Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleRussian Railways plans to cut management jobs due to lower freight volumes and economic slowdown, implementing unpaid leave and hiring freezes.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways plans to reduce management jobs as the company faces lower freight volumes and a broader slowdown in the Russian economy, Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing the company.
Russia's industrial giants — from railways and automakers to metals, coal, and cement producers — are struggling with weakening domestic demand, cheap Chinese imports, high interest rates and shrinking export markets.
Russian Railways, which employs about 700,000 people, had already asked central office staff to take three unpaid days off per month, sources told Reuters, and other Russian companies, including carmaker Avtovaz, cement maker Cemros and mining companies had reduced working hours and fired staff.
The company said "the optimisation of its management structure" was aimed at improving efficiency in the context of declining volume of work and a difficult economic situation, Interfax reported.
Russian Railways did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
According to Interfax, it also said a hiring freeze and eliminating existing vacancies will be used first.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Management optimization refers to the process of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization's management structure to enhance productivity and reduce costs.
Unpaid leave policies allow employees to take time off without pay, often used during periods of economic hardship or when companies need to reduce labor costs.
A hiring freeze is a temporary halt on recruiting new employees, often implemented by organizations facing financial difficulties or economic downturns.
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