Uniform Principles of Organization of Rail Freight Transportation Operations
[For the English full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version)].Improving the operational efficiency of transport is one of the main catalysts for raising the quality of life and socio-economic development. The prevailing global trends are aimed at establishing logistic chains from producers to consumers. The cross-border movement of world production within the framework of globalization, the deepening of integration processes between countries highlight the issues of developing a methodology for planning and evaluating international transport corridors from various points of view, and economic, technical, social, environmental and other aspects. The urgent issue is the harmonization of the technical and regulatory framework for the organization of «seamless» transportation, the synchronization of the technological cycles of various modes of transport, including operation of multimodal transport hubs. A large number of studies are dedicated to the modelling and control of traffic flows, new methods of forecasting the transport situation using the results of computer dynamic transport modelling, analysis of existing infrastructure resources and elimination of bottlenecks in the existing railway system (including through the expansion of the railway network and innovative methods of traffic control). Hence the achievement of target parameters of efficiency of production activity of all participants in railway transportations is possible through qualitative changes in the system of the organization of transportation process, the objective of the research was to study technological aspects of improvement of quality of functioning of the transport system in relation to activity of the Russian railways. The research applied methods of system analysis of scientific and technical data and technical and economic indicators of complex systems. The issues of implementation of end-to-end principles of transportation process management are considered, the concept of «technological polygon of transportation process management» is expanded. The analysis and grouping of methods for improving the efficiency of railway transport was carried out with regard to improving the operation quality indicators and refined model of rolling stock management, increasing the efficiency of the use of traction equipment, profiling of railway itineraries in respect of the preferred types of traffic, establishing sections well-provided for safe passage of freight trains and synchronized with the operation ranges of locomotives, organizing freightage in wagons with increased axle load, removing barriers and restrictions in the power supply sector, etc. The transition to the «polygon» model of the organization of the technological process, the unification and optimization of the use of available resources, and, as a result, the reduction of risks of losses from transportation, service provision and unplanned use of resources are effective tools to improve the quality of rail operations.