Purchases through the rail operator

Russian Railways (RZD) is to receive RUB 10 billion in state support for purchases of rolling stock from Transmashholding (TMH) enterprises in 2025. TMH chief Kirill Lipa outlined the approved amount to journalists in Hanoi on 14 January 2025. The allocation is intended for orders placed by the railway operator, with RZD receiving the subsidy and using it to buy the manufacturers’ products. The purchasing route therefore runs through the customer rather than a direct transfer of the entire amount to the holding.

The funding covers two manufacturing streams. One is the supply of electric trains from the Demikhovsky Machine-Building Plant. The other is the purchase of electric locomotives from the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant. Lipa did not disclose a numerical division between the two streams. The approved purchasing allocation consequently cannot be read as an equal split or as a stated number of vehicles.

RZD approved investment programmes
RZD approved investment programmes

A smaller investment programme

RZD’s board approved a 2025 investment programme of RUB 890.9 billion at the end of December. The operator’s approved programme for 2024 was RUB 1.275 trillion. Those figures describe investment programmes across the business; neither is a dedicated locomotive budget. The RUB 10 billion support measure has its own narrower purpose within the rail equipment market.

The actual execution of the 2024 programme had not yet been disclosed when Lipa discussed the subsidy. A RUB 1.49 trillion estimate attributed to Kommersant was therefore an estimate, rather than RZD’s final confirmed expenditure. Comparing the two approved programme amounts avoids mixing an approved budget with an unconfirmed estimate of spending. It also preserves the distinction between a purchasing subsidy and the operator’s broader capital plans.

Wheelsets and bogies in a train workshop
Passenger rolling stock components

Production load at Demikhovo

Lipa put the Demikhovsky plant’s production load at about 30% for 2025 and described the situation there as difficult. He expected discussions concerning the plant to continue until the end of January under an assignment from the prime minister. The subsidy would ease the situation, in his assessment, but did not settle all the questions concerning future orders. The 30% figure is his stated production-load estimate; it is not a reduction in output of 30%.

Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov had said at the start of January that additional subsidies for locomotive manufacturers were approved amid reductions in RZD’s investment programme. TMH manufactures rolling stock for rail transportation and is headquartered in Moscow, Russia. The holding’s production and assembly operations extend to other countries, with an operating geography encompassing 30 countries at the time of the announcement.

The announced funding structure

  • Recipient: Russian Railways, which places the equipment orders.
  • Amount: RUB 10 billion of approved support for 2025 purchases.
  • Electric trains: the Demikhovsky Machine-Building Plant.
  • Electric locomotives: the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant.
  • Division by manufacturer and vehicle quantities: not disclosed in the announcement.