn.
Among the sectors hit hardest on Russia's railways are transport categories like black metals, which fell by 9.9%, lumber transport at a 14.2% drop now reduced nearly by an additional 2%, and building materials plummeting 14.4%. Furthermore, cement, grain, chemical goods, and oil with its derivatives registered declines of 4.7%, 3.3%, 2.9%, and 1.1%, respectively.