Mr. Zhukov reported that the funding of the Russian Railways investment programme will be increased to 632 billion roubles by the year 2011. "In 2007, this investment programme amounted to 396.2 billion roubles. In our estimates and plans, it will go up to 632 billion roubles by 2011," Mr Zhukov said.
He added that global financial turmoil "can introduce some adjustments into this programme." "For instance, there has been a reduction in transport operations in the last few months." However, Mr Zhukov believes that the Russian economy "should cope with these problems". "The plans for the development of the railway system must be fulfilled," he emphasized.