Railway transport today is the leading among the universal types of passenger and cargo transportation in many large countries of the world, including Russia. This is primarily due to geographic features. It is convenient, economical, and relatively safe to travel by rail in long areas.

Ground rail transport is rooted in the distant past. It is known that in ancient times people did not need to move bulky goods. Everything that was needed was carried over. With the development of civilization, transport has also improved. Rafts were used on the water, then boats. On land - wagons pulled by animals.

Appeared around the 16th century. Then, for the delivery of goods from mines and mines, wooden beds were used. But, as you know, wood is not a material of the highest strength. It was impossible to carry out such transportation over long distances and for a long time. The science of the past has found a way out. But the first ground rail track was of industrial importance. It was intended to deliver coal from the mines to the villages of Wallaton and Strelli near Nottingham. And already in the 18th century, the first Russian cast-iron rut, 160 meters long, saw the light.

At first, only wide railway tracks were built in the world. Practical ones appeared only in the 19th century. They quickly gained recognition and distribution. Soon, narrow-gauge railways began to be used not only between raw material bases and industrial enterprises. They connected remote areas of various countries with their economic centers.

In the twentieth century, the development of railway transport experienced different stages. In the last years of the existence of Tsarist Russia, narrow-gauge railways were actively built. After the revolution and with the emergence of the USSR, there was a certain lull. The Stalin era gave a new impetus to Russia. They became famous "camp lines". After the collapse of the Gulag system, narrow-gauge railways ceased to be actively built. In general, such railways were used on a large scale in Russia until the 1900s.

Today, in most countries of the world, rail transport is divided into industrial, urban (trams) and general use (passenger, intercity freight). Modern compositions bear little resemblance to their predecessors from the 19th century. The history of railway transport is a two-century-long journey from the first steam locomotive in 1803 through electric and diesel locomotives of the early twentieth century to and. Today there is equipment for civil and military purposes.

The history of the development of railway transport includes the names of engineers and mechanics from different countries: (Scotland), (France), (England), (England), (Russia), (England), Rudolf Diesel (Germany), Russian engineers, inventors, many others.

Today, many countries are connected by a network of railways. You can get by train to almost any European state, the pearls of the Middle East. The Indochinese railway network connects Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Singapore. Trains run in North, South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Haiti, the Philippine Islands, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Madagascar, Cuba, Fiji, Jamaica, Japan. And progress in the field of railway transport is steadily moving forward.

Since the wooden canvas quickly fell into disrepair, this prompted the inventors to turn to more durable materials, such as iron or cast iron. But the modernization did not end there, due to the frequent departures of wagons from the track, peculiar edges (rims) were invented.

The idea of ​​​​creating rail transportation came to the minds of representatives of mankind in ancient times. So, in ancient Greece there was a so-called diolk, which is a stone path along which heavy ships were dragged across the Isthmus of Corinth. Then deep gutters acted as guides, in which runners lubricated with animal fat were placed.

Initially, the railway track was very wide. This was due to the fact that a large distance between the wheels was considered safer, since the narrow gauge was considered for a long time to be much more prone to emergencies associated with derailments and rollovers of cars. Therefore, the first narrow-gauge railways began to appear only a few decades after the emergence of broad-gauge "brothers".

Already by the beginning of the 20th century, a rather impressive number of narrow gauge railways existed in the vastness of Russia. Basically, the target orientation of the use of this type of railway track was quite narrow - narrow gauge railways were widely used for transporting peat and wood. In the future, it is these railway lines that will become the basis for the formation of narrow gauge railways in our state.

There were quite a few people in Great Britain who considered rail transport to be very promising, but in addition to them there were also ardent opponents of the construction of railways. And then, when the question arose of building a new railway line connecting Manchester and Liverpool, a great many rumors and discussions arose about this.

On the land close to the city of Darlington, there was a huge number of coal mines, from which coal was delivered to Stockton (a city on the Tees) and from there it reached the ports of the North Sea. This transfer was originally carried out in carts driven by horses, which took a fairly large amount of time and was very unproductive.

Over time, it became clear that the transportation of passengers and goods by rail is two incommensurably different things. So different that they require not only different types of cars in the train, but also completely diverse locomotives. While smoothness and high speed are paramount for passengers, power and a high level of traction are given priority in cargo transportation.

In the thirties of the XIX century, vast lands on the territory of the then Perm province belonged to a breeder named Ivan Demidov. These were iron and copper smelters, as well as iron factories and mines. In total, about forty thousand souls of serfs worked for the landowner Demidov, one of whom was Cherepanov Yefim.

England was the birthplace of the first public railway line, and here such a mode of transport as the underground railway was born. There were several prerequisites for the construction of the subway. The main one is considered to be the fact that already in the first half of the 19th century in London, people learned and felt the meaning of the concept of "traffic jams".

Once upon a time, the Newcomen steam engine was successfully used to pump water in mines and ship repair enterprises, which lasted more than 50 years. At the same time, this whole structure had impressive dimensions and required constant replenishment of coal reserves. At times, up to 50 horses had to be used to supply the steam engine with fuel. In general, everything indicated that this unit needed improvement, the whole question was only who would come up with this idea first.

This unit, invented by the Frenchman Nicolas-Jose Cugno, was a fairly large design. Three wheels were attached to a large platform, which became the first prototype of both a steam locomotive and a car, with the front wheel acting as a helmsman. A steam boiler was also fixed in the area of ​​the front wheel, and next to it was a two-cylinder steam engine. There was also a seat for the driver, and the "body" of the cart was intended for the transport of military cargo.

The history of modern steam locomotives is inextricably linked with the first experiments in the creation of compact steam engines. In this case, at the end of the 18th century, the famous English engineer James Watt achieved great success. Its mechanisms were used in many industries and for the purpose of pumping water from mines.

Many mistakenly believe that it was George Stephenson who first invented and designed the modern steam locomotive. However, this is not so, the English engineer entered the world history of technology as the first person who managed to prove the undeniable advantage of locomotive transport over horse traction.

The works of the father and son Cherepanovs became a bright page in the history of not only Russian technology, but were of great importance for the entire emerging industry of locomotive building. And it all started with the design of steam engines, the first of which had a capacity of only 4 horsepower. A trip to England, where he was able to see with his own eyes the steam brainchild of Stephenson, had a great influence on the elder Cherepanov, Yefim.

The creators of the first mechanisms moving on rails were very worried that the smooth wheels of their units would begin to slip and lose traction with the railway track. And, despite the fact that by that time the Trevithik steam locomotive had already been designed, successfully transporting passengers and cargo, experiments in this direction continued.

The first internal combustion engine used to move a locomotive was designed by the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler. A demonstration of a new moving mechanism was made on September 27, 1887. Residents of Stuttgart and guests of the city could watch with their own eyes the movement of a railcar with a narrow-gauge transmission, which was driven by a two-cylinder internal combustion engine.

For a long time, locomotive manufacturers have competed and collaborated to determine the optimum design and layout of locomotives. In the 20s of the twentieth century, in the young Soviet republic, work was underway to create two vehicles at once for the transport of goods and passengers. These were the diesel locomotives of Gakkel and Lomonosov.

After the end of the Second World War, many industrial giants gradually began to reorient themselves towards peaceful products. At this time, diesel traction, which is more profitable from an economic point of view, continues to crowd out steam locomotive traction on all fronts. In the United States of America, the leading position in the field of diesel locomotive construction is occupied by General Motors. Along with another tech monster, General Electric, this North American manufacturer is still one of the industry's flagships today.

Before the main attention of the Russian diesel locomotive industry was focused on the implementation of the ideas of Yakov Gakkel and Yuri Lomonosov, many projects were considered in the scientific community. Some of the developments turned into prototypes, and some remained on paper, today history remembers both of them.

The idea of ​​using electrical energy to power machines that perform mechanical work appeared a long time ago. So, back in 1834, the researcher Jacobi designed an electric motor with a rotating armature, later his developments had a great influence on the development of the ideas of electric traction.

Even the wagons that the Russian Empire acquired abroad still had to be altered and adapted to local conditions. Indeed, abroad, the cars were intended for travel over fairly short distances with frequent parking and use in countries where the climate was much milder than in Russia.

Even during the construction of the very first public railway, laid between Manchester and Liverpool, some ill-wishers talked about the project manager George Stephenson, that he started all this construction only in order to find practical use for steam locomotives manufactured at Stephenson's personal steam locomotive plant .

Transport infrastructure plays one of the primary roles in strengthening and maintaining the state economy. Thanks to the development of railway transport in Russia, which transports bulky and multi-ton cargo, the full-fledged operation of all sectors of the national economy, the supply of regions and industrial enterprises is ensured. Rail transport is of great importance for ensuring the economic security and integrity of the country.

Russian Railways

Today, Russian Railways is an all-encompassing transport system with thousands of passengers and freight. The actual indicators of technical equipment testify to the real prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia. It can be briefly described using the following data:

• operational length - more than 90 thousand km;
• the total length of double-track lines is more than 40 thousand km;
• electrified lines - about 40 thousand km;
• the length of the main routes is 126.3 thousand km.

Rolling stock and domestic railway facilities allow for freight transportation on trains weighing 10-12 thousand tons.

The railway transport network occupies a leading position among all types of transport. Despite the fact that over the past decades, bus and air traffic has been intensively developing, Russian Railways remains the main tool for ensuring the mass movement of goods and passengers both within the country and abroad.

The first railway tracks

The history of the development of railway transport in Russia dates back to the middle of the 16th century. The first analogues of modern railroads arose in the territory of stone and sand quarries, in mine excavations and coal mines. Then the road was a stretching bed made of wooden beams. On such paths, horses could carry heavier loads than on ordinary country roads. The bars wore out quickly, causing the wagons to often go astray. In order for wooden beds to serve longer, they began to be strengthened with iron, and in the 18th century with cast-iron sheets. To prevent the convergence of wagons from the tracks helped the rims on the beds.

So, in Petrozavodsk in 1778 a cast-iron railroad was built, the length of which was 160 m. At that time, the gauges were built much narrower than modern ones (no more than 80 cm), and the rail itself was angular.

The period of development of railway transport in Russia in the first half of the 19th century is characterized by a more intensive pace. 30 years after the construction of the first 160-meter cast-iron track, a two-kilometer horse-drawn cast-iron road appeared. A significant leap in the history of the development of railway transport in Russia occurred in the period from the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.

So, in 1913, the mileage of the railroad network within the current borders of the country reached almost 72 thousand km. At the same time, the paths were placed randomly and unevenly. The predominant part of the roads was in the European part of Russia. The locomotive fleet consisted of low-power steam locomotives (500-600 hp), and two-axle freight cars had an average load capacity of 15 tons.

Development strategies for Russian railways

In 2008, the Government approved a concept to improve the railway infrastructure up to 2030. The strategy for the development of railway transport in Russia contains a description of a set of planned measures to create and improve railroads, improve existing and adopt new requirements for rolling stock.

This program is divided into two stages. The first was carried out between 2008 and 2015, the second was launched in 2016. The development of railway transport in Russia is based on the principles of increasing the resource and raw material potential of the industry and introducing innovative modern technologies. The current Strategy implies the construction of more than 20 thousand km of roads by 2030.

To date, the construction of railways has already been completed with messages:

• Polunochnoe - Obskaya - Salekhard (about 850 km long);
• Prokhorovka - Zhuravka - Bataysk (the total length of the tracks is about 750 km);
• Kyzyl - Kuragino (460 km);
• Tommot - Yakutsk, including a section on the left bank of the Lena (550 km).

If the planned activities for the construction and commissioning of railroads are implemented, the total length of tracks by the end of the term will increase by 20-25%. The document defining the role of prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia focuses on the importance of this system of passenger and freight traffic for solving problems of strengthening economic sovereignty, national security and increasing the level of defense capability. In addition, the above Strategy implies a reduction in total costs in the transport segment of the national economy. An interesting detail in this context is that this kind of plan, which is being implemented in parallel with the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation, was drawn up and approved exclusively for the development of railway transport in Russia.

The real state of affairs in the railway infrastructure

In recent years, Russian railways have seen a decline in production and a decline in labor productivity. The rolling stock used not only prevents an increase in freight turnover, but also contributes to an increase in the number of accidents on the tracks. Urgent reconstruction and overhaul is required for a significant number of stations and railway stations.

Today, the railways of our country operate trains, wagons, locomotives and special equipment manufactured in the USSR, Germany and Czechoslovakia. The issue of production of new equipment is controlled by the commercial holding companies Transmashholding, Sinara, IST and the state enterprise Uralvagonzavod. Over the past ten years, high-speed trains from the German company Siemens and the French manufacturer Alstom have been added to the rolling stock on the most popular Moscow-St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg-Helsinki routes.

The main player on which the prospects for the development of railway transport in Russia depend is Russian Railways. The companies of this largest holding in the country own their own railway infrastructure, a fleet of wagons and rolling stock.

Cargo transportation on Russian Railways

In Russia, there are several types of freight traffic on rail tracks:

• local - within one route;
• direct - within the boundaries of one or more railway junctions according to a single travel document;
• direct mixed - means combined transportation by several modes of transport (in addition to rail, water, road, air, water-car, etc. can be used);
• direct international - is carried out when cargo is transported on sections of roads of two or several states under a single document.

Features of the development of railway transport in Russia, engaged in the transportation of goods, are differences in the speed of delivery. Thus, the main part of freight trains is engaged in the transportation of goods for which specific transportation conditions are not required. Cargo compartments in passenger trains (luggage compartments) are intended for the carriage of mail, correspondence, and personal belongings of passengers. For the delivery of perishable goods, high-speed rolling stock is used. The maximum allowable speed at which trains can move is 160 km/h.

Features of ground rail roads in the capital

The development of railway transport in Moscow may be the envy of other regions. Despite the demand for constantly modernized metro lines, it is planned to build and reconstruct about 80 kilometers of rail tracks in the capital over the next 2-3 years. By 2019, according to a representative of the Moscow urban planning complex, five new stations will appear within the city at once.

Despite the fact that just a few years ago, the intracity and intercity communication of electric trains in Moscow was considered outdated and inefficient, today experts say that land-based railways are capable of providing the same carrying capacity, the same passenger traffic in terms of frequency, traffic volumes and comfort that metro. In addition, the authorities of the capital are confident that the construction of railways is a less expensive industry than the construction of the subway.

The length of the Moscow railway is more than 13 thousand kilometers, despite the fact that this type of transport serves about 30 million passengers, which is approximately one fifth of the population of Russia. Another feature of the development of railway transport in Moscow is that the infrastructure goes far beyond the boundaries of the agglomeration and covers about ten subjects of the Central Federal District. The thing is that the railway of the capital was originally intended as an inter-subject infrastructure that allows solving inter-regional and inter-city problems of transport communication. Fundamental changes have taken place since the launch of the MCC.

Ring railway artery of Moscow

The central one, which launched the MCC, explained the success of the project by the appearance of the actual possibility of movement in any direction of the railway connection with a transfer. This system of commuter trains was created with the aim of integrating radial stations. Now Muscovites and guests of the capital have no problems traveling outside the Moscow Ring Road. So, for example, it will not be difficult to get from the Kazan direction to Severyanin by transferring to the MCC along the Frezer or towards the Yaroslavl highway.

Since the opening of the Moscow Central Ring, in less than a year, almost 100 million passengers have passed through it. Despite the increased popularity of electric trains, they are still used as an alternative and additional form of railway transport in Russia. The stages of development of the MCC are being implemented along the path of strengthening the integration of the metro with the surface railway network.

The main problems of railway in our country

Along with the strengthening of the industrial economic sector, there is a stage of formation and development of railway transport in Russia. The problems of this area are gaining importance against the backdrop of global trends in technological and technical modernization, the introduction of innovative developments in railway transport.

At the moment, it is necessary to strive to reduce the gap between the quality of Russian railways, rolling stock and infrastructure of foreign competitors. First of all, it is necessary to consistently solve the main industry tasks and eliminate a number of issues that impede the targeted development of railway transport in Russia.

It is necessary to proceed from the fact that the main goal of the functioning of the railway system is fast, convenient, inexpensive (that is, cost-effective) and safe transportation of passengers and delivery of goods not only within the country, but also abroad. The main problems of Russian railways as an integral infrastructure are two negative predetermining factors:

• lack of economic progress and efficiency in the provision of transport services, including a lack of speed of movement, a low level of comfort with an unreasonably high cost of passenger transportation;
• low degree of technical reliability and operational safety of trains, rail tracks.

The first group includes conflicts between the technological and managerial sectors, which nullify the expediency of the railway infrastructure and hinder the growth of its financial efficiency. The second category includes the complexity of technical production, equipment and operation: the problems of safe operation of equipment, technical means, the lack of a fully functioning model of labor protection for industry employees, and adverse environmental impacts on adjacent territories. These problems will only get worse as rail transport develops in Russia.

Briefly about ways to solve problems

To eliminate the described imperfections of the domestic railway infrastructure, it will be necessary to take a set of measures for its effective modernization, which guarantees the integrity and strengthening of the economic space of the Russian Federation, but at the same time does not infringe on the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of movement. The current Strategy implies a phased solution to the problems of railway transport by creating conditions in Russia for achieving the fundamental geopolitical and geo-economic goals of the state. No less important is the reboot and renewal of the existing infrastructure base, which is fundamentally important for the socio-economic growth in the country. For the development of the railway transport industry, it is also necessary:

• ensure transport accessibility for points of resource provision and production progress;
• allocate additional jobs, provide employees of railway transport with social guarantees, including the right to annual rest, the right to treatment, education;
• bring the level of quality and safety of passenger traffic in line with the requirements of the population and international standards;
• ensure maximum carrying capacity and reserves to create the optimal number of offers in case of market fluctuations;
• continue integration into the international railway system;
• maintain a high level of emergency response skills that meet the requirements of defense capability and security;
• strive to increase the investment attractiveness of the railway infrastructure;
• maintain social stability in the field and ensure a decent quality of life for employees, respect the priority of youth policy and support for industry veterans;
• to introduce high standards of labor productivity with a sustainable provision of the transportation process with qualified specialists.

Is it worth developing railway transport?

In the age of all-consuming integration processes, the railway infrastructure has acquired the status of a mechanism, a kind of lever for the division of labor. In addition, the railway sector can be considered as a strategic object of the impact of globalization processes in the world. Russian railways are also a science-intensive theoretical area of ​​economics. In order to maintain the achieved positions and continue to improve the infrastructure, it is important to create all conditions for the latest scientific and technical developments in the country.

Railways in Russia are increased by several thousand kilometers every year. The sphere of railway transport is an integral segment of the modern economy of developed countries.

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• 28.02.2020 | 10:20
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  At the railway crossing 5657 km of the Eastern Railway, located in the village of Komushka (Ulan-Ude), on March 2, 2020, repair work will be carried out (repair of the railway track).

• 28.02.2020 | 10:17
  VSZhD transferred about 1.4 billion in taxes and insurance premiums in January

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• 28.02.2020 | 06:59
  VSShD takes measures to prevent child injuries

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• 27.02.2020 | 11:41
  Movement through the railway crossing in the village. Kultuk will be limited on February 28

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• 27.02.2020 | 11:32
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• 27.02.2020 | 05:10
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• 26.02.2020 | 12:02
  Employees of the Eastern Railway will transfer about 5 million rubles to veterans of the Great Patriotic War on Victory Day

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• 26.02.2020 | 10:04
  Trips in compartment cars in March can be made with a 50% discount

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• 21.02.2020 | 11:26
  The bus route connecting the railway station and the airport will be launched from February 25 in Irkutsk

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  This intracity bus route has been assigned the number 21. It will run through the Rabocheye suburb, the fare will be 25 rubles.

  The bus schedule is based on the schedule of suburban and passenger trains arriving at Irkutsk-Passenger station daily from 21:00 to 06:00 local time.

• 21.02.2020 | 11:24
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• 21.02.2020 | 04:50
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• 21.02.2020 | 04:34
  Eastern Railway will deliver more than 120 thousand tons of fuel to remote areas of the Angara region under the northern delivery program in 2020

  On February 20, a regional coordination council was held in Irkutsk, where the issues of ensuring the delivery of fuel and energy resources to the regions of the Far North of the Angara region for the needs of energy enterprises and housing and communal services were discussed. The event was attended by representatives of the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, consignors and consignees, owners of rolling stock.

• 20.02.2020 | 07:02
  Russian railways provided participants and disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War with unlimited free travel on trains

  This was announced by Oleg Belozerov, Director General - Chairman of the Board of Russian Railways, speaking at the first meeting of the United Russia Organizing Committee "Our Victory".

  The management of the Russian Railways holding has decided to provide free transportation of participants and disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War with one accompanying person not only during this year. This decision has already entered into force, and it will always be in effect. At any time, veterans with accompanying persons will be able to travel by rail absolutely free of charge, - said Oleg Belozerov.

• 19.02.2020 | 11:41
  18 juniors represent VSZhD at the Worldskills Russia championship

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• 19.02.2020 | 10:43
  East Siberian Railway launches safety comics competition among schoolchildren

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