On September 30, 2025, the 46th meeting of the open interuniversity research and practical seminar “Railway Transport Economics” was held at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in a hybrid format. The discussion focused on the report “Coal on Rails.”

The report was presented by Pavel Aleksandrovich Shestakov, Deputy General Director of JSC Institute for Transport Economics and Development (IEDT). The discussants/co-speakers were Pavel Anatolyevich Ivankin, President of the National Research Center for Transportation and Infrastructure (NRC TI), and Dr. of Economics Mikhail Egonovich Dmitriev, President of the Economic Partnership “New Economic Growth.”

Pavel Aleksandrovich spoke about IEDT and its main areas of activity, as well as the concept and objectives of the analytical report “Coal on Rails,” emphasizing its uniqueness. The discussion focused on pressing issues concerning the interaction between the coal industry and railway transport: the transformation of the global coal market, the reorientation of Russian coal exports, the dynamics of world coal prices and their impact on the coal sector, the assessment of netbacks under conditions of high market volatility, and the economic efficiency of rail coal transportation by route and direction, among others.

The lively discussions allowed for a deeper analysis of the key challenges and prospects for the development of the coal industry and railway transport, highlighting the importance of the topic and the strong interest of the audience.

Photo: Economy on Rails (RZD Files)