Efficient technologies in railway transport. Vadim Shmal

also continued in the strategic management system at Russian Railways. Approved by the Board of Directors of the company at the end of December 2013, the strategy of its development until 2030 determined the course for the formation of a vertically integrated transport and logistics holding and building a management system for five key business blocks. Due to the diversification of activities, a synergistic effect is formed, bringing the financial result of the holding to a much higher level compared to the model of an exclusively infrastructure company. In early February 2014 The Board of Directors of JSC “Russian Railways” approved the control parameters of the target state of the holding for the period up to 2030 in general and for the main business blocks.

      It should be recalled that in 2014 the work was carried out in conditions of non-indexed tariffs, insufficient compensation for unprofitable passenger traffic, changes in the structure of cargo and passenger flows. However, the company has once again proved its ability to fulfill the tasks it faces.

      Concrete steps have been taken to form a single window system: a decision has been made to concentrate a number of functions of cargo and commercial work at the central and regional levels in the contour of the transport and logistics business block. A vertical for passenger transportation management has been created and is already functioning.

      Today, the system as a whole is clearly visible. Through the business blocks “Transport and Logistics” and “Passenger transportation”, the needs of customers are transformed into the production tasks of the holding, and they, in turn, are solved by the business block “Railway transportation and infrastructure”.

      Interregional and regional coordination councils under the chairmanship of railway chiefs play a significant role in realizing the logistics potential of the holding. In close cooperation with regional authorities and transport market participants, issues of meeting the demand for rail transportation, attracting additional volumes of cargo are being resolved, proposals for the provision of new transport products are being formed.

      The key activity of the business blocks “Transport and Logistics” and “Railway transportation and infrastructure” should be the expansion of the portfolio of services provided, which are fixed by the timetable and the train formation plan as key consolidating documents.

      The holding already offers customers not just transportation, but also door-to-door cargo delivery, organization of transportation in international traffic involving several modes of transport.

      In order to obtain the maximum synergetic effect, the company is forming an organizational vertical for managing customer orientation and business development for all types of holding activities with the creation of a Business Development and Customer Orientation Department in the corporate center. Relying on the powers of this department and the processes of inter-block coordination established by it, it is supposed to manage the value chain for the client, the quality of internal and external services and the mutually coordinated development of business blocks.

      Working in the new evaluation system, all business blocks and business units, fulfilling their specific indicators, are primarily obliged to ensure access to the general parameters of development and efficiency improvement. This is what interaction and coordination in the holding should be based on.

      The task of consolidating car fleets remains relevant. In recent years, many technological and management solutions have been worked out in practice. This allowed us to form an understanding that the solution of this problem is possible through the implementation of a rental scheme that will concentrate the management of parks in one hand.

      It is obvious that the Federal Cargo Company, as the largest operator with all the resources and competencies, should become a platform for the consolidation of parks. But in order to start this process, we need proactive decisions from the regulatory authorities. This is the liberalization of the carriage component or the establishment of a rational tariff corridor. In the absence of these tools, a work model that is effective in relation to technology will be non-market and uncompetitive.

      So far, we cannot be satisfied with the level of development of landfill technologies. It is obvious that it is impossible to manage the transportation process within the boundaries of large polygons in manual mode. We need not just an automated, but a control system. In this regard, I would like to once again draw attention to the need to develop such an obviously complex project of a unified intelligent control system and automation of production processes in railway transport.

      Such projects include the development of passenger traffic in the Moscow transport hub. It is based on services that are really in demand and provides for comprehensive financing from JSC “Russian Railways”, the federal budget and the funds of the city of Moscow. This is a large complex project, the experience of which can be used in the development of large agglomerations on the railway network.

      Even more difficult are the tasks of achieving parameters that depend on the coherence of the actions of three or more business blocks of the holding. In order to ensure a break-even level in accordance with the financial plan approved by the government, it is necessary to reach the target figures for revenue. In this regard, although revenues are generated directly in the transport, logistics and passenger business blocks, the contribution of the infrastructure component, including its locomotive part, is largely decisive. At the same time, it is extremely important to ensure that the planned indicators are achieved by subsidiaries, interaction with which should also be carried out based on the priorities of joint development of business blocks.

      There are still a lot of problems in the infrastructure complex, and first of all in the economy of the way. In this regard, it is necessary to analyze the management system in detail once again, identify its critical points, strengthen coordination and control over the processes of repair and maintenance of infrastructure in the regions.

      Of course, a huge role in the issues of security and effective management in the new conditions belongs to the social block of the holding. The improvement of the system of recruitment and placement of personnel, the development of corporate training of managers and specialists in accordance with the requirements of the time should be continued.

      According to these and other indicators of long-term development, the Board of Directors will evaluate the activities of the Russian Railways holding and make decisions on the implementation of its development strategy.

      The formation of a full-fledged system of indicators linking customer orientation with the end-to-end processes of business units, responsibility for their execution will allow achieving a significant increase in the efficiency of the company’s activities, improving the quality of transport services and making a significant step in solving the strategic tasks set for Russian Railways.

      1.4 Innovative activity development in the management of the Russian Railways Holding

      The key indicators of the company’s innovation activity are such indicators as labor productivity growth, the volume and efficiency of innovative technical means implemented, energy efficiency of the transportation process, the number of security documents received for the results of intellectual activity.

      In the conditions of a difficult economic situation, the company is forced to reduce the amount of funding for the work provided for by the scientific and technical development plan. At the same time, the share of funds from the business community and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research attracted for research and development work increases annually.

      In accordance with the import substitution program, together with the Italian company ESM S.P.A., a multi-station microprocessor centralization system with integrated auto-locking is being created. For the first time, a project with open source software and a computer-aided design system is being implemented according to Russian regulatory safety requirements. It is envisaged to use low-maintenance floor equipment of domestic production, i.e. the system will have a high level of adaptability. The