During the first month of 2026, Russian Railways loaded 89.3 mn tons of cargo, down 4% year-on-year.
Most commodity categories demonstrated a downward trend. However, some categories demonstrated growth for the first time in several months.
Coal loading, which is Russian Railways’ top commodity, was down 8.7% year-on-year to 27.1 mn tons.
Oil and products, Russian Railways’ second most important cargo, made 27.1 mn tons, level with the January 2025 figure.
Ferrous metals declined by 14.5% to 4 mn tons, chemicals and soda by 4.8% to 1.7 mn tons, cement dropped by 30% to 711 thousand tons, ferrous metal scrap by 43.2 to 269 thousand tons.
Industrial and forming materials were down 16% to 1.7 mn tons, coke down 9.9% to 811 thousand tons, timber and logs down 9.5% to 1.9 mn tons, non-ferrous ore and raw sulphur down 6.9% to 1.3 mn tons, and other commodities including containerized cargo down 6.1% to 8.8 mn tons.
The commodities that grew were chemical and mineral fertilizers, up 4% to 6.5 mn tons, grain, up 49.9% to 2.6 mn tons, ferrous and manganese ore, up 1.4% to 8.9 mn tons, and construction cargo, up 3.2% to 5.4 mn tons.
Rail cargo throughput in January 2026 made 194.9 tons/km, down 11.6% year-on-year.
Photo: Russian Railways