Sverdlovsk Region Anti-Terrorist Committee members met in order to elaborate some extra measures that could enhance the anti-terrorist protection of railway transport. In the absence of the Governor the meeting was chaired by the head of the regional security services Boris Kozinenko.

The spokesperson for the Governor reports the meeting was summoned after an act of terror performed at Oktyabrskiy Railways that caused derailing of a passenger train going from Moscow to Saint Petersburg on August 13, 2007.

The meeting attendees said their most pressing problem at the moment was the stealing of metal from the regional railways, which makes the system highly accident-prone. Such thieves did the railways over 4.5 million RUR worth of damage this year alone, the spokesperson says.

In order to prevent any potential attacks, very thorough inspections of the railway transport and of the companies that produce and store explosives have been started. All of the region’s law-enforcement authorities are trying to be as alert as they possibly can.