Valentin Alexandrovich GAPANOVICH

The locomotive of all industries

It is simply unthinkable to imagine today our vast state without railways. The operational length of rail tracks is about 90 thousand km. Every year, they transport 1.3 billion tons of cargo and almost 1.3 billion passengers. What kind of trains do Russians use and what kind of rolling stock is used to transport goods, how is safety on the railways ensured - these and many other issues are within the competence of Senior Vice President of Russian Railways JSC Valentin Gapanovich. Today's guest of our editorial office is not a public person, he does not like to participate in ribbon cutting. But disputes about the innovative development of railways are of great interest to him.

Valentin Alexandrovich, how does the railway live today - a complex enterprise scattered throughout the country?

Lives hard. There are always certain difficulties, but under any circumstances we only move forward. Throughout the past year, the company has been working in conditions of a gap between macroeconomic forecasts and the real situation in the national economy.

Our financial situation was complicated by the containment of railroad tariffs, which was supposed to stimulate industry and help slow inflation. If the tariffs of Russian Railways for freight transportation remained at the level of 2013, the prices for the fuel consumed by the company would rise by 11%, for electricity by 6.3%, for metals - by 5.2%.

As a result, Russian Railways' expenditures in 2014 were reduced by 85 billion rubles. This year, in accordance with the decision of the government, we will reduce expenses by another 5.5 billion. We managed to reduce the cost of transportation by 0.7%, and increase the productivity of employees by 10.6%. We do not slow down the pace of work this year either: we carry everything that they give us, and we fully provide passenger transportation.

- How did you do it?

Exclusively due to the improvement of work technology, through the use of energy-saving technologies. Unfortunately, they were forced to cut programs for major infrastructure repairs and transfer some of the workers to part-time work.

The company is implementing a program of anti-crisis measures. We have created the URAN system - resource and risk management in conditions of limited opportunities. An initiative group has been created, which includes scientists, chief engineers, technical specialists of directorates.

We have managed to develop several dozen methods for optimizing the maintenance and repairs of depots, workshops, and other infrastructure facilities. Our heads of departments can automatically receive recommendations from leading experts on what actions should be taken in a difficult situation. In fact, we have created an analytical management system.

- What investment projects had to be abandoned?

The investment budget of Russian Railways for 2015 reached 414.1 billion rubles. Last year it was equal to 396.8 billion. Half of the investment costs will go to fulfill the instructions of the President and the Government of Russia. Among them - the development of the railway infrastructure of the Far East, the reconstruction of the section Mezhdurechensk - Taishet in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the section Maxim Gorky - Krymskaya with a bypass of the Krasnodar junction. Plus the development of the railway network of the Taman Peninsula.

Of course, we would like to buy more locomotives, repair all the tracks, modernize the energy sector and the railway automation control system. But there are the main objects, under any circumstances, work does not stop there: the reconstruction of the BAM, the Trans-Siberian Railway and, of course, the construction of the Luzhskaya-Sortirovochnaya station in the port of Ust-Luga. Today it is the most innovative station in Russia, the CIS and Western Europe. Here we have implemented our latest developments and will soon launch the first stage of the station. If earlier all cargoes by rail went to the ports of neighboring countries and money sailed there, now everything will remain in Russia.

- Are there areas where Russian Railways is ahead of the rest?

Compared to Western European and American first-class railways, we are still at the same level of technological development. We are lagging behind in high-speed traffic. I would even say that we lagged behind, today we are already moving forward.

But there are areas where we not only meet, but even outstrip the level of world rail transport. For example, in the organization and management of train traffic, taking into account energy-saving technologies. The Americans and Europeans admit that we have outperformed them in the automatic train guidance system. The Sapsan trains run in automatic mode, and the driver only controls the situation.

IN last years we use satellite technology. For example, the autodispatcher system works on the St. Petersburg - Moscow section, automatically controlling arrows and traffic lights. Every ten seconds we see where the train is and what is happening to it. And these are not our only achievements.

- Agree, because we do not have world-class rolling stock?

I do not agree. Our freight wagons correspond to world standards in terms of design, but not in terms of quality. All because of poor casting. Here it is worth talking about a gas turbine locomotive. For the first time in the history of the world's railway transport, we use liquefied natural gas as a motor fuel.

- Yes, but experts criticize this locomotive ...

For those who criticize him, I advise you to read what they do in America. They have a special program for the conversion of railway transport to gas motor fuel and the conversion of locomotives to this fuel is underway. Because Americans are pragmatists. But they use diesel fuel and gas on one locomotive, while we only use gas. This new equipment is in operation on the Sverdlovsk Railway, and in six months we have obtained a good economic effect from the use of a gas turbine locomotive.

Today we have to think about what will happen in 10-15 years and what we will leave to the next generation of railway workers. We accepted the backlog of that generation and used it: the train traffic control system, marshalling yards, etc. But we must not stop: at such a rate of technological progress, a stop will set us back decades.

The next generation will receive from us the most modern locomotives with asynchronous traction drive. This technique will provide work for 15 - 20 years of railway transport. In terms of new generation locomotives, we are not one iota behind Europeans and Americans. The Lastochka project is a step forward in the field of comfortable service for regional passengers. The gas turbine locomotive and other innovative developments will be appreciated by the next generation of railway workers.

Now two new Russian factories make diesel locomotives and electric locomotives. In the Sverdlovsk region there was no such enterprise at all, and now there is the most powerful Ural Locomotives plant in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.

- What innovations are you introducing in passenger transportation?

I think that passengers notice the changes that have taken place over the past five years. High-speed Sapsan and Allegro trains, Lastochka electric trains, double-decker long-distance carriages manufactured at the Tver Carriage Works run along our highways. The park will soon be replenished with double-decker regional electric trains.

I note that the decision to purchase trains from the German company Siemens was justified. It didn't make sense to build a plant for 16 trains. The contract for the Lastochki project immediately indicated localization of 80%, now it has already reached 63%, by the end of the year we will bring it to 70%. Everyone is talking about import substitution, and this is interpreted in such a way that we will do everything ourselves and quickly. In my understanding, you don't need to do everything yourself, you need to attract foreigners, create joint ventures.

- Will you build a high-speed highway St. Petersburg - Moscow?

We plan to reduce the travel time of the Sapsan to 3 hours and 30 minutes. But this is due to an increase in speed in certain sections, and not by building new tracks. I think that in 2017 the Sapsan will already go from St. Petersburg to Moscow for 3.30. And if a new motorway is built in this direction, then in the near future there will be no need for high-speed lines between our capitals.

- Carried away by speeds, do you forget about the environment?

Nobody will allow us this. Any of our initiatives passes all state examinations, and without them we will not start implementing any project. Back in 2008, the "Environmental Strategy" of Russian Railways was adopted, ahead of analogues in other industries. For example, gas turbine locomotives and diesel locomotives of the new generation have very low emissions of harmful substances. In Yaroslavl, we have built a research and production center for environmental protection, including a plant for the disposal of hazardous waste.

Prepared by Nadezhda KONOVALOVA

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More than six months have passed since the change of the President of Russian Railways. During this time, there have been a number of personnel changes among the top management of the company.

Consideration should start with the Board. Small pivot table.

The ratio of members of the Board with a railway education (marked in blue) and without it has practically not changed. It was 13/12. It became 12/11. The number of people educated in the Northern Capital continues to stand out among specialists.

By the way, according to rumors, a number of people who "gone" so synchronously were very tied up in foul-smelling affairs.

A small quote from a 2010 publication.

With regard to the management of the ZSZhD, Bobreshov A.S. made it clear that the head of the road Tselko A.V. will not leave his place while Russian Railways is headed by Yakunin V.I., since this personnel issue was agreed with him.

Eloquent, isn't it? And since November 2012, Tselko has been Vice President of Russian Railways. And in 2015, a simultaneous resignation.

Separately, I would like to focus on the lowering of Stepov V.V.
It is known that all sorts of "kanbans", "5S systems" and other dregs distracting from the production process, spreading from the Oktyabrskaya road throughout the network - this is Stepov's long-standing area of ​​\u200b\u200bactivity. Now such a figure has stood at the head of the transport "science", designed to prove any whim of the leadership.
Although he received an important and responsible post, he undoubtedly became distant from cash flows. So to speak, he followed in the footsteps of another odious one, who, accordingly, lost his former position and fell even lower. Which, however, does not prevent the latter from dreaming about traveling in a tube.

In general, personnel changes can be assessed as positive.

In the comments, you can add your thoughts, as well as offer clarifications.

Some press releases

Senior Advisor to the General Director of Russian Railways

"Biography"

Born on May 23, 1955.

Education

In 1992 he graduated from the Novosibirsk Institute of Railway Engineers; in 1998 - the Academy of National Economy under the Government Russian Federation. Specialty - management of transportation processes in railway transport, engineer of communications for the management of transportation processes in railway transport.

After graduating from the Gomel College of Railway Transport, he worked as an assistant locomotive driver, senior foreman for the repair of rolling stock at the Topka Cement Plant.

Activity

"News"

The Prosecutor General's Office spoke about its role in the dismissal of the vice-president of Russian Railways

The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, when checking Russian Railways, found out that the vice president of the company lobbied for the interests of his sons, businessmen, the report of the head of the department says. After checking in Russian Railways, the top manager of the company left his post

The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia influenced the dismissal of the vice-president of Russian Railways. It turned out that the top manager of the company lobbied for the interests of his sons, businessmen, the head of the department, Yuri Chaika, reports in a report to the Federation Council.

Yuri Chaika spoke about the dismissal of the vice president of Russian Railways due to a conflict of interest

Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika reported to the Federation Council on the dismissal of one of the vice-presidents of Russian Railways. The top manager was dismissed due to the fact that he gave lucrative contracts to the structures of his sons

Chaika said that in the course of checking the implementation of anti-corruption legislation at JSC Russian Railways, it was found that one of the vice presidents of the company personally made decisions related to the conclusion of contracts with a commercial organization in order to enrich his sons, members of the board of directors this organization and its ultimate beneficiaries.

Promising developments for the railway infrastructure of the Far North were discussed at the OPZhT

On April 10, 2018, a meeting of the Scientific and Production Council of NP "OPZhT" was held on the implementation of the project "Products of the railway industry in the design and construction of railway infrastructure facilities in the Far North". The event was chaired by Valentin Gapanovich, Member of the Management Board of Russian Railways JSC, Senior Advisor to the General Director of Russian Railways JSC, President of NP OPZhT.

The meeting was attended by Alexander Moiseev, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District, Vladimir Shneidmuller, Vladimir Matyushin, Andrey Uglov, Sergey Palkin and Albert Kostromin, Vice Presidents, members of the Supervisory Board of OPZhT, as well as heads and technical specialists of leading enterprises of the railway industry.

The Expert Council for the Development of Transport Engineering held a meeting

On March 30, 2018, a meeting of the Expert Council for the Development of Transport Engineering under the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, innovative development and Entrepreneurship of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with the support of the Union of Machine Builders of Russia. The event was held under the leadership of the Chairman of the Expert Council, Senior Advisor to the General Director - Chairman of the Board of Russian Railways, President of OPZhT, Vice President of SoyuzMash Russia LLC Valentin Gapanovich.

Section "Wagon Economy" of the Scientific and Technical Council of Russian Railways held a meeting

On March 30, 2018, a meeting of the Wagon Economy section of the Scientific and Technical Council of JSC Russian Railways was held on the issue of improving the reliability and efficiency of using the freight car fleet. The event was chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council, Deputy General Director - Chief Engineer of Russian Railways Sergey Kobzev.

– Valentin Aleksandrovich, in 2014, amendments were made to Federal Law No. 7-FZ “On Environmental Protection”, according to which all business entities were divided into categories depending on the degree of their impact on the environment. And from January 1, 2019, certain requirements are imposed on each object in accordance with its category. What are these requirements and what needs to be done to make the enterprises of Russian Railways comply with them?
- Indeed, the main innovation of the environmental reform was the division of enterprises into four categories, which differ in the degree of negative environmental impact (NEI) - from minimal (IV category) to significant (I category). This was done to solve a number of problems, including increasing control over hazardous production facilities and, conversely, reducing control over facilities that have a minimal negative impact, reducing unjustified economic costs for enterprises, and reducing the burden on regulatory authorities.
Our company is the largest user of natural resources in Russia. Economic activity is carried out at 13 thousand production sites. The total area of ​​land occupied by the company's subdivisions is 9,740 sq. m. km. In total, more than 8 thousand objects of negative impact of Russian Railways are registered with the territorial bodies of Rosprirodnadzor. Of these, two objects are category I, 8095 objects are category II, 109 objects are category III and 54 objects are category IV. They include 80,000 sources of atmospheric air pollution, 154 sources of wastewater into water bodies, and about 50,000 waste accumulation sites.
It is clear that the objects that contribute the most to environmental pollution are under the closest control by the state. From January 1, 2019, a special method of regulation is provided for them - obtaining an integrated environmental permit (IEP). It includes, in particular, the development of standards for emissions, discharges of pollutants, standards for permissible physical impacts, standards for waste generation and disposal limits, as well as an agreed program for industrial environmental control.
In addition, stationary emission sources located at category I facilities must be equipped with automatic emission measurement systems, which is certainly not cheap.
Requirements for the development of industrial environmental control programs are established not only for enterprises of category I, but also for categories II and III. Activities at Category II facilities will also be carried out on the basis of an environmental impact statement. It contains, among other things, information on the implementation of environmental protection measures, data on accidents and incidents that led to a negative impact on the environment, the declared volume of emissions, discharges of pollutants, waste generated and disposed of. Objects of category III, in a notification manner, provide reports on the formation, use, neutralization, disposal of waste. As for objects of category IV, they are exempted from the development of regulatory documentation and reporting in the field of waste management.

- What does the environmental control program for objects of categories I, II and III include, who and how does it carry out?
– The program is developed by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs carrying out economic activities at the facility. Industrial environmental control (PEC) ensures compliance of the enterprise with the requirements of legislation in the field of atmospheric air protection, protection and use of water bodies, waste management.
Currently, environmental control programs have been developed and approved for all facilities of the company's divisions, which are assigned categories I, II and III. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, laboratories that conduct IEC must be accredited in the national accreditation system. To ensure environmental monitoring of the impact of line enterprises of the company's branches on the environment, Russian Railways has created a powerful system that includes 56 stationary environmental laboratories accredited in the national accreditation system, 53 automotive laboratories, 12 laboratory cars. Laboratories carry out the selection and conduct of quantitative chemical analysis of samples of natural and waste water, soil, soil, waste, industrial emissions, measurement of physical factors of the production environment in residential areas, residential areas.
Laboratories are equipped with modern analytical equipment, including those that allow analysis of all types of pollution.
The internal target structure of environmental management in Russian Railways was formed based on the requirements for the implementation of a unified technical policy in this area. About 3 thousand managers and specialists of the company are involved in the field of environmental safety.
At each level of management, centers of environmental responsibility have been identified. Centers for Environmental Protection (NCOP) in this structure are regional centers of competence and methodology in the field of nature management and ecology. The main task of the NCOP is to assess the compliance of the economic activities of the company's divisions with environmental requirements in order to reduce environmental, financial, and image risks.

– What is the risk-based approach in the field of environmental supervision, which is currently used?
- Objects are assigned risk categories, there are six of them - from low to extremely high. A significant influence on the assignment of the risk category of an object is its location in a “vulnerable” natural area. In fact, if the object is located in a specially protected natural area, for example, in the central ecological zone of Lake Baikal, the risk criterion is high.
And if an enterprise has committed environmental offenses, its license for subsoil use or waste management has been revoked or canceled, or an official has already been convicted for an environmental crime, the risk criterion rises to extremely high.
The frequency of inspections directly depends on the risk category. Therefore, a risk-based approach involves reducing the number of government inspections in areas where the risk of violations is lower. This approach should reduce the administrative burden on conscientious enterprises.
Since 2018, RZD has been using the corporate standard “Environmental Protection Management System at JSC RZD”. Rules for organizing and conducting internal audits and inspections”, which establishes the main goals, objectives and procedures for planning, organizing and conducting internal environmental audits and inspections in the company.
Over the past year, over 2,000 inspections and audits in the field of environmental safety were carried out by the authorized employees of Russian Railways. This allows you to work on the prevention of environmental risks.

– What needs to be done to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from the railway and get rid of equipment and waste containing persistent organic pollutants? What “green technologies” are being used and how long will it take?
– According to the State Report on the State and Protection of the Environment, the impact on the environment of the divisions of Russian railways is minimal (share from 0.04 to 1.08%). Railway transport has long been using the cleanest source of energy - electricity - in the main volume of transportation.
Today, Russian railways transport more than 86% of cargo and 85% of passengers on electric traction. This alone is a significant advantage of rail transport in terms of environmental efficiency. For example, for the trip of one passenger from St. Petersburg to Moscow by train, 2.5 times less CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere than by bus, and almost 4 times less than by plane.
According to the annual reports of the International Energy Agency and the International Union of Railways, the energy efficiency indicators of Russian railways remain among the best in the world. At the same time, taking into account the state strategy for the transition to sustainable low-carbon development, reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains part of the environmental strategy of Russian Railways.
Russian Railways has set strategic guidelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and approved a program to develop a greenhouse gas accounting and management system. At present, the company's greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 44% compared to the base year 1990.
With the adoption of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 164 dated June 27, 2011 “On the Ratification of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants” (POPs), Russia assumed obligations to ban and control POPs and destroy stocks of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The priority task is to decommission by 2025 electrical equipment containing PCBs and destroy PCB wastes by 2028.
According to preliminary data of documentary inventory, more than 28 thousand power transformers and more than 25 thousand capacitors are used in the subdivisions of the electrification and power supply economy and the Traction Directorate of Russian Railways. Approximately about 60% of the capacitor equipment of Russian Railways is subject to replacement and thermal neutralization due to the content of 100% PCBs in their composition.
In this regard, the company provides for an instrumental inventory of used equipment containing PCBs, the development of a roadmap for the decommissioning of contaminated equipment, the organization of accredited laboratory centers for the analysis of PCBs, the introduction of technical facilities for the cleaning of oil-filled equipment, and the neutralization of contaminated equipment.

– Generally speaking, how does Russian Railways, in your opinion, meet modern environmental requirements?
– Russian Railways today is one of the most complex economic complexes in the country. As a large company with more than 180 years of history, we have a sufficient number of problems, including the environmental direction: these are the issues of acoustic impact on the environment, waste management, wastewater treatment, liquidation of objects accumulated since the 30s of the last century environmental damage and others.
At the same time, setting the main goal of fulfilling the mission - to transport goods and passengers with maximum safety and high quality of services, the company considers it possible and necessary to participate in solving problems aimed at minimizing the anthropogenic impact on the environment.
Environmental safety plays an important role at all stages of the preparation and adoption of managerial decisions and is an important factor in the dynamic development of our company.
Our strategic guidelines are: reducing the negative impact of technological activities on the environment, introducing modern resource-saving technologies, creating a system for efficient waste management, improving environmental safety competencies among company managers and specialists.

I continue the story about the bright people of our company. Valentin Alexandrovich Gapanovich, Senior Vice President and part-time Chief Engineer of Russian Railways. This person did a lot for the company, in fact, under his leadership, Russian Railways reached a new technological level, largely in line with European practice, and in some ways even ahead of it. His entire career history is connected with the railway industry: after technical school he went to work as a foreman of a locomotive depot, continued to study, became a brilliant engineer, and at the same time managerial talent manifested itself. Now Gapanovich is not just one of the leaders of the company, but a global innovator. Such people are the "white bone" of the railway industry, and I am very glad that at one time we became colleagues and started working in the same team. We met in the early 2000s at the construction project for the port of Ust-Luga, I was then the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Railways, and he was the chief engineer of the Oktyabrskaya Railway. At that time it was still an open field, construction was just beginning. Many, by the way, were skeptical about the idea of ​​the project, they believed that it would be very difficult to implement it technologically. Gapanovich was just engaged in the technological coordination of the railway complex with other components, and what they then created with the designers is now fully implemented. The port of Ust-Luga has not only taken place, but it is developing powerfully and is already becoming a serious competitor to the Baltic ports and one of the largest ports in Europe.

When Russian Railways was established, I invited Valentin Alexandrovich to work in the central office. Then the company faced a very serious task of eliminating the technological failure in the field of traction rolling stock. It was necessary to restore transport engineering almost anew to produce new locomotives, modern cars, and begin to master high-speed traffic technologies. It was decided to single out innovation activity in a separate block, which was headed by Gapanovich. It is thanks to his efforts that we are currently implementing six types of domestic locomotives of the new generation, including a line of electric locomotives with an asynchronous traction motor. The creation of locomotives is a very complicated process, and given certain problems of the loss of a design school in the country, Russian Railways specialists took an active part in the development. There was no time for buildup, so we combined many projects with tests. Largely thanks to Gapanovich, technological cooperation with Siemens in the field of railway transport started, which has now grown into a full-fledged partnership in many areas. This man signed the first contract with Siemens for locomotive building, prepared a project with the Germans to launch the Sapsan. The adaptation of a European train for operation in Russian conditions required the introduction of a mass of structural elements. Then the Lastochka was launched, the world's first gas turbine locomotive, powered by liquefied natural gas, was created. The project is very interested in the Americans. They even suggested that the transition to the use of turbines and liquefied gas could become a new revolution in rail transport, similar to the transition from steam to diesel traction. I can say with some pride that we still have a number of advanced developments. And the traffic control system created by Valentin Alexandrovich was successfully tested in the Olympic Sochi.

All these things that Valentin Alexandrovich Gapanovich does determine the face of Russian Railways for many years to come. He himself is a very enthusiastic person, he can talk for hours about innovations, and speak in an interesting and simple way. It energizes others with its own energy. Gathered smart specialists, engineers around him, actively attracts innovation activities the youth. They constantly test and develop their ideas at the site of the Association of Railway Equipment Manufacturers, and actively exchange experience with foreign colleagues. As a result, what yesterday seemed like a fantasy is becoming a reality. So, Gapanovich has already reported to me about the possibility of moving containers using magnetic levitation as a very specific joint project with Rosatom. The idea of ​​maglev trains has been implemented in Shanghai and Tokyo, but in passenger transport, and our innovators want to apply it to freight transport, given that container logistics can afford a slightly higher transport component. This is a fundamentally new type of transport, when, due to the creation of a magnetic field, the trolley with the container rises and the train moves without touching the ground. There are no rubbing parts, and we are talking about speeds of 450-500 km / h. These are the projects Valentin Alexandrovich puts on the agenda today!