MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russian rail monopoly RZD said on Friday its net loss in the first three months of 2009 calculated to Russian Accounting Standards was 17.1 billion rubles ($532 mln).

The company made a 19.74 billion-ruble profit in the same period of last year. RZD said the main factor behind the poor result was a 12.3% decline in passenger traffic.

The company said earlier that second-quarter losses were expected at 14.2 billion rubles ($418 mln). It previously said that 2009 net losses could total 49.7 billion rubles ($1.5 billion).