Regional Structure of Long-Distance Passenger Transportation in Russia (2010‒2022)

We examine the transformation of the regional structure of long-distance passenger transportation in Russia for 2010‒2022. This structure was analyzed using the methodology proposed by these authors for determining the coefficient of passenger railway interaction, similar to the “shift plus share” methodology used in economics, which is, however, an independent one. The Central Federal District is a national leader in terms of long-distance passenger traffic, which has been developing in Moscow and the regions connected to it by high-speed trains since the 2010s. The Northwestern Federal District ranked next to it for most of the study period by virtue of St. Petersburg, but after 2020 it gave way to the Southern Federal District. In the Southern Federal District, passenger transportation is developing mainly due to Krasnodar krai. The North Caucasus Federal District has extremely low and constantly decreasing passenger traffic figures. The Volga Federal District as a whole is characterized by high rates of long-distance passenger transportation, but their trends are different in different regions of the Federation. The Ural Federal District is characterized by generally high, but steadily declining, volumes of long-distance passenger traffic, especially pronounced in its largest regions—Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk oblasts. In the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, there is also a significant reduction in passenger traffic, with a few exceptions: for example, passenger traffic in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has been growing after the construction of the Amur‒Yakutsk railway. In general, Russia is characterized by a decrease in the volume and importance of passenger railway transportation, which occurred earlier in other developed countries. Its restoration through high-speed rail transport is possible only in the densely populated parts of the country that have long been developed, and that is already taking place.