16 February 2026
The Russian government is launching an unscheduled increase in railway tariffs to support Russian Railways, which has lost 14% of its freight traffic since the start of the war, accumulated 4 trillion rubles in debt, and posted its first net loss since the pandemic last year.
Effective March 1, 2026, freight transportation services on the Russian Railways network will become 1% more expensive, according to a government decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The “increasing coefficient,” which is being introduced for all shippers, is needed “to finance measures to compensate for expenses related to ensuring transport security,” the document states.
Late last year, Russian Railways appealed to the government for assistance, requesting an urgent allocation of 200 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund to help it overcome its financial difficulties and repay bank loans. The Ministry of Finance, however, allocated only 65 billion rubles.
“Russian Railways is effectively bankrupt and has no chance of getting out of the hole on its own,” writes Sergey Aleksashenko, a senior research fellow at the NEST Centre in London. Therefore, the government has decided to bail out the monopoly “by all means.” According to Reuters calculations, the tariff increase will bring 22.3 billion rubles into Russian Railways’ budget.
In the first nine months of this year, Russian Railways incurred a net loss of 4.4 billion rubles, sent some employees on unpaid leave, and was forced to launch staff layoffs in October. To make ends meet, the monopoly will reduce its investment program, which finances construction projects and purchases railcars and locomotives, by another quarter this year: it will amount to 713.6 billion rubles, compared to 890.9 billion last year and 1.5 trillion in 2024.
The government is preparing a 1.3 trillion ruble aid package for Russian Railways, including debt restructuring and asset sales. Specifically, Russian Railways has been ordered to dispose of the 62-story skyscraper in Moscow City, acquired in 2024 for 193.1 billion rubles. Furthermore, the Rizhsky Railway Station building in Moscow will be put up for sale.
“Railways has been ordered to dispose of the 62-story skyscraper…” – the question is: will the corrupt RR executive ride the elevator to the 62rd floor one final time?
Good question, Mike. 😄