Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly’s Infrastructure Development & Housing Policies Committee met to discuss the alleged violation of the principle of guaranteed, non-discriminatory access of manufacturers to wagons belonging to Second Freight Company.

Deputy Dmitri Ionin said at the end of the meeting that Sverdlovsk Region Railways was currently distributing the wagons belonging to Second Freight Company (registered in Yekaterinburg at the regional authorities’ initiative) via a number of intermediaries, TransSib-Ural being the largest.

‘The region’s Transport Ministry admits that Sverdlovsk Region Railways keeps struggling with increasingly more lay-overs: these come to a fortnight at times. Among other factors, the slow-down at the so-called orbital routes is to blame,’ Ionin explained.

‘The ministry calls for eliminating Second Freight Company’s intermediaries. It was reported, however, that the intermediaries are constituted not only by TransSib-Ural (responsible for 70% of all the routes) but also by a number of other companies. Even though the intermediaries network is used, the minister is completely opposed to the idea of taking tax relief away from Second Freight Company. It was announced at today’s meeting that the company pays about 1.3bn RUR to the region’s budget, of which some 600m RUR is then given back to the company as the regional tax relief,’ he added.

‘Using the information provided by the minister today, I drew up deputy’s inquiries to the regional division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, to the head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways, and to Second Freight Company’s Director-General. It was particularly stressed that the railway fares profiteering and the existing system of intermediaries results in a greatly increased end price of building materials, which affects housing prices and the prime cost of road-building,’ the deputy noted.