The company “Russian Railways” will lay off 15% of its central office staff, including branch managers, against a backdrop of billions in losses, said its head, Oleg Belozerov, in an interview with “Interfax”.
“We will lay off about 6,000 people,” he said. According to Belozerov, these and other actions by Russian Railways will save 74 billion rubles in 2026. In addition to layoffs, this includes reducing expenses, including for fuel, electricity, and repairs, as well as restructuring the entire organizational structure, he specified.
Plans by Russian Railways to reduce its management staff and limit the hiring of new employees became known in the fall of 2025. At the time, the company stated that this was necessary to improve efficiency “in the face of declining work volumes and a difficult economic situation”.
The decision was made against the backdrop of a sharp deterioration in Russian Railways’ financial situation – for the first time since 2020, the carrier recorded a net loss, losing 4.4 billion rubles compared to a profit of 44 billion a year earlier. Russian Railways’ total debt approached $50 billion, and interest expenses alone for the first nine months of 2025 doubled to 332 billion rubles.
The situation was exacerbated by a drop in freight transportation, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the war in Ukraine: by the end of 2025, volumes had fallen to 1.1 billion tons – a minimum since 2009.
Financial difficulties have forced Russian Railways to cut its investment program for 2026 by a quarter to 713.6 billion rubles and start selling off assets. Among the assets put up for auction are the Riga Station for 4 billion rubles, the “Likhobory” depot in the Koptevo district for 3.5 billion, a branch on Krasnaya Sosna Street for 2 billion rubles, and the Moscow Towers skyscraper in the Moscow City business center (the starting price was not disclosed) (The Moscow Times).
