Railway transport development in the Kaluga Region in the post-Soviet period

the article examines the evolution of the railway infrastructure of the Kaluga region in the post-Soviet period (from the 1990s to the present), focusing on the dynamics of passenger transportation. The purpose of the work is to identify problems and show possible options for the development of railway transport in the Kaluga region in the period from 1991 to the present. The turning point was the launch of the Moscow – Kaluga express in 1999, which offered increased comfort. Important milestones were the appearance (and subsequent cancellation) of "accelerated electric trains" (2000-2010), the reorientation from international routes (Moscow – Kiev) to domestic ones ("Daytime express trains" Moscow – Bryansk via Kaluga with double–decker trains from 2019). Another aspect of our work is the issue of the influence of geopolitics – reduction trains of Ukraine/Moldovans after 2014 and their complete disappearance by 2020 After 2022, southern trains were actively developed, which somewhat revived passenger traffic in the Kaluga Region. The article discusses the prospects for the development of the Moscow Central Diameters (hereinafter – MCDs) in the context of plans to extend them to the regions.

railway transport, Kaluga region, transport infrastructure, interstate cooperation, 1990s, Russian Federation