Interfax cited Mr Vladimir Yakunin the rail monopoly's chief as saying that Russian Railways expects freight to grow 2.5% to 2.8% annually in 2012-2018.

He said that "As for the extent to which freight grows, it will be 2.5% to 2.8%."

With regard to the expected results for 2011, Mr Yakunin said that freight could grow 2.9% to 1.24 billion tonnes and that freight turnover including empty cars could grow 7% to 2.7 trillion tonne kilometers.

RZD forecasts that railway transport's share in total freight turnover could grow by almost one percentage point to 43.2% in 2011.

Passenger turnover is expected to total 139 billion passenger-kilometers in 2011 the same as in 2010. This includes 115.576 million passengers in long-distance travel and around 900 million passengers in commuter travel.

According to preliminary data, income from the company's main activity will grow 7.3% in 2011 to RUB 1.282 trillion. However, its net profit will plummet 77.3% to RUB 17.7 billion.

(Sourced from Interfax)