The new 2018/2019 timetable and plan for train formations came into effect across the entire network of Russian railways at 00:00 Moscow time on 9 December 2018.
Under the new timetable, the number of suburban trains has been increased by 78 train pairs – one pair is one return train on the same route – and now amounts to 3,738 pairs, up from 3,660 pairs in 2017/2018. Lastochka trains total 312 pairs, with 177 pairs operating on Moscow Railways, 82 pairs on October Railways, 21 pairs on Kaliningrad Railways, 20 pairs on North Caucasus Railways and 12 pairs on Sverdlovsk Railways.
Long-distance passenger trains will amount to 567 train pairs on 415 different routes, up from 558 pairs on 405 routes under the 2017/2018 timetable. The number of trains in the categories “Fast” and “High Speed” will increase from 350 to 359 and will account for almost 63% of the total. The RZD Holding will be laying on 499 pairs of these trains, which is 88% of the total.
The railway administrations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the “far abroad” or non-CIS countries have laid on 68 passenger trains, including 4 trains that will be in joint service with the railway administrations of the CIS and non-CIS countries.
In total, 1,177 train have been formed, up from 1,136 trains under the 2017/2018 timetable, 160 of which are Lastochka trains, up from 134 trains in 2017/2018, In addition, there will be 16 Sapsans, 7 Talgos and 4 Allegros.
The number of daily trains will also increase, with 13 new daily express trains running on 8 routes (Moscow – Tambov, Moscow – Lipetsk and Moscow – Vologda etc.). In total, 69 pairs of daily trains will run on 41 routes under the new timetable, up from 56 pairs of trains on 33 routes according to the 2017/2018 timetable.
The new timetable will in addition see 28 new trains running on the most popular passenger routes (Nizhny Novgorod – Novgorod-on-Volkhov, Samara – Kazan, Kirov – St. Petersburg, Sonkovo – Uglich, Novokuznetsk – Tyumen and Krasnoyarsk – Severobaikalsk etc.)
The number of double-decker trains have also been increased, with 12 new pairs of trains on 9 routes, up from 11 pairs on 8 routes. In particular, double-decker trains will transport passengers between Moscow – Izhevsk on Train No. 26/25 from 9 December 2018.
Under the new timetable, 289 trains will have reduced travel times, with 20% arriving 30 minutes earlier or more.
Train No. 20 Moscow-Rostov, for example, will see its travel time cut by 1 hour 19 minutes, Train No. 45 St. Petersburg-Ivanovo by 2 hours, Train No. 111/37 Voronezh – St. Petersburg by 3 hours 40 minutes, Train No. 207 Novokuznetsk – Vladivostok by 9 hours 47 minutes, Train No. 119 Saransk – Moscow by 38 minutes, Train No. 259 St. Petersburg – Anapa by 1 hour 51 minutes and Train No. 36 Kaliningrad – Adler by 2 hours 32 minutes etc.
International direct and transit passenger services will run to 11 countries in Europe and Asia, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and China, etc. on 16 different international routes, as well as to 11 countries in the CIS and the three Baltic States: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The 2018/2019 timetable also sees the following new international services: Tomsk – Karaganda, Minsk – Kazan and Tashkent – Kazan between Russia and Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia and Uzbekistan and Russia respectively.