The purpose of this paper is to define the role and place of the transportation component of the adjacent subjects of two countries in their economic potential for implementation of intergovernmental cooperation. The role and place of the transportation component in estimation of the benefits of the transportation and geographical position becomes evident only when the population, resources and economy of the border regions are jointly analyzed. The analysis of such parameters of the border regions of Russia (Western Siberia) and Kazakhstan performed by means of comparison and association of their economic and transportation potentials, showed that territorial production complexes in them have been developed, and the prospective development within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union will be determined by the joint use of the benefits of the transportation and geographic position implemented with participation of railway transport.

Capacity of railway blocks and sections is one of the most important parameters of railway transport operation. The purpose of the study is to find a universal parameter of railway blocks and sections capacity that would allow maximum use of the reserves available. This paper proposes to use “partial capacity filling factors”, which are defined as the ratio of the changed capacity factor to the existing value, as a relative indicator. The methodology of application of this indicator has been elaborated, examples of calculations have been provided. There are nomograms in the paper that allow determining the maximum number of trains that can be passed through the section taking into consideration all conditions of operation.

The suburban passenger rail transport sector plays a significant role in the country’s economy, ensuring the freedom of movement of citizens, contributing to the increase of transport accessibility of certain areas and the functioning of advanced development zones. Improving suburban services in the largest agglomerations is identified as the most important task in the development Strategy of the “Russian Railways” holding for the period up to 2030. Increasing speeds on the main routes will attract significant passenger traffic and improve the economic and social condition of the regions. All these reasons, in addition to the significant sustainability challenges that this priority sector is currently facing in all aspects, justify the interest in research through strategic analysis based on the traditional Porter’s Five Force model. The application of this model will allow getting a general strategic vision that will provide a deeper knowledge of the object under study, which will serve as the basis for the subsequent development of a strategy for the development of suburban passenger transport by rail. The purpose of the paper is to assess the level of intra-industry competition in the regional market of suburban passenger transport in order to develop a strategy for the development of suburban passenger transport by rail.