OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2008. At 8%, rail freight tariffs in 2007 increased by less than half those in Russia’s transport sector, which amounted to 16.7%. Rail freight tariffs were also 1.5 times lower than inflation, which reached 11.9%, and more than three times lower than the increase in the producer prices of industrial products, which jumped by 25.1%.

Vadim Morozov, First Vice-President of Russian Railways, said that in the near future, attention should be focused on tariff regulation to ensure the continued development of rail transport.

In addition, according to Morozov, it was necessary to compensate for losses from suburban passenger services, which in 2007 amounted to about 32 billion roubles, reducing the Company’s overall investment opportunities and affecting its ability to improve the quality of the suburban services.

“The efficient development of suburban transport required a mechanism to shift to public support for suburban passengers services to ensure they do not incur losses,” said Morozov.