There are practically no regions left in Russia with which agreements on the transportation of passengers in the suburbs have not been concluded, the head of Russian Railways (RZD) OJSC Vladimir Yakunin said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin website reports .

According to the head of Russian Railways, in accordance with Putin’s instructions and under the leadership of the government, work was carried out directly with the regions on this issue.

“Of course, there are still some unresolved issues, but they are related to the fact that on some routes the number of passengers who use suburban services really amounts to just a dozen. Naturally, transportation of this volume by train is simply unprofitable,” Yakunin said.

He noted that such situations are resolved with the regions “so that people are still not left without transport links to the points where they would like to go.”

Yakunin emphasized that the issue of suburban transportation was directly dealt with by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

The reduction of electric trains in Russian regions occurred at the beginning of 2015 due to the reluctance of local authorities to compensate for the difference between the social tariff and the economically justified costs of suburban transport companies. In the first month of 2015, it was planned to suspend the operation of 300 electric trains in 39 regions of the country. In the Pskov and Vologda regions, electric trains were completely canceled.

On February 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded the immediate restoration of canceled commuter train routes. “Electric trains have stopped running to the regions, have you gone crazy?” - the president said then at a meeting with the government. The next day, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich held a meeting on this issue with representatives of Russian Railways and relevant ministries. As an operational measure, Dvorkovich proposed reducing VAT on commuter transportation from 18% to 10%, but the carriers themselves began to launch canceled trains without waiting for the authorities’ decisions.

Yakunin reported to Putin on the situation with suburban transportation