Urban railways as a development driver for transport systems in Russian regions

Background. In circumstances where budgetary funds are limited, building new transport systems in Russian regions makes deployment of urban railways using the existing infrastructure an attractive solution. Aim. To study the impact of urban railways on the development of transport systems and to identify key drivers contributing to the growth of this trend. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the analysis of statistical data and other sources, using comparative analysis. Results. We considered the examples of the implementation of urban railway projects in the Moscow metropolitan area, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk and Rostov-on-Don. We assessed the key performance indicators for the integration of this means of transport into the urban infrastructure.