After the terrorist attack on the high-speed train “Newski Express” end of November of last year the Russian railway RZD is still under shock: “The enterprise has started to make payments of compensation to the injured and to the families of the victims that died during the terrorist attack”, said chairman Vladimir Yakunin.
Every passenger injured by the assassins gets 200.000 roubles (4.500 Euro). “The families of those killed can count on an amount of 500.000 roubles ( 11.200 Euro)”, proceeds the manager.
There were at least 26 dead after the attack on the route from Moscow to St. Petersburg while the number of injured people was not clear. Therefore the Russian railway set aside at least 300.000 Euro for the victims. And Yakunin once again thanked his staff that had fought “heroically” to save the passengers.
Also the Russian prime minister Wladimir Putin stepped in and gave the battle against terrorism the top priority spot in his government. “Terrorism is the greatest threat for Russia” said the head of government. That’s why you had to take action against it resolutely he emphasized in a televised address.
There is great fear of new attacks in Russia. Eventually it’s not the first time the RZD has become a target of terrorist action. It’s been about two years already – in August 2007 – that two Chechens have carried out an attack on the “Newski Express” in the northwest killing 60 people. That’s an incident not too long ago and therefore it should still be in the head of the passengers.
 For that reason RZD boss Yakunin is especially anxious in limiting the damages. The compensatory damages paid in direction of the victims are an attempt to financially reduce the horror triggered by the assassination with help of a material settlement. However with this the terror disaster becomes visible in the financial statements – even if this calculation has a bitter taste. Since business hardly goes for emotions, the cold facts remain: Less than 0.1 percent of RZD’s previous year’s net profit of 13.4 billion roubles (about 300 million Euro) are paid to the victims – leaving aside the damage of image that is difficult to measure in numbers in the first instance. How much the passengers feel insecure probably can’t be determined before the beginning of 2010.
The RZD has suffered a delicate stroke by the terror. And it might take a long while until the passengers regain trust, because the problem is not solved at all.
It seemed to be an act of defiance when Yakunin attended his business right away and travelled to Libya at once to check on one of his main projects. The Russians are employed by the Libyan dictator Muammar al Gaddafi, installing a modern high-speed line connecting the Mediterranean Cities of Sirt and Bengasi.
The rails are to wind along the Gulf of Sidra for over 550 kilometres.
Such international projects of infrastructure are of a special importance for the Russians. It’s scheduled in the game plan of the Corporate group that is in effect until 2030.
“When the Libyan government announced its intention to install a railway line, the Russian railways have made the offer to include all of their experience in that project”, explained Yakunin in front of his African business partners. He said so rather ponderously, but with all emotions of a Russian. And the manager once again emphasized how much an honour it was for him to build the track.
The bottom line is: Everything according to plan in the first year of the project.
3500 employees over all from Libya and Russia are to make this project a success – among them some 290 qualified engineers and other skilled workers.
How important this order is for the whole corporation is getting obvious with its capacity being about 2.2 billion Euro. This comes to about 9.2 percent of the total annual revenue of about 24 billion Euro the RZD made in 2008, just to have a comparison. Looking at the financial aspect this way, this project is highly attractive for the Russians.
These international infrastructure projects are an important part of RZD’s strategy. And the corporation with difficult partners like dictator Gaddafi is not an isolated case. The Russians also work with Iran, North Korea and Algeria, the tracks of these constructions being shorter and the investments essentially smaller.
Not only in countries that are still working to modernise their tracks, the Russians also cooperate with other countries who are strategically important. Neighbouring country Finland in an important partner. Yukanin’s representative Vadim Morozov flew into the Finnish capital of Helsinki shortly after his boss had left for Africa. There he met with his colleague in the Finnish carrier VR Group to discuss the current year’s outcome of their common projects.
The Finns and the Russians cooperate here on almost all levels: In the high-speed sector, transport of passengers as well as freight traffic. By the way: The strategy of the Russians and the plans of the Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) are quite similar when it comes to international infrastructure projects. End of November the Germans signed a contract for cooperation with the Qatar Railways Company in order to install a transport infrastructure in this Arabic country. We are speaking of a Planning Volume of 700 million Euro, a sum essentially below the order value of the contract the Russians had concluded in Libya.
 Also the Germans are an important partner for the RZD. They cooperate with the Russians in Passenger traffic as well as in freight traffic. The conventional track from Moscow to Berlin and the route from the German capital via Kaliningrad to St. Petersburg play an important role.
One and a half years ago the RZD installed a corporation with the Germans, the polish PKP Cargo and the Belarusian railways to make freight traffic easier on the east west link. There are still other German companies like Siemens who cooperate with the Russians. How the State Railways will develop in the future is not at the disposal of the executive board around Yakunin and the international managers the RZD is working with.
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