Development of the transportation industry discussed at the RUSSIA EXPO

On January 19, the plenary discussion Transportation System of the Future in the Passenger's Interest was held at the International RUSSIA EXPO as part of the Passenger Logistics Day. The event was attended by Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev, Chairman of the Board of State Company Avtodor Vyacheslav Petushenko, Director General - Chairman of the Board of JSC Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, Director General of PJSC Aeroflot Sergey Alexandrovsky and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FESCO Transportation Group Andrey Severilov.

The speakers discussed the specifics of our country's transportation system, priority transportation directions, successful solutions of Russian companies for rail, air and road passengers, new transportation services to be introduced in the coming years. They also considered the prospect of development of international transportation and logistics corridors from the perspective of passenger experience.

Vitaly Savelyev spoke about new approaches in passenger logistics and transformation of the transportation industry. He noted that digitalization has become the most important tool for service development. The transportation industry is switching to domestic solutions.

For example, the commissioning of the FSIS Taxi system made it possible to make the taxi services market competitive and safe for passengers. The introduction of domestic air ticket booking and passenger registration systems helped to ensure the industry's technological sovereignty. Digital solutions that have left the Russian market are being successfully replaced by domestic solutions, and new platforms are being created. For example, to create a mechanism for seamless passenger logistics - the purchase of one electronic ticket for several modes of transportation - a digital platform Russian Transport is being developed. Registration of discount and subsidized trips and flights will become possible electronically. The head of the Russian Transport Ministry also noted the growth of passenger transportation.

"Our airlines carried about 105 million passengers, which is more than 10% higher than in 2022. In 2023, the implementation of three air transportation subsidy programs continued. The total amount of support under them totaled more than 30 billion rubles. Special attention is paid to supporting the availability of flights to the Far East. In 2023, about 22 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes," said Vitaly Savelyev.

In addition, a new quality of public transportation was discussed. In 2023, under the programs of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, almost 4.5 thousand units of new rolling stock were transferred to the regions. This year it is planned to transfer about 7.5 thousand units. By the end of 2024, public transport will be upgraded in 82 regions.

The volume of passenger traffic on railway transport reached almost 1.2 billion people, which is 5.5% more than in 2022. Carriers are developing their route network and offering new services. Russian Railways tourist trains are a vivid example.

Vitaly Savelyev emphasized that the growth of domestic tourism will continue to be supported by the necessary rolling stock and fleet. Modern domestic high-speed passenger vessels will soon sail along the Volga River.

"Under my leadership, a working group has been set up to launch the River Highways project. The project will connect Nizhny Novgorod region, Tatarstan and Chuvash Republic by a 675 km water route. Thanks to this project, we will solve the tasks of increasing transport accessibility of the territories along the Volga River, developing multimodal passenger transportation, as well as creating new tourist destinations," he added.

Oleg Belozerov spoke about the major innovations that await passengers in the near future on railway transport.

According to him, the main direction of train evolution is to increase the speed of movement. The first Russian electric train with a speed of up to 400 kilometers per hour is currently under development. Its level will be higher than the existing high-speed trains. It will consist of 8 cars. There will be 4 classes of service (first, business, comfort, basic), a play area for children with interactive games, a kitchen with a bar in the bistro car, a multimedia information and entertainment system. The start of assembly of the first model is scheduled for 2026. In 2027 the train should be ready. In 2028 it is planned to receive a certificate of conformity. The realization of the first stage of the High-Speed Railway is planned until 2030.

High-speed communication requires an appropriate wireless communication infrastructure (based on Radio-Ethernet technology), which will make it possible to provide passengers on the move with Internet access at a speed of 250 Mbit/s. At the first stage, it will be tested on Sapsan electric trains.

Speaking about the immediate plans, the head of JSC Russian Railways announced the launch of a new fair customer service Waiting List this year. It will allow a passenger to buy a ticket after receiving a notification about the availability of free seats, if they were not available at the first request.

"We are also developing the option of boarding the train without presenting documents - through a QR code in the Gosuslugi (State Services) application and validation by biometric personal data. For this purpose, together with the Ministry of Finance of Russia and other specialized departments we are preparing a full-fledged regulatory framework," Oleg Belozerov informed.

Speaking to the audience, Andrey Severilov shared the goals set by FESCO. These are increasing spatial connectivity and transport accessibility of territories, increasing the volume and speed of cargo transit, development of multimodal logistics technologies, digital and low-carbon transformation of the industry and accelerating the introduction of new technologies. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of FESCO also focused on the creation of a unified national logistics platform.

"We have created Russia's first ecosystem that unites partners in the logistics chain on the principle of a single window for freight traffic. A transparent and fast service has been formed. This is mobility and convenience in managing and tracking cargo in electronic format," he explained.

Import substitution was also discussed. Andrey Severilov informed that FESCO replaces a lot of foreign equipment with equipment of domestic production. Especially it concerns software.

In his turn, Vyacheslav Petushenko stated that roads in Russia are the key factor of economic development and improvement of the quality of life of the population. That is why infrastructure service, which includes communication and service in terms of creating multifunctional zones, is important.

"The most expensive thing we have is time. It is important to our company, which builds high-speed roads, that a person reaches their destination in the planned time. This is primarily influenced by road safety. Today the death rate on our roads is 2 times lower than on other highways. Because from the very beginning we have built the separation of flows, put warning signs, as well as emergency commissars who help drivers," said Vyacheslav Petushenko.

In addition, the topic of road network development in the new subjects of the Russian Federation was raised. For 2 years 1.5 thousand kilometers of roads have been built. In all social surveys of residents of these regions conducted by VCIOM, roads and their quality are among the top three priorities. Sergey Alexandrovsky shared his experience in creating services in the field of digitalization.

"In 2022, Aeroflot switched to a domestic airline booking system. We did it practically in 6 months. Together with our colleagues from Sirena company, we plan to reach the level that we had with foreign solutions within 1.5 years. In fact, the Sirena company can compete with two leading suppliers of the relevant software," said Vyacheslav Petushenko.

The CEO of Aeroflot also talked about future projects. For example, the information system of revenue management will allow to optimize offers for passengers. It will be built taking into account mathematical models and using neural networks of demand forecast.

"A unified customer communication platform is a new customer service tool that will allow integration with the loyalty system to personalize service, improve the efficiency of handling requests and increase the quality of service, - added Sergey Alexandrovsky. - We are also working on creating our own aggregator for transportation sales. We are talking about selling tickets of other airlines and multimodal transportation".

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered in one place. During the whole period of the Exposition, guests are welcomed by cultural events, a rich business and educational program. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors.