The Russian rail freight market stabilised slightly in 2026, but will it last?

Rail freight in Russia has been on a long downward trajectory. Freight loading volumes on the Russian Railways (RZD) network have dropped for nearly three consecutive years. This year, however, seems to have brought some stabilisation to the market. Yet, skepticism remains on the durability of this development. After the freight loading volume in Russia had declined for many months, it returned to growth earlier this year. In April, it grew by no less than 1.9%. More growth numbers followed in subsequent months: 0.5%, 1.0%, 0.1%, and 0.9% in May, June, July and August respectively.

This is a major break from the earlier trend, at least at first glance. However, Russian experts warned that this was not a case of a massive modal shift back to the railways. Rather, the rail network was benefitting from a number of external factors working in its favour.

For example, the high diesel prices and the resulting higher costs in road transportation made the railways temporarily a more attractive option. Moreover, a good early summer harvest and an intensive construction period boosted grain and cement volumes on the network.

“If Russian Railways can maintain the loading and unloading operations without interruption, some of this volume can be secured”, a Russian expert was quoted as saying in local media earlier this year. “If not, the cement will be recycled back into the truck fleet, even with expensive diesel.”

This story was originally published by RailFreight.com. Read the full story at RailFreight.com →