Happy Railway Worker's Day!

Dear colleagues and partners!

We congratulate you on the professional holiday –

Railway Worker's Day!

Railway Worker's Day is traditionally celebrated every year on the first Sunday of August; this year it falls on August 4.

Railway Worker's Day was first established by order No. 68 of the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire, Prince Mikhail Khilkov, dated June 28 (July 10, New Style), 1868.

His Imperial Majesty, in commemoration of the birthday of Emperor Nicholas I, by whose sovereign will the construction and operation of railways in Russia was begun, upon our most loyal report, on June 28 of this year was pleased to command: to establish an annual celebration of the anniversary of Emperor Nicholas I by all central and local institutions administering the railways of Russia. This Highest Will has been announced through the Department of Railways.

— Minister of Railways, Prince M. Khilkov.

The new holiday became the first professional holiday for railway and transport industry employees, not only in the Russian Empire, but in European countries as well.

The date of the annual celebration of Railway Worker's Day by all central and local institutions in charge of the railways in Russia was tied to the birthday of Emperor Nicholas I, June 25 (July 6, New Style). Nicholas I is considered the founder of railway affairs in Russia: under him, the first excursion railway to Tsarskoye Selo was built, as well as the first all-Russian main line from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

On Railway Worker's Day back then, central and local railway institutions did not work, and in the evening a dinner with a concert was held in the hall of the Pavlovsky railway station of the Tsarskoye Selo Railway. Thanksgiving services were held at major stations and terminals. The celebration was especially solemn on the Fontanka embankment at building No. 117, where the Russian Ministry of Railways was located at the time — worth noting that river transport was also part of this ministry then, in effect already representing the logistics technologies of intermodal transportation.

Not only senior officials of the Ministry of Railways attended the celebration, but also representatives of the railway departments of the Ministry of Finance and the State Control, who worked in close contact with the Ministry of Railways. Railway Worker's Day was regularly celebrated until June 25, 1917.

After the October Revolution, all the tsarist holidays were abolished — to great regret, Railway Worker's Day among them. The tradition of celebrating Railway Worker's Day resumed only in 1936, following a proposal put forward by railway workers themselves:

"...on Railway Worker's Day as a day of maximum labor effort for the glory of the Motherland..." — during a conference of railway transport workers in Moscow on July 25–30, 1935. After the conference, during a reception for railway workers in the Kremlin, Joseph Salin personally thanked the comrades for their achievements:

"Allow me to propose a toast to your successes, which are undeniable and for which you have earned genuine comradely praise. Allow me to propose a toast to the achievements you do not yet have, but which you must certainly attain — so that all of you, from the switchman to the People's Commissar, do everything necessary and lift up transport, which is already climbing uphill, but still swaying as it goes — so that transport becomes a clear-working, properly functioning, precise conveyor belt, like a good clockwork mechanism! To all of you, and to your People's Commissar, comrades!"

On July 29, 1936, a special issue of the newspaper "Gudok" was published, opening with a resolution of the USSR government: "On the Celebration of the Day of Railway Transport of the Soviet Union." The Day of Railway Transport of the Soviet Union was declared a nationwide holiday, and its first celebration was organized across the entire country in the shortest possible time.

A few years later, by a resolution of the USSR Council of People's Commissars dated July 9, 1940, it was decided "to move the celebration of the All-Union Railway Worker's Day in 1940 to the nearest day off (Sunday) — August 4. In the future, to establish the celebration of the All-Union Railway Worker's Day on the first day off (Sunday) of August" — as it is celebrated to this day.

From 1980 to the present, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the professional holiday of railway transport workers is called "Railway Worker's Day" and remains on the calendar of professional holidays in the 21st century. In 2003, JSC "Russian Railways" (RZD) established "Railway Worker's Day" as its corporate holiday, alongside the state one.

The railway industry occupies a special place in the life of the country –

its condition determines the strength and level of development of our countries and directly affects our well-being, safety, and comfort, which are so essential in this era of rapid movement. Railways are continuously modernized, travel time is reduced, comfort on board is improved,

and new technologies are introduced.

A steady course toward the development of comfort and safety on Russia's railways.

May devotion to the profession and genuine love for one's work

help all railway workers successfully accomplish the tasks at hand!

Railway workers — we wish you strong health, prosperity,

professional success, and inexhaustible energy!