Railroad Ministry's revenues from transportation grew by 31% in 2002

The Railroad Ministry of Russia received RUR419bn ($13.17bn) in revenues from transportation in 2002. This amount exceeded the corresponding figure for 2001 by 31%. This information was reported by the Railroad Ministry's press service before a meeting of the Railroad Ministry Board, devoted to the results of 2002 operations, today. The press service pointed out that these results had allowed the Railroad Ministry to fulfill all tax liabilities to the government, to repay its restructured debts, to cope with creditor indebtedness and to provide advance financing for a number of crucial programs of investments and repairs.

The volume of commuter railway services increased by 1.6% last year, and the volume of long-distance passenger services fell by 5.1% compared to that of 2001. The losses for commuter services amounted to RUR14.5bn ($455.69m) in 2002. RUR11.2bn ($351.98m) in compensations for these losses were received from regional administrations. This sum covered 77.2% of the total amount of the losses. The sum of uncompensated losses reached RUR3.3bn ($103.71m). The sum of investments in the development of railroads exceeded RUR80bn ($2.51bn) in 2002. Of that amount, over RUR75bn ($2.36bn) were allocated from the Railroad Ministry's resources.