Locomotive shortage causes at least 93% of Russian loading decline

Russian Railways (RZD) keeps struggling with a locomotive shortage, reducing its capacity to grow or even maintain its transported freight volumes. Loading has been declining steadily on the Russian network, but how much of that decline stems from the locomotive shortage has been hard to verify. However, recent data suggests that at least 93 per cent of the loading decline in Russia is due to locomotive limitations.

The locomotive shortage is by far the biggest culprit behind RZD’s loading problems, based on numbers from the rail operator. The company reported that it would lose out on 192 thousand tonnes daily in October due to a lack of locomotives, totalling nearly 6 million tonnes.

In total, loading dropped by approximately 6,4 million tonnes, and so at least 93 per cent of the drop can be attributed to the locomotive shortage. Nevertheless, it is very well possible that RZD overestimated its loading performance for October, and that the remaining seven per cent also resulted from its rolling stock issues.

What’s behind the locomotive shortage?

Western sanctions and a persistent labour shortage are behind Russia’s locomotive shortage. It cannot find sufficient spare parts for locomotive maintenance, and the maintenance facilities are understaffed. Where there are locomotives available, RZD often has its own lack of staff.

Lots of locomotives are therefore simply idling while demand for rail freight transportation remains high. “The number of locomotives standing still has reached a critical level”, said Russian logistics company Optimalog on Telegram earlier. In the Sverdlovsk oblast, no less than 200 locomotives are left unused, in Moscow the number exceeds 300, and in Siberia there are more than 60.

To make matters worse, Russia has been re-orienting its trade flows towards China following Western sanctions, and now has to cover much larger distances to transport goods to and from its centre. It consequently needs more locomotives to make up for the thousands of added kilometres.

Long-term loading decline

Russian loading has been consistently on the decline, with monthly numbers averaging around minus six per cent. In September, RZD recorded its lowest monthly loading in five years, at 94,5 million tonnes.

RailFreight.com then reported that there could be various underlying reasons for the loading drop. RZD is struggling with a locomotive shortage due to western sanctions, infrastructure capacity limitations and empty wagons clogging the rail network, which could all contribute to the problems.

European Silk Road Summit 2024

Eurasian rail freight is one of the key topics to be discussed at the European Silk Road Summit 2024, taking place in Vienna on 27-28 November.

Registrations for the yearly event are already open, while the programme, which this year highlights the fast-recovering China-Europe rail market, is shaping up.