‘The Board of Directors of Russian Railways decided at a meeting in Moscow on March 20, 2007 that Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Shevket Shaidullin should resign,’ the PR Director of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Andrei Ivanov said to UrBC.

The reason for Mr. Shaidullin’s resignation and the name of the new head is to be announced at a briefing scheduled for 2 PM on March 22, 2007. In the meantime, Gudok newspaper (the official press organ of Russian Railways) has already reported that Mr. Shaidullin will have to resign owing to systematic failure to ensure safe transit of trains. On March 15, 2007, for instance, 35 coal-loaded freight trains going from Yekaterinburg to Perm were derailed.