Russia to record a significant reduction in investments in major railway projects.

Investments in the largest Russian railway projects will decrease fivefold due to the debts of Russian Railways (RZD). In particular, spending on the modernization of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway will be reduced to $720 million (75 billion rubles), while expenditures on the development of approaches to ports will be practically frozen.

The investment program of the transport monopoly will be cut by 37% in 2025, from capital expenditures of $12 billion (1.3 trillion rubles) to $8 billion (834 billion rubles), as the company's development progresses.

The main challenges for RZD are debt and high-interest rates. RZD's indebtedness by mid-2024 reached $24 billion (2.54 trillion rubles), and by 2025, this debt could rise to $37 billion (3.9 trillion rubles).

In 2023, RZD will spend $6.62 billion (688 billion rubles) on debt servicing, which is nearly six times the figure for 2023, and the company's profit may be halved to $780 million (81.6 billion rubles).

Moreover, RZD has a staffing problem - there is a shortage of train crews, wagon inspectors, and track workers. RZD needs to increase salaries, but only $190 million (20 billion rubles) has been allocated for this purpose, which is five times less than needed.