By Bernama
Moscow : More than 3,000 padded seats were vandalised and 6,000 square metres of glass smashed in suburban trains of the Moscow region from January through March, an official at the Moscow railways department told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Several hundred luggage racks, doorknobs and carriage fittings were stolen in the designated period.
“The aggregate cost of train repairs reached 4.25 million roubles,” the official said.
He noted that despite the warm winter, the number of thefts of electric heaters installed under carriage seats had increased.
“Whereas 30 heaters were stolen in January-March, 2007, this figure increased to 45 in 2008,” the official noted.
Meanwhile, railway workers said the number of malicious arsons of carriages had decreased. There were four fires on trains last year, which broke out because of glowing butts or hooliganism. No fires on trains have been reported this year so far.
“Repairs run round-the-clock at railway depots, ahead of mass passenger transportation this summer,” railway officials said.
“The money spent on repairs of cars, damaged by vandals could have been used for purchasing new trains,” they said.