The issues of development of the theory of transport macrosystems are considered regarding results obtained in the works of A. G. Wilson, Yu. S. Popkov, A. V. Gasnikov, E. V. Gasnikova and others. The transport macrosystem is considered a complex multicomponent system to which series of thermodynamic analogy can be applied (equilibrium state, information entropy as a function of state parameters, the presence of basic phenomenological schemes for filling of states with elements, etc.). To further develop the theory of development of transport modelling, which is the objective of the article, it is proposed to consider circumstances that reflect modern trends in development of transport systems: diversity of transport systems, dynamic nature of its functioning, many different elements that can obey different models for filling of states. To implement this task, various methods are used: equation of the transport process introduced by the author, which makes it quite easy to go to quasi-dynamic formulations of transport modelling problems, as well as a general formal representation of the system as a set of elements, which is determined based on the analysis of many works of domestic authors. The conclusion is dedicated to discussion of issues of further development of the theory of transport macrosystems in a dynamic setting.

Any object located in the pipeline, including the flow meter, leads to a drop in pressure in the pipeline and the need to increase the power of the pumps. Therefore, it seems promising to reduce energy consumption for pumping fluid in the pipeline by reducing the number of flow meters installed after shut-off and control valves and to predict the flow rate of the pumped medium by the position of the locking element in the valve. This will also lead to a reduction in the cost of transporting media by reducing the number of metering devices. In order to solve this complex problem in pipeline transport, the article solves a number of regional problems of hydromechanics based on the finite element method. In order to simplify the acquaintance with these solutions, as well as their practical application by engineers, the article proposes «parametric stationary vortex flow models in such types of shut-off and control valves as a ball valve, butterfly valve, wedge gate valve, angle valve. Without prejudice to generality of the technique, water is considered as an example of a pumped medium. The analysis was performed using FLOTRAN CFD software of ANSYS10 ED program».
The article describes in detail the capabilities of both the graphical interface and the command line. Creating models is accompanied by full comments on the actions, which allows any user to master these models. All stages of building models are considered in detail: construction of a solid-state model, selection of elements, appointment of properties of the pumped media, appointment of boundary conditions, as well as solving the problem and viewing the results. «It has been established that the flow rate of the medium is affected both by the geometry of the considered types of shut-off and control valves», and the position of the locking element. The technique can be applied to any designs of pipe fittings associated with calculation of movement of a viscous fluid.

The traditional assessment of efficiency of operations and of development projects of transport systems is based on a mercantilist approach that considers efficiency of activities according to the «cost–income–profit of economic entities» pattern. In this case, non-systemic, external results are usually not considered, while they can be many times higher in value terms than the internal results obtained by economic entities. External results are often seen outside the realm of purely economic relations. This is especially evident in the infrastructure sector, the material basis of which is formed by transport and logistics. To some extent a crisis of economic doctrine has arisen. An ecological crisis is being observed due to unrestrained anthropogenic activity. The concentration of people and production activities in cities has become the cause of the urbanization crisis. Growing inequality has led to an exacerbation of social contradictions. As a result, mankind has faced a complex crisis of civilization. Sustainable development was recognized as the main means of resolving the crisis. Sustainable transport dev elopement-being primarily an infrastructure field of activity, serves as the foundation for building sustainable development of the economy and social sphere. The sustainable development goals set by the world community under the auspices of the UN can only be achieved through the comprehensive assessment of effectiveness of management decisions (cumulative accounting of all internalities and externalities). Transport has become a pioneer in sustainable development of territories and cities. The approach to a comprehensive assessment of effectiveness of sustainable development determines the reform of economic and fiscal relations in the future according to the principle of the Pigou tax.
The objective of this article is to explore ways to improve assessment of effectiveness and methodology of sustainable development of transport organizations and transport systems. The article substantiates the relevance and directions of improving the methodology for a comprehensive assessment of the results of transport activities and presents analytical models for a comprehensive assessment of its effectiveness. The promising tasks for continuation of research and development are associated with justification and legal legitimation of the use of cost estimates of various external results of improving transport, as well as with development of a system for monitoring of information necessary for a comprehensive assessment of sustainable transport development.

Beam spans are the most vulnerable elements of the bridge system, as they are exposed to direct effects of mobile load, environmental and climatic factors (temperature and humidity effects, including freezing and thawing, shrinkage, humidity, etc.). Appearance of defects of the structure is inevitable; the refore civil engineers face a topical problem of strengthening of damaged structures of bridges. The article discusses some results of calculated values and instrumental measurements of stress-strain state (SSS) of reinforced concrete beam span structures of railway overpass under operational load caused by different rolling stock units. The objective of this study is to control stress-strain state of railway overpass for identification and elimination of defects at early stages. The calculation results obtained, carried out by finite-element method (FEM) in the program ABAQUS/Standard correlate well with experimental data. These results can be used for monitoring the state of artificial structures on main lines of JSC NC KTZ.

Up to 2025 operations at the network of the Northern Railway (a subsidiary of JSC Russian Railways) may increase according to forecasts by 28,4 %, which is associated with construction of the Northern latitudinal railway. At the same time, a significant part of the Northern Railway is characterized by difficult climatic conditions: permafrost, polygonal-vein ice, peat bog areas, sharp temperature drops, significant amounts of precipitation in the form of snow. In the context of the planned increase in cargo intensity, the diagnostics of the roadbed in the zone of distribution of soils with weak bearing capacity against the backdrop of global climate change is of key character.
The article is devoted to survey of the roadbed located in the permafrost zone. The results of diagnostics of the state of the railway track make it possible to forecast the state of railway infrastructure facilities, to categorize subsidence of the roadbed according to the degree of danger, and to develop measures for its stabilization.
The objective of the work is to study the factors affecting degradation of the roadbed located in the permafrost zone.
The methods of the work are based on field examinations of «sick» places of the roadbed and statistical forms of analysis of longitudinal profile deformations (subsidence) of the track.
The result of this work is the study of influence of a number of factors on dev elopment of deformations of the roadbed located in the permafrost zone. In the future, it is planned, based on the results of diagnostics of the state of the railway track, to forecast the permafrost state of railway infrastructure facilities, to categorize subsidence of the roadbed according to the degree of danger, and to develop measures to stabilize it.

Increasing the efficiency of functioning of railway transport in the field of cargo and passenger transportation, reducing operating costs are immediately related at present to the cost of maintaining and restoring traction rolling stock. Optimization of operating costs is possible on the basis of the transition from a scheduled preventive system of repair of traction rolling stock, based on assessment of the average statistical level of its technical condition without considering peculiarities of the operating range, to a system of repair and maintenance based on the actual technical condition, objectively determined on the basis of creation and implementation of onboard, portable and stationary means of technical diagnostics of units and assemblies, of development of a data bank on the current state of electric locomotives and their units.
Power plants belong to the basic elements and units of traction rolling stock structures. The reliability and service life of traction electric motors of electric locomotives, especially winding insulation, does not meet modern requirements, and the existing systems for diagnosing the state of winding insulation do not allow providing the required level of failure detection at an early stage. To qualitatively determine the wear category of the insulating material, new approaches have been developed. They are based on the method of IR spectrophotometry based on relative rate of transmittance of electromagnetic radiation in a gas atmosphere removed from the traction motor winding. This is the basis for development and implementation of onboard system for automated monitoring of the current state of the electric motor insulation and assessment of the residual resource.

Methods for analyzing the economic activity of airlines and forecasting the prerequisites for bankruptcy of airlines is becoming an important task for development of the industry. In past years, there were examples of a sound negative experience related to bankruptcy of airlines. At the same time, the main volume indicators of the airlines concerned had got positive dynamics shortly before the bankruptcy and were considered by BCG matrix as evident «stars» in terms of growth in production volumes and in the share of the air transportation market.
In Russia that was the case of Sibir airlines which in 2007–2008 barely avoided bankruptcy, as well as of Transaero Airlines that has left the air transportation market forever. The first lowcost airlines, Skyexpress and Avianova, went bankrupt amid high growth in the number of passengers transported.
The task of the research was to create a model that allows to simulate the situation associated with the airline overcoming the so-called «second break-even point». To forecast the possible time period for the airline to receive an operating loss against the background of growing volume indicators, production and financial indicators of one of the leading Russian airlines were used.
The method of research is modelling of volume and financial indicators of the airline activity. The model is proposed to be built not on the study of future changes in the growth of volume and financial indicators, but on the study of dynamics of the rate of change of those indicators. The study is based on the fact that the dynamics of air transportation has a cyclical basis, which is invisible when directly analyzing changes in production and financial indicators, and which is on the contrary clearly visible when studying the dynamics of the rates of those indicators, which makes it possible to simulate a situation when the airline will have an operational loss in the future.

The article discusses the features and application of the technology of deployment of quality functions. The objective of the article is to present an efficient methodology allowing transport companies to make management decisions in the field of improving the quality of transport services provided to cargo owners. The technique was developed based on the House of Quality model (matrix) in the framework of the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept.
Using logical, graphic, factorial, comparative, balance methods and considered technology the article describes in detail the structure and the procedure for constructing the House of Quality matrix within the process of analysis of rail transportation companies and focusing on the features and criteria of customer preferences in the field of rail freight transportation.
Actual examples were used to show particularities of provision of rail transportation services. The developed technique and recommendations may be useful for transport companies to proceed with multiple factor analysis if their activity in the field of quality management, to assess efficacy and identify priorities while making decisions aimed at increasing quality of transportation services.

The current stage of economic development is characterized by a structural crisis that manifests itself in many areas and sectors of the economy. This situation is explained, among other things, by the transitional state of the world economic system, caused by the process of rooting of a new technological order, development of Industry 4.0. The changes resulted from implementation of the process will play a key role in determining trends and directions of world economic development in the coming decades and will characterize the new technological structure and vectors of further development and introduction of technologies.
The speed of development and introduction of new technologies and products is the main distinctive feature of the new technological paradigm. The most important indicators of the success of the new economic model will be thus speed, volume, and quality. Those companies that can adapt faster and better to the new realities of economic development will be the leaders of the new system of market economy. Speed and quality will be among key criteria that determine the success of a company in modern conditions: in the competition for leading positions, companies will have to do everything faster and better than others. The relevance of such a paradigm is confirmed by the reduction of research, technological and innovation cycles as for the time from emergence of an idea to its implementation and transfer to industrial operations.
Mass digitalization of all aspects of activities and a reduction in duration of cycles of updating equipment and technologies determine the tendency for companies to reorient from an exclusively internal type of organization of innovation activities to, mainly, external ones. This article analyzes forms and tools for organizing innovative activities, including through building specific relationships with external participants in the innovation ecosystem. The research is focused on the practices of selected world railway companies.
The objective of this article is to review the tools and methods of organizing innovation in selected leading railway companies and to identify its most common forms. A comprehensive analysis of functioning of forms of innovation was carried out using methods of structural and comprehensive comparative analysis, generalization, and deductive methods.

In many world’s most populous cities, railways are an integral part of urban transport systems. Commuter and intraurban passenger railway traffic is often and widely considered in this context. On the other hand, the constant growth in passenger traffic of longdistance trains, traditionally gravitating towards railway stations and adjacent urban transport hubs, including metro stations through which arriving passengers pass towards their final destinations in the city, requires search for new solutions to improve comfort of the trip for passengers, and to remove the excess load from the urban transit system.
Considering the experience and features of organization of long-distance passenger railway traffic in various countries, the authors based on previous research suggests certain solutions regarding Moscow railway hub. To organize comfortable environment for passengers of all categories of trains, it is advisable to develop a balanced technology of train traffic within the Moscow junction, excluding overloading of individual elements of the transport system (in particular, of rail stations in the city center).
The objective of the article is to analyze global experience in organizing traffic of long-distance passenger trains within the boundaries of large agglomerations and to develop proposals to organize additional stopping points for long-distance trains in various districts of Moscow, which will help reduce the load on central transport and interchange hubs, improve quality of transportation services for passengers, and develop the districts of Moscow and Moscow region adjacent to the new TIHs.

The article discusses development of a system of transport and interchange hubs (TIH). The need to create TIHs is due to an opportunity to increase efficiency of passenger flows in the urban public transport system, to reduce travel time for passengers, to ensure comfortable and safe conditions for transfer, and to improve quality of service to the population.
 The objective of the research is to develop methods that allow solving the problem of optimal selection of TIH locations in any city according to the economic criterion and the criterion of the average travel time using the methods of mathematical modelling. The technique comprises search for optimal travel routes in the city and identification of effective interchange hubs using the developed software product called «Efficient transfers». Efficient transfer hubs with maximum passenger traffic are candidates for TIH locations. The work describes calculations made according the proposed methods and optimal options for location of this in the city of Samara considering limited funds, reduction in travel time and in the number of passengers using these TIHs. The research also resulted in obtaining the dependence of reduction in the average time of an urban trip on the number of TIHs.

According to experts, the volume of groupage cargo transportation market in Russia in 2019 ranged from 180 to 200 billion rubles. This segment of cargo transportation is developing in a continuous mode: there are more and more new delivery schemes balancing in the corridor of «price–time–service» parameters.
The principle of customer focus affects formation of standards for interaction of shippers with customers at various stages of service delivery. This requires identification and assessment of customer needs and their satisfaction.
The article analyzes a model of customer-oriented behavior of a transport and logistics company in a market environment. The RZD-Express service provided by JSC Russian Railways was chosen as the object of the study, the subject of the study is transportation of groupage cargo under contracts with private individuals–shippers. The choice of transport services for transportation of groupage cargo of private individuals as the subject of research was reasoned. This choice allows to overcome the problem of information confidentiality, organize a survey via the Internet, and provide feedback to form objective assessment of the company’s customer focus. The objective of this article is development of an author’s methodology for analyzing quality of provision of services for transportation of goods to individuals from a customeroriented perspective. In the process of achieving this objective, the author used methods of questioning and analysis of data. The following tasks were set and solved: substantiation of the need to develop a special methodology for analyzing quality of research services; development of the author’s system of quality criteria; assessment on their basis by consumers using a questionnaire of the quality of these services, identification of bottlenecks and formulation of recommendations to improve quality of transport customer service.
The system of criteria for assessing quality of transportation, developed by the author, is formed with a focus on customer-oriented parameters, it can be used to assess quality of transport and logistics services by carriers of any mode of transport, the basic criteria can be expanded, subcriteria will be highlighted within each of them, which will allow for analysis in more detail following proposed main guidelines.

The article discusses the main stages of development of the Institute of Economics and Finance of Russian University of Transport. Brief information about changes in the status and structure of the Institute is followed by description of the results of its scientific and pedagogical activity, prominent transport economists working at the Institute. IEF is now one of the leading institutes of Russian University of Transport.
IEF trains engineers, bachelors, and masters in the fields of economics, management, trade, business and applied informatics, linguistics.
The article is dedicated to the 90^th anniversary of foundation of the Institute.

The journal Zheleznodorozhnoe Delo [Railway Business] in 1910 reviewed in detail the discussion in City Duma [Council] of St. Petersburg on the report of the Commission of the Ministry of Railways, that suggested the project of comprehensive development of rail transport in the city. Using more modern terminology the discussion touched upon the aspects that are still of interest nowadays, comprising impact on urban planning and traffic jams in the downtown, private public partnership, mobility of population, system development of urban and suburban transit, possibility to use railways for intracity travels and relevant fares, prospect for construction of metro.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the poetic works of the Russian authors of the middle 19^th century, who published in Sovremennik [The Contemporary; the literary and socio-political magazine founded in 1836] and extensiv ely reviewed the topic of construction of railways in the Russian Empire. Citing selected fragments of works of A. S. Pushkin, N. A. Nekrasov, N. A. Dobrolyubov, A. A. Fet, Ya. P. Polonsky, helps to present the socio-economic analysis of the problems associated with construction of first railways in Russia, as they were seen by Sovremennik authors. The conclusion is made that Sovremennik authors regarded the topic of construction and operation of railways as one of the most socially significant and promising.
Editorial note. Instead of a review of a scientific or educational edition traditionally suggested under that heading we publish the original analysis of the works of Russian writers and poets of 19^th century made from the point of view of the history of transport and particularly of socio-economic aspects of its development. The publication might confirm the importance of transport industry, that enjoyed widespread attention two centuries ago, as it does it nowadays.