Russian Railways

OJSC Russian Railways is a wholly state-owned Russian company that both manages railway infrastructure and operates freight and passenger train services across Russia, holding a near-monopoly on long-distance rail travel within the country. It was established on 18 September 2003 as part of a restructuring of the former Ministry of Railways into a joint-stock company wholly owned by the Russian state, and it is headquartered at Red Gates Square in Moscow. The company carries more than a billion passengers and roughly a billion tons of freight every year, operating across Russia and into Belarus, making it one of the largest railway systems in the world by both track length and traffic volume. Its dual role as infrastructure owner and train operator gives it central control over nearly all rail movement in Russia.