Russian Railways (RZD) could impose fines...

RZD signed a deal to buy eight Sapsan high-speed trains from Siemens in 2006, followed by a 30-year maintenance contract in April 2007.

The train made its first commercial run between Russia"s two largest cities in a record time of 3 hours and 45 minutes on December 18 but developed a number of problems, including faulty automatic doors, since then.

On Monday, the train arrived in St. Petersburg with a 42-minute delay because two capacitors in a second carriage malfunctioned on the way.

"Our contract stipulates penalties for technical problems caused by the manufacturer"s fault, and we will certainly impose such penalties without going to court," Vladimir Yakunin said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

Sapsan, Russia"s first train capable of travelling at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph), has 10 cars, of which two are first class and eight are second class, and can carry 604 passengers.

At present, two Sapsan trains make three runs between

Pages: [1] 2