Russian State Railways (RZD)

Company History: Russian Railways (Russian: ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), romanized: OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services.

The company was established on 18 September 2003, when a decree was passed to separate the upkeep and operation of the railways from the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation.

In the mid-1990s, the profitability of railway transportation of the Russian Ministry of Railways fell to negative values, the bureaucratization of the ministry itself was publicly criticized, which became an occasion for reforms. Shortly after being elected president of Russia in 2000, Vladimir Putin approved the idea of reforming the railway transport, according to which all economic functions on the railway should be transferred to a joint-stock company with 100% state participation. The start of the state program for reforming the Russian railway sector was given by the establishment of Russian Railways in October 2003. The new company received over 95% of the assets belonging to the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation.

In 2003, the Federal Law on Railway Transport divided the Ministry of Railways into the Federal Railway Transport Agency (FRTA) and Russian Railways (RZD). The reform also required RZD to provide access to railway infrastructure to other carriers and operators. As the law requires carriers to provide service to customers anywhere in Russia, RZD retained its dominant position.From Wikipedia

Brief History: Russia is the largest country in the world by area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area.
The country in its current form was created in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR), but Russia has a long history tracing back to the creation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547 .