Commuter trains must be preserved
Press release, 15.01.2015
YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev demanding to conduct the check of commuter trains tariffs growth and make amendments to the Concept of commuter trains system development.
“The situation with commuter trains system has become disastrous. Actually, it has been liquidated as a united transport unit”, runs in the letter.
The reasons for this have become the destruction of budgetary federalism, monopoly of the Russian railways and the Concept of commuter trains system development adopted by the Government which laid the responsibility for commuter trains financing on the regional budgets.
According to the Ministry of Transport, 97 million citizens of Russia used commuter trains in 2014. Despite the fact, 580 commuter trains were canceled this year. Only ten regions of Russia managed to fulfill the financial obligations towards the Russian railways.
In the beginning of 2015 the Russian Railways’ subsidiary companies announced about the full cancelation of commuter trains system work in the number of regions which will take place in the near future.
Posted: January 19th, 2015 under Social Policies.