Vladislav Vorotnikov

THE Russian government says it expects to approve legislation in the middle of this year which would allow the private sector to invest in metro projects, including the construction of new lines and the acquisition of new rolling stock.

RUSSIA's Finance Ministry has announced proposals to cut subsidies for long-distance train services and divert the funding to investment in aviation.

Ukrainian Railways is facing an investment crisis as it lacks the funds to replace its aging assets and the government has so far failed to come to the rescue, as Vladislav Vorotnikov explains.

THE European Union (EU) will allocate Lats 400m ($US 752m) towards a programme to electrify Latvia's railway network, according to a statement issued by the Latvian Ministry of Transport. The Ministry says that the work is scheduled to begin by the end of this year and will last up to 2020.

THE State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (Sofar) allocated $US 431.3m towards construction of the 826km railway from Baku to Tbilisi, Georgia, and Kars, Turkey, up to January 1 2013, a report from the Azerbaijan Ministry of Transport has confirmed with the first trains expected to begin services on the route by the end of 2013.

A trial run of the first train in Russia to use new double-deck coaches was successfully carried out by Russian Railways' (RZD) Federal Passenger Company (FPC) subsidiary in Murmansk region on February 20.

THE Russian government has outlined plans for a Roubles 21bn ($US 703m) rail link to Sakhalin island.

THE mayor of Moscow Mr Sergei Sobyanin has revealed plans to build 250km of metro lines during the next few years in the Russian capital, and for the first time, most of them will be constructed above ground.

THE government of Uzbekistan has disclosed plans to build a new rail link through the Kamchik pass, which will allow east-west freight traffic to bypass northern Tajikistan.

RUSSIA's Ministry of Transport says construction could begin on the country's first high-speed lines within a year, allowing commercial services to start in time for the 2018 soccer World Cup.