Aug 23, 2004. /Lesprom Network/. The Federal Antimonopoly Service filed a suit against Russian Railways accusing the company of ‘violation of competition and limitation of monopoly activity on the commodity markets’, FAS public-affairs announced. The suit was initiated by the ban imposed by Russian Railways on timber cargo transportation in railway half-cars. In line with the decision timber can only be transported in open platforms while half-cars are used for other purposes. According to FAS the following activities violate the rights of cargo senders – the deficit of platforms causes problems in raw materials transportation. Besides, according to FAS, the decision taken by Russian Railways may contradict with the current railway transportation legislation. In this case Russian Railways is an enterprise and is not a state institution imposing bans and restrictions. Therefore Russian Railways don’t have the right to replace normative and legal acts by own directives. The suit will be heard on September, 22 2004.