BAM and Transsib: how to build faster?
Within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum 2022, a session was held “BAM and Transsib: how to build faster?»
Considering the importance of the topic of expansion and development of supply chains in connection with Russia’s economic and political turn towards the Far East, the session was attended by government officials and stakeholders directly related to the program for the further construction and operation of the strategic BAM and Trans-Siberian railways, in connection with which the discussion developed heated and interesting.
At the session, in fact, the opinions of Deputy General Director of Russian Railways Andrei Makarov and the experts opposing him - Governor of Kuzbass Sergei Tsivilev, President of the Delo group of companies Sergei Shishkarev and Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev - clashed. And, it should be noted that the second person in Russian Railways, and even a debutant, Makarov, had a hard time.
It all started very expectedly. The representative of Russian Railways, apparently hoping for an effect, tried to win the audience's favor by announcing a list of achievements in the form of rubles and ton-kilometers.
In total, it turns out that in 9 months of this year, 78 billion rubles were spent, which is equivalent to the entire construction budget for 2021. 146 million tons of cargo were transported by rail towards the Far East. 13 thousand people are involved in laying new tracks.
According to Makarov, people work on a shift basis, and a salary of 200 thousand rubles is almost typical for construction specialists.
It was also reported that Russian-Chinese trade turnover by rail, according to Russian Railways, increased by 2021% in 35, exceeding 8,5 trillion rubles, and in the near future it will grow to 12 trillion rubles.
Among other things, it was announced that a new border crossing would be created through Priargunsk, which would give access to the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Chinese border provinces of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. For this purpose, the PRC plans to build a connecting line 192 km long.
It is also planned to use the railway network of Mongolia as another transit channel to China and back.
At this point, the meeting could end with a feeling of deep satisfaction, so that the participants who attended would carry this warm feeling home.
But it was not there.
According to the deputy general director, The good picture of the construction of new railways is overshadowed by friction with the largest banks in Russia, from which, according to him, it is impossible to obtain bank guarantees. This, they say, undermines healthy competition, since small and medium-sized contractors cannot compete with giants, and in general, such a situation does not meet the requirements of the law in relation to contractors hired by Russian Railways.
Governor Tsivilev immediately doubted the adequacy of Russian Railways’ plans for the Eastern training ground, according to which, by 2035, 305 million tons of cargo should be transported along the modernized BAM and Trans-Siberian highways. This plan, they say, does not reflect the real needs of the mining industry.
It should be mentioned here that the plan for the modernization of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railways is largely designed to improve transport logistics for developed mineral deposits in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. In this regard, a serious role is assigned to private concession companies, and, often, the construction of sections of the highway in their area of responsibility is much cheaper than Russian Railways projects.
In his defense, Makarov noted that not all contractors work under the same conditions as Russian Railways. For example, the Elgaugol line is cheaper than similar Russian Railways construction projects due to concession surcharges to reimburse investments.
However, the Governor of Kuzbass Tsivilev was not impressed by the Russian Railways official’s explanations, and he continued to criticize the policy of the state monopoly.
According to him, a plan was adopted for Kuzbass to increase coal transportation from 53 million tons to 68 million tons to the East by 2022. In fact, less was transported. The plan for the Eastern landfill of 305 million tons by 2035, according to the governor, does not reflect the real needs, and therefore the governor, at the end of his critical speech, proposed transferring the implementation of plans for the construction of the Eastern landfill from Russian Railways to the Ministry of Construction.
Representative of Russian Railways Makarov, in general, saved face and proved the validity of Russian Railways’ position.
Following the governor of Kuzbass, Sergei Shishkarev, president of the Delo group of companies, took the floor, reminding those present that, in addition to coal, there are other cargoes needed in the East.
In his opinion, too many Russian Railways bureaucrats have gathered in the management of the Eastern training ground, steering traffic flows on the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railways according to the “divide and conquer” principle.
When criticizing, suggest. The head of the Delo group of companies advocated the creation of a council of users of the Eastern landfill, whose responsibilities would include determining the volumes and priorities of cargo under the control of the Ministry of Transport.
It is interesting that in his speech Shishkarev touched upon the almost forgotten topic of completing the reform of Russian Railways, which was discussed a lot at one time, but has now been practically forgotten, according to which infrastructure should be separated from transportation.
In general, Russian Railways was opposed by an influential opposition from representatives of regional authorities and big business, whose actions are aimed at breaking the established pattern, when coal and railways are something united and unshakable for the monopoly’s managers.
The argument has been repeatedly voiced that Russian Railways' refusal to build a railway branch for the export of Elgi coal and the transfer of these functions to a concession have become the main advantages of the region.
The Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Mikhail Degtyarev, spoke about this, in particular.
For your information: The rich Elga coal deposit is located 415 km from the Yakut city of Neryungri and 300 km from the BAM, and therefore access to it by rail was included in the priority plan for the modernization of the Eastern site.
However, despite the “heavy artillery” of governors and representatives of big business, there was a “group of comrades” who categorically objected to the revision of priorities at the Eastern training ground.
One of the representatives of this group was the director for port and railway projects of OJSC UMMC, Irina Olkhovskaya, who stated that the ports of the Far East have an unused reserve of 150 million tons, calling sea containers for some reason “foreign cargo,” to which those participating in the Logistics sessions: if you don’t want it, don’t take it.
It is quite strange to observe representatives of big business acting in the spirit of “bees against honey,” especially during the officially announced big turn to the East.
There were also quite exotic speeches in the “face-hand” style, when you wanted to force the speaker to sit down and advise you to chew more often than speak.
Such a speech was the speech of Senator from St. Petersburg Andrei Kutepov, who stated that Russian citizens should burn more coal at home and export less. They say that this is how the problem of cargo flow will be solved.
For such speeches, I really want to bring a small mountain of coal directly to the St. Petersburg apartment of the mind of the chamber - the speaker at the beginning of the heating season and oblige him to burn everything before mid-April in a potbelly stove, Dutch oven, or, at worst, in the oven, with the beginning of the heat asking the grimy fireman about sensations.
In general, observers present at the session agreed that opponents of Russian Railways scolded the monopoly, let off steam by highlighting differences and making recommendations. But, most likely, things will continue to move as usual.
The practical value of the initiative of Sergei Shishkarev was noted, who proposed to stop the vicious practice of distributing quotas for freight transportation at the Eastern training ground, but the chances of transferring the modernization of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway to the Ministry of Transport look negligible, since the lobbyists of Russian Railways have perfectly worked out the protest rhetoric.
The main conclusion from the session suggests itself: on the railway, as before, Russian Railways manages everything and is responsible for everything, year after year refusing to break the usual patterns, but also taking the entire burden of responsibility onto its shoulders. Proposals to reform the monopoly frozen in granite are allowed, discussed, but not put into practice, even if experts have proven their feasibility.
The conversation turned out to be interesting, constructive, along the lines of “for all the good against all the bad,” but it never answered the main question: how to build the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway faster.
It only remains to add that the only way to increase the efficiency of turning cargo flows to the East and speed up the modernization of the Eastern training ground will be transition to Stalinist methods of leadership with personal responsibility of officials at all levels through the promotion of talented and responsible people to key positions. Otherwise, the big deal will again get stuck in the talking shop.
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