Russian Miners Free Up Trans-Siberian Railway

al representative in the Kemerovo region said by telephone the miners had freed the railway just before a Sunday morning meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Sysuyev. „Five minutes before the meeting with Sysuyev started they suspended the blockade, that is they moved their pickets from the line to the side of the road,“ Kolesnikov said. „On Tuesday a government commission will arrive to start preparing a government meeting here on the ground to deal with the problem. Until then, at least, the line will be clear.“ Recent blockades of the Trans-Siberian, the world‘s longest railway and the main artery for the world‘s biggest country, have fuelled fears of further industrial unrest and helped erode confidence in Russia among foreign investors. The miners began blocking freight traffic on the line, which also services the local mining industry, on July 3 in protest at continuing wage delays despite government pledges made after an earlier two-week blockade of three major lines in May.