OREANDA-NEWS. On July 16, 2007 Mikhail Akulov, vice-president of Russian Railways, and Valeriya Shataeva, managing director of the Federal Passenger Board, a division of Russian Railways, gave a press conference in Moscow on the 1H2007 results, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

Akulov also reported on the current state of the passenger business on Russia’s railways and its development and plans in the near future, as well as the development of passenger services, especially the package of services “Electronic Suitcase,” which allows passengers to order tickets online, obtain information by telephone and in the future will install ticket machines for tickets on trunk routes using electronic cards.

According to Akulov, "the first machines for selling tickets will be installed at Moscow stations in September this year. At the moment, the requisite ticket is being approved at the Ministry of Finance.”

“ In addition , Russian Railways plans to initiate several projects linked to the Electronic Suitcase in 2008 , including ordering rail tickets by mobile phone, electronic queues and installing ticket machines at stations for tickets on suburban routes,” said Akulov.