Thermodynamic modeling is performed for regions of phase existence in economically alloyed corrosionresistant steels with the aim of determining the possibility of their use as a bimetal wear-resistant cladding layer. Quantitative evaluation is obtained for the form of nitrogen and oxygen present. It is demonstrated that for steels of the type in question introduction of niobium is only effective at the microalloying level. Keywords: corrosion-resistant steels, hot rolling, alloying with nitrogen, alloying with niobium, niobium carbonitride, austenite stabilization, thermodynamic analysis.Rapid development of high-speed railway transport in Russia requires the creation of reliable transport systems based on using fundamentally new materials with a breakthrough in wear and corrosion resistance indices, operating reliability, endurance, mechanical, and other service properties. In particular, these materials should guarantee accident-free and repair-free operation of superstructures in current railway bridges, whose construction provides a deadweight "trough." Layered materials are most promising for use in its manufacture with a main layer of high-strength structural steels and a cladding layer of multifunctional steel, which apart from high strength and corrosion resistance should exhibit good wear resistance and toughness. These specifi cations are satisfi ed by chromium steels of the transitional austenite-martensite class, which surpass other corrosion-resistant steels both with respect to reliability properties due to the presence of austenite within the structure, exhibiting improved toughness, and with respect to wear resistance due to the fact that residual metastable austenite is capable of undergoing deformation-dynamic martensitic transformation, absorbing mechanical energy and strengthening stressed parts. According to GOST 5632−72, the chromium and nickel contents in corrosion-resistant steels of the austenite-martensite class are within the limits 12-18% and 3.7-8%, respectively, and the content of manganese and silicon is not more than 0.8%. This level of alloying determines the quite high cost of these materials, and therefore for the bimetal cladding layer it is important to develop new economically alloyed austenite-martensite steels. In these steels with a reduced nickel content, the required austenite stability is provided by increasing manganese and nitrogen contents. Use of nitrogen as an alloying element has developed comparatively recently and has made it possible to create a number of new metallic materials with a nitrogen content of more than 0.1% [1][2][3][4].A possible version of the solution presented above may be composites containing 0.05-0.1% carbon, 14-15% chromium, 1.0-2.5% nickel, 2.5-4% manganese, about 0.5% silicon, and 0.1-0.2% nitrogen, with additional alloying by niobium. As seen from Fig. 1, the equivalent content of chromium and nickel for these composites is located in a Schaeffl er structure diagram [5] close to the boundary of structures: austenite + martensite/austenit...