Putin backs scrapping of old railcars

摘要

Russian president Vladimir Putin has backed an initiative drawn up by the industry and trade and transport minis- tries to speed up the writing-off of old railcars - a move that could turn today's railcar surplus into a shortage. Industry and trade minister Denis Manturov wrote to Putin in January after 20 coal railcars derailed in the Irkutsk region, killing two locomotive drivers. Manturov said the car that caused the accident was manufactured in Ukraine in 1983, and noted that the car was sent to the Sterlitamak plant in Bashkortostan