Digitalization of railway station complexes

Background: Digital railway is the most important global trend in the development of railway transport. “Smart station” is part of the digital railway concept. Currently, there is no unambiguous solution to the problem of how to introduce advanced information technologies to improve the efficiency and level of service of the railway transport system in the station complexes. The construction of new and reconstruction of existing station complexes in accordance with the concept of “smart station” is also relevant for Russian railways.

Aim: identify priority areas for the development of station complexes; to characterize the main measures for the digitalization of the management system of railway stations of Russian Railways.

Materials and Methods: in the course of the study, a systematic approach, analysis, synthesis, methods and tools for statistical data processing were used: tabular method, methods for calculating average and relative values, methods for analyzing dynamics. Activities for the digitalization of station management systems were evaluated on the basis of methods for evaluating the effectiveness of investment projects in the field of railway transport. The information base consists of the works of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of digitalization of railways, the development of railway stations, as well as strategic documents of Russian Railways: Long-term program for the development of railway stations of the Directorate of Railway Stations – a branch of Russian Railways for the period up to 2025; The concept of efficient use and development of railway stations for the period up to 2030; Development strategy of the Russian Railways holding for the period up to 2030; Long-term development program of Russian Railways until 2025.

Results: the world trends in the development of station complexes are considered; clarified the essence of the category “smart station”; the characteristics of the main directions of digitalization of the station complexes of Russian Railways are given.

Conclusion: the concept of “smart station” is the basis for changes in the organization of the activities of station complexes being implemented in modern conditions. The introduction of digitalization contributes to an increase in the efficiency of all types of activities of the station complexes of Russian Railways.