Moscow Metro chief Besedin dismissed
MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has announced the dismissal of the head of the Moscow Metro, Ivan Besedin.
"Head of the Moscow Metro Ivan Sergeyevich Besedin has been relieved of his duties," Sobyanin said at a session of the city's government on Tuesday.
Dmitry Pegov, who most recently held the post of general director of the High-Speed Rail Lines Directorate, a subsidiary of Russian Railways , has replaced Besedin at this post, the mayor said.
"The tragedy that happened on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line annihilated the results of the huge amount of work that has been accomplished in the metro over the past few years," Sobyanin said, when explaining his decision to replace the Moscow Metro chief.
The amount of funds to be spent on acquiring new carriages and upgrading the Moscow Metro's infrastructure has been increased significantly in recent years, he said.
The Moscow Metro's newly appointed director Pegov "started his career as an assistant engine driver and worked hard to become the head of one of the most promising branches of rail services," Sobyanin said.
Pegov, however, is facing an enormous challenge - he will have to reinstate Muscovites' trust in the subway system and "actually prove that the Moscow Metro is the safest kind of public transport," Sobyanin said.
The new head of the Moscow Metro will also have to make sure that passengers have full access to information about the operations of the Metro, the mayor said.
Besedin became director of the Moscow Metro in February 2011, when a five-year employment contract was signed with him. It happened following the resignation of Dmitry Gayev, who headed the Moscow Metro from 1995 to 2011.
In December 2010, two months after Sobyanin's appointment to the post of Moscow mayor, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced that it had uncovered breaches in the operations of the Moscow Metro and demanded the dismissal of the then-Moscow Metro head Gayev.
Besedin was appointed to head the Kaliningrad railway, a subsidiary of OJSC Russian Railways , in 2006.
Several cars derailed in a tunnel between the Slavyansky Bulvar and Park Pobedy stations on the blue Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line of the Moscow Metro at 8:35 a.m. on July 15, killing 22 people. Another 271 people were injured. Of them, more than 150 were admitted to hospitals.
Investigators have blamed inadequate wiring of the switch mechanism for the accident.
A criminal investigation has been opened. Two Moscow Metro workers have already been remanded into custody. Another two people are currently in police detention.