Steam locomotives and passenger cars for the first Russia’s railway, 26.7 km long, connecting St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo (1837), were manufactured in England and Belgium. Six 70–75 horsepower engines, capable to develop a speed of up to 60 km/h, ran for 20 years. Later locomotives were also purchased abroad. Only 20 years later (in 1856 and 1857) two domestically made locomotives manufactured at Leichtenberg plant in St. Petersburg were purchased. As for passenger cars, some of them were bought abroad and some were manufactured by local works.

In compliance with the Rail Transport Development Strategy up to 2030, approved by the Russian Government, Russian Railways OJSC (RZD) has elaborated a Programme of rolling stock supplies from 2008 to 2012. This Programme has been synchronized with the Russian Railway Engineering Development Strategy up to 2015.

The Rail Transport Development Strategy up to 2030 and Railway Engineering Development Strategy up to 2015 adopted by the Russian Government charge railway engineering with the task of making crucial improvements in railway engineering technical and economic performance. In a fairly short period of time manufacturers will have to come up with engineering solutions to increase locomotive overhaul life by 50%, passenger car and freight car overhaul life up to 600,000 km (increase of 33%) and to 500,000 km (in the future – up to 1 million km; an increase of 100–200%) respectively. Other issues facing railway engineering are to decrease specific traction energy consumption by 5% and traction fuel consumption by 6.7%.

All statistical data, provided in this section, are based on official information of federal executive bodies, adjusted in accordance with the data of Russian Railways and manufacturers.

The format of this special issue does not allow a detailed discussion of all areas of railway engineering, which make an important contribution to the development of the sector and to railway operations. That is why only a brief overview of the main Russian railway engineering manufacturers is included into this issue. More details about other equipment manufacturers and repair facilities can be found in archived and future issues of our journal.

The general comparison of the machinery operated on Russian railways with the foreign analogues reveals huge reserves for increasing the efficiency of rolling stock. This is why the solution of the problem of attaining engineering parity with leading countries requires an innovation breakthrough in the national railway engineering and in allied industries.

In the USSR, there were nine enterprises which produced together about 2000 locomotives a year. In 1990s, the output dropped drastically. Moreover, with the collapse of the USSR and Comecon, there were no supplies in Russia of the DC freight and passenger electric locomotives, diesel shunters produced mainly in Ukraine, Georgia and Czechoslovakia.

The Rail Transport Development Strategy envisages an increase in weight and speed of trains, especially on the principal rail routes. The objective of reducing rail transport operating costs places the question of development of high-power self-contained locomotives. The RZD’s Power Strategy sets the objective of substituting 30% of the diesel fuel consumed by self-contained locomotives with natural gas. This level is planned to be reached by 2030.

The railway industry implements programmes of great national importance, the aims and objectives of which are stated in the Rail Transport Development Strategy up to 2030. This is the main document, in which strategic priorities of the industry development are laid down systematically. Moreover, they are stated not in a corporate, but in an inter-sector sense, embracing not only rail transport, but also railway engineering industry and allied sciences and arts.