MOSCOW, Jan 10 /Prime-TASS/ -- The total increase in Russian railway cargo transportation tariffs in 2002 is expected to amount to 26%, Russian Railways Minister Gennady Fadeyev said Thursday. He confirmed that cargo transportation tariffs would be hiked 14% starting January 15. The next increase is expected in August or September. Earlier, the government set a 35% ceiling for the railway transportation tariff increase in 2002. Fadeyev also said that the government planned to consider the ministry's revised investment program for 2002 at a regular government meeting on January 24. The ministry trimmed the program down to 93 billion rubles from the earlier proposed 161 billion rubles. Fadeyev said the revised program would be financed solely by the ministry's own funds and excluded the attraction of any loans for investment projects. Fadeyev was appointed as railways minister earlier this month, replacing Nikolai Aksyonenko, who was one of the most influential Cabinet members under former president Boris Yeltsin. /30.5753 rubles--U.S. $1/