Challenges in achieving the modern level of heavy-haul technologies at the Eastern polygon of Russian Railways.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the main issues in reaching the modern level of cargo handle capacity for railroads of the Eastern Part of Russia. The main problems troubles of the current development strategy for Eastern polygon of the Russian Railways have been identified. Based on review of best practices of the overseas railroads in the bulk and intermodal cargo transportation, this paper proposed a direction for intensive railroad capacity development using the set of the key technologies for heavy-haul trains. The main idea of the paper is to take advantage of the distributed power for the heavy-haul trains to reduce longitudinal dynamics and lower rail track wear. It is necessary to dramatically revise the technical requirements for locomotives of next generation and make them more adopted to the operating model and conditions of the Eastern polygon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]