Passengers
The primary objective of Russian Railways is to provide all Russian regions with affordable passenger transportation. Along with suburban transportation comprising multimodal routes, the Company is developing long-haul passenger services, including high-speed and ultra high-speed transportation between metropolitan areas. The Company’s priorities include continuous improvement of customer experience, development of new products and services, digitalisation, and creation of a comfortable transport environment affordable to all categories of passengers.
- In 2022, the Company transported 1,135.2 million people (up 7.7% y-o-y). Passenger turnover stood at 122.8 bn pkm (up 18.7% y-o-y).
- Amid airport closures in the summer of 2022, we maximised the number of seats to and from resorts in southern Russia.
- The Company continued to foster domestic railway tourism. Passengers can now benefit from 35 interregional routes to tourist destinations, including four special projects, and 25 suburban routes.
- The travel.rzd.ru tourist service was launched.
- We opened 19 new suburban routes and six long-haul routes.
- The Company proceeded with the development of multimodal transportation, including water transport.
- New rolling stock hit the rails on suburban routes in 34 regions.
- To pay for their tickets, passengers can now use QR codes or the Faster Payments System (FPS) technology.
- We harmonised the regulation on free suburban train travel for children aged seven years old and younger with that on urban transportation services.
Development of railway station infrastructure
In 2022, the Company renovated and repaired 80 railway station infrastructure facilities (45 railroad stations and 35 passenger platforms).
The Naberezhnye Chelny, Yekaterinburg, Bologoye, Finlyandsky, Moskovsky and other railway stations saw repairs, and the Stary Oskol railway station area was renovated to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk.
The passenger platforms of the Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl-Glavny and Kursk railway stations were fully renovated.
The Novaya Chara railway station saw a complete interior refurbishment with new wall finishes, floor coverings and ceilings, roofing, renovated rafters and utility systems; the exterior of the station building was refurbished using advanced materials, and the forecourt was beautified.
The Skovorodino station was overhauled, including the façade insulation, interior renovation, partial roof repairs, and the replacement of windows and doorways.
The Veliky Ustyug railway station had its interior renovated to create a special atmosphere for guests arriving at the residence of Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost).
Care for people with reduced mobility
In 2022, 70 passenger-intensive railway stations were made fully accessible for passengers with reduced mobility, which accounts for 27.5% of the total number of such stations. Other facilities are partially accessible, with functional areas made available for certain categories of passengers with reduced mobility.
Long-haul trains include administrative cars specifically designed for passengers with disabilities (94% of all administrative cars). The share of suburban electric trains adapted for people with reduced mobility was increased to 23% while 100% of high-speed and ultra high-speed passenger trains were made fully accessible. In 2022, the number of passengers with reduced mobility serviced by the Mobility Assistance Centre exceeded 312,500 people, up 37.5% y-o‑y. Assistance and support services are provided at more than 10,000 passenger infrastructure facilities. Specialised waiting areas of the Company’s Mobility Assistance Centre were opened in Moscow (Vostochny and Kazan railway stations), Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny.
They are equipped with everything necessary for reduced mobility passengers’ comfort. Uniforms of employees responsible for servicing passengers with reduced mobility at railway stations got a special design, and so did advertising and information products.
Russian Railways’ website has a dedicated section for passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility where they can find a railway station accessibility map containing information on the accessibility of functional areas for the main categories of passengers with reduced mobility featuring photos and necessary explanations. Passengers with hearing impairment can get video consultations in the Russian sign language on Russian Railways’ website and at major railway stations. Video information kiosks were installed at 194 railway stations, enabling the servicing of hearing-impaired passengers, including in the Russian sign language.
won the 2022 Transport Safety of Russia, the Quality of Service and Consumer Rights award in the Retail Services category for the Innovative Business Lounges at Railway Stations project, and Russia’s Best Social Projects 2021–2022 award in the Help for People with Reduced Mobility category for the Video Information Kiosks project.
Customer service
The Company aims to offer its customers a new level of service quality in a timely manner. Russian Railways Customer Support Centre provides information on the Company’s passenger services.
In 2022, the Company placed a great emphasis on the development of new services for passengers, including digital services.
To improve the call centre’s performance, we added AI technologies to our mobile app, the website, the most popular messenger platforms, and the hotline. Our virtual assistant provides quick and accurate FAQ answers.
Russian Railways keeps integrating its digital services with state information systems. Together with the Russian Social Insurance Fund and the Pension Fund, the Company launched online sales of suburban train tickets via the Russian Railways Passengers mobile app for passengers entitled to federal benefits.
Our passengers are increasingly using QR code and Faster Payments System (FPS) technologies to pay for their tickets. The sales of e-tickets for long-haul trains reached a record 74% of total ticket sales. Today, passengers have the opportunity to purchase both long-haul and suburban tickets using Russian Railways’ online tools.
Monitoring of service quality
The results of passenger satisfaction surveys represent a target indicator for assessing the performance of passenger services. Passenger surveys are conducted in the form of personal interviews on trains using a special questionnaire. The questions are grouped to match the eight types of services provided by Russian Railways to its passengers. The surveys are conducted on a quarterly basis.
In 2022, the respondents ranked the following criteria as the most important:
- long-haul routes – optimal schedule, train speed, cost of travel and services, technical condition of the train, comfort during travel, convenient ticket purchase, safety;
- suburban routes – optimal schedule, train speed, cost of travel and services, safety, technical condition of the train, convenient ticket purchase.
| Indicator | Q1 2022 | Q2 2022 | Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-haul | 84.9 | 84.5 | 86.5 | 87.5 |
| Suburban | 81.4 | 84.1 | 86.8 | 85.8 |
RZD Bonus loyalty programme
RZD Bonus is Russian Railways’ loyalty programme that enables long-haul passengers to earn points by making trips and exchange them for tickets. In 2022, RZD Bonus celebrated its tenth anniversary. Over this period, the programme has had 8.2 million people as participants who made more than 52 million travels. In 2022, RZD Bonus added 1.2 million people – a record annual increase ever. The audience of the Discount Railcar Telegram channel grew to 270,000 people (up 1.8 times y-o-y). We launched a new Travellers’ Club incentive programme offering additional benefits as part of RZD Bonus.
Russian Railways’ mobile app for passengers
The RZD Passengers mobile app has all a traveller would need and more:
- long-haul and suburban train schedules;
- ticket sold for long-haul and suburban trains;
- refund for tickets purchased via the website or mobile app;
- information about railway stations;
- real time train travel monitoring;
- Russian Railways’ information and news.
The RZD Passengers mobile app is one of the Company’s best IT products. In 2022, it was downloaded over 43 million times and earned very high scores from the Apple and Google stores (4.8 and 4.4, respectively).
