Yesterday at the conference "Transport and Metallurgy - 2025" they talked a lot about the forced outflow of cargo to road transport.
Senator from the Chelyabinsk region oleg Tsepkin reported that the share of transportation of metallurgical goods by rail this year fell by 8%, while by road, on the contrary, increased by 5%.
Slightly different data, but with the same dynamics, were given by Mikhail Shcherbinin, the Russian Association Steel:
The outflow of metallurgical cargo to motor transport is increasing. The volume of cargo transportation in 2025 compared to 2024 on the Russian Railways network fell by 7.8%, transportation by road increased by 3.8%. For companies included in the Russian Steel association, the average ratio of rail/road/auto transportation in 2024 was 55%/45%, in 2025 - already 37%/63%.
In addition, metallurgists noted a growing number of refusals on applications for transportation: in January 2025 - by 201 thousand tons, in April - already by 317 thousand tons. The number of loaded cars rejected by Russian Railways is 380 and 2615, respectively.
According to the industry, one of the main reasons for the unsatisfactory performance of the railway network is the dynamic model of infrastructure loading. “Because of this, we couldn’t send either empty or loaded wagons by rail.”
