The number of passengers on suburban trains in Russia has decreased. In October, electric trains carried 88.4 million people, 5.4% less than a year earlier, Vedomosti writes , citing a survey by the Institute for Natural Monopoly Problems. Institute experts attribute this “to a decrease in the transport mobility of the male half of the population against the background of the announcement of partial mobilization in the country at the end of September.”
As stated in the study, the loss in the transportation of passengers in commuter rail traffic in October amounted to about 6 million people, or about 7% of the planned monthly figures for this type of transport. IPEM believes commuter traffic will recover by December to around 90 million monthly passengers.
At the same time, the report notes an increase in passenger transportation by long-distance trains in the whole country. This is due to the fact that 11 airports in southern Russia have been closed since the beginning of the war.
Finam Management's leading expert, Dmitry Baranov, told the publication that, first of all, the end of the summer season, a cold snap in a number of regions, as well as a "difficult situation with the incomes of the population" could affect the decline in suburban traffic.