The district’s public prosecution authorities for transport issues looked into the results of their performance in 2008.

‘In case of revealed arrears of wages, our officials took steps to make sure the money is paid. A lot of claims (totaling to 1.61 million RUR) were placed with the local courts, and we managed to win all of these cases,’ the spokesperson for the public prosecution authorities for transport issues says.

‘Last October, we checked the compliance of Sverdlovsk Region Railways and South Ural Railways with the security regulations related to transportation of hazardous freight. Numerous violations were detected, most of which stemmed from personnel’s poor training, insufficient equipment upgrade financing, and ageing rolling stock,’ the spokesperson adds.

All in all, the authorities’ inspections revealed over 9,000 instances of violations of law last year, which exceeds the figures for 2007 by 14%. Then, the number of protests rose by 40%, the number of filing petitions went up by 31%, and the number of claims placed with courts increased by 61%. Then, 110 criminal suits were started upon the completion of the investigations.