Russian Railways is introducing a new fee for ticket refunds

Russian Railways (RZD) will introduce a new “progressive scale” of ticket refund fees for long-distance trains starting December 1, 2026. 

Previously, the ticket refund fee was a fixed amount of 3.7 rubles. Starting in December, the amount will depend on how close to the departure date the passenger cancels the trip.

Under the new rules, the fee will be:

• 10% of the ticket price—if the ticket is returned 9 days or fewer before the trip;
• 5%—if the refund is requested 10–29 days before departure;
• 3%—if the ticket is returned 30–44 days before departure;
• 1%—if the ticket is returned 45 days or more before the trip.

Russian Railways (RZD) stated that the new system is being introduced following a decision by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

“This approach will reduce the number of ‘just-in-case’ bookings and subsequent ticket refunds immediately before the train’s departure,” RZD stated.

The introduction of the new fee comes amid financial difficulties faced by the Russian railway monopoly, which have worsened since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, RZD’s net profit fell 22-fold—from 50.7 billion to 2.2 billion rubles. At the same time, the company’s debt reached a record 4 trillion rubles.

Faced with the need to cut costs, RZD also scaled back its investment program. Investments for 2025 totaled 890 billion rubles, compared to 1.5 trillion rubles the previous year—meaning the program was reduced by approximately 40%.

This includes, in particular, expenditures on construction and the purchase of railcars and locomotives.

Starting in 2026, the Russian monopoly plans to cut about 15% of its central office staff—approximately 6,000 people. This was previously announced by RZD Chairman Oleg Belozerov.

According to him, the company also plans to reduce spending on fuel and repairs. Overall, thanks to these measures, RZD expects to save 74 billion rubles.

Meanwhile, RZD’s profit for the first half of 2026 totaled 32.5 billion rubles.

To increase the company’s revenue, Russian authorities continue to raise rates. Passenger transportation rates are rising by 9.2%, and freight rates by 8.5%.

In addition, in March, RZD implemented an unscheduled 1% increase in freight rates as part of a “safety” surcharge.

Prior to this, freight rates had also been rising regularly: by 10% in 2025, by 13.8% in 2024, and by 6.8% and 8% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.   

This was reported by the company’s press service.

Earlier, dozens of bus routes from Novosibirsk to cities in the Kemerovo Region were canceled due to debts owed to carriers. These include routes to six cities, among them Novokuznetsk, Prokopyevsk, and Sheregesh. The carriers claim that the state-owned enterprise “Kuzbasspassazhiravtotrans” has not paid for the services rendered.

Funding for the Russian federal project to combat cancer will decrease 12-fold in 2027—from 44.896 billion rubles [approximately 24.16 billion hryvnias] this year to 3.873 billion rubles [approximately 2.08 billion hryvnias].