Regional Policy of the Russian Railways in THE Context of Depopulation. Geopolitical and Socio- Demographic Aspects

Abstract

Railway transport have unique geopolitical and socio-economic importance for the Russian Federation, providing transport links between most regions, connecting the Asian and European parts with each other and some foreign countries, as well as holds together such a territorially large state as Russia in transport and socio-economic relation. In this regard, the problem of the development of transport systems in strategic regions of Russia, as well as the specifics of the regional policy of Russian Railways in the context of demographic problems and the geopolitical position of these territories, is becoming especially urgent. It is significant that the main connecting element of the infrastructure of the Asian part of the country is the rail transport. The research of the authors showed that the demographic and migration situation in the Russian regions is to a certain extent dependent on the density of the railway network. Then higher the density of railways, the more attractive regions in terms of migration are. And, on the contrary, in regions with a low density of railways, there is a steady trend of the migration outflow of the population. At the same time, demographic forecasts show that in the absence of promising infrastructure projects, negative trends in migration outflow and natural population decline are highly likely to continue, and, therefore, in the medium term, the population of the eastern regions will decline. In our opinion, for the effective spatial development of the territories of Siberia and the Far East, it is necessary to form a network of modern multimodal transport hubs and international transport corridors that take into account the climatic and demographic aspects of the development of the eastern territories of Russia. In addition, international competition for promising transport projects is constantly growing, which, given the low efficiency of the location of productive forces and the unused spatial potential of the Russian economy, becomes a significant geo-economic threat. The presented article examines the influence of the transport infrastructure level development for the system of settlement and trends in the socio-economic development of geostrategic territories of Russia; identified trends in the spatial and socio-economic development of the eastern territories located near the main railway lines; analyzed the demographic situation and migration trends in the eastern territories in the context of the personnel needs of the railway complex; strategic directions for the formation of personnel policy and replenishment of labor resources at Russian Railways have been developed. In addition, recommendations were developed to improve the efficiency of the spatial development of Siberia and the Far East based on the development of railway transport and promising projects for the formation of innovative transport systems.