Message from the General Director

“The main challenges we face today are expanding the range of double-decker trains and applying new approaches to the development of tourist traffic and the route network.”

Dear shareholders, partners and colleagues,

In 2021, the Federal Passenger Company continued to operate under pandemic conditions. However, the past year has brought challenges as well as positive results. For this I would like to thank, above all, the Company’s many-thousand-strong team.

The main challenges are expanding the range of double-decker trains and applying new approaches to the development of tourist traffic and the route network.

By the end of 2021, double-decker trains carried more than 8.6 million passengers. There are plans to further expand the geography of such trains to cities in the Urals and Siberia. New routes are synchronised with market needs and are classified as the Company’s priority projects.

Technologies for organising multi-unit trains are being improved: in 2021, their number reached 138. Such approaches fully preserve the population’s transport mobility and achieve maximum economic effect by reducing operating costs.

The company has significantly renewed its rolling stock fleet. More than 400 new passenger carriages are included in the trains running the most popular routes. Out of those, 66 carriages are of the new 2020 model range with an increased size of the upper deck and a brightly designed children’s compartment. Passengers were able to travel in such carriages on tourist trains to Baikal, Karelia, and on a regular train on the Orenburg — Samara — Moscow route.

During the year, the introduction of services continued, electronic ticket sales grew steadily, and special fares with discounts for various categories of passengers, including families with children, were widely applied. For example, in accordance with a Russian Government Decree aimed at developing domestic tourism, Russian families with children were able to purchase travel documents in compartment carriages at a discount of up to 40% and use long-distance trains more frequently.

In 2021, the Company abandoned the use of paper ticket: when boarding a train, passengers need only show their passport or other document that was used as the basis for booking the ticket.

The test phase of the Catering Service Concept was launched; the possibility of introducing such a service on more routes is currently being considered. The service of food delivery to trains has been further developed.

Undoubtedly, effective results can be achieved when the entire Company team works well together and there is an open dialogue between managers and subordinates. In 2021, the Public Council of Employees was formed under the General Director of JSC FPC, which includes representatives of train crews and long-service employees of the railway industry. During the first meeting of the Public Council, more than 150 proposals from our employees were considered and many of them have already been implemented.

I am sure that the promising projects of the last year will be continued in the future. In today’s difficult conditions, JSC FPC will do everything possible to increase its achievements, fulfil its obligations to its employees and passengers, and maintain transport accessibility, a well-developed train network and quality service.