18:39, 09 March 2026

Moscow Railways Deploy Smart Locomotive Management System

The new management platform is built on modern domestic technologies and advanced visualization and analytics tools

Rail operations in Moscow are being transferred to an intelligent platform called Tsifrovoye lokomotivnoye depo (Digital Locomotive Depot). The transition is taking place gradually, with functions of the previous software being phased out while reporting and operational management move to the new system. The industry newspaper Gudok reported the development, citing sources in the railway sector.

Three Operational Task Blocks

According to Dmitry Kostenko, a first-category technologist at the Traction Directorate of Russian Railways (RZD), the Moscow traction directorate belongs to the first group implementing the new system. Testing of the planning module by locomotive depot personnel is expected to conclude soon.

“The new system automatically builds work schedules for locomotive crews, taking into account rest requirements, employee qualifications and train routes. This helps dispatchers and other staff. The automated management system distributes workload in advance, clarifies all parameters a day before departure and quickly reassigns crews depending on operational conditions,” said Olga Andreyeva, head of the locomotive crew reserve at the Bryansk-2 operational locomotive depot.

The system was first tested in pilot mode in 2021 at the Rybnoye-Sortirovochnoye depot. In 2024 all critical elements were launched and large-scale deployment began. Engineers continue refining the platform, improving the monitoring of recommendation accuracy and coordinating with developers to eliminate errors. About 70 percent of identified inconsistencies have already been resolved.

The system addresses three major operational areas. In addition to planning, it manages locomotive maintenance, provides real-time monitoring of plan execution, oversees technological constraints and helps prevent errors and violations. The analytics module collects operational data, calculates performance metrics and generates forecasts.

A “Digital Brain” for Rail Operations

“One important feature of the new system is its unified architecture, while still accounting for the specifics of each railway. On the Moscow Railway this primarily means intensive passenger traffic. Train schedules are far denser, which affects how crews are organized. Optimization models help reduce gaps between underwork and overtime while meeting a large number of operational constraints,” Kostenko said.

The new platform is built on domestic technologies and uses modern visualization and analytics tools. The system was designed from the outset with technological independence in mind, so its key components are Russian-made. The next stage will introduce artificial intelligence capabilities.

By 2029 the platform is expected to function as a “digital brain,” coordinating in real time the operation of both locomotives and locomotive crews across Russian Railways (RZD).

Earlier reports said engineers in Ulyanovsk are developing the Stalker unmanned aerial vehicle for RZD.

Transport and logistics