The carriages on the Nevsky Express between Moscow and St. Petersburg, hit last week by a terrorist attack that killed 26 people, are being changed for safer versions, Russian Railways announced on Saturday.
"From December 5 the Nevsky Express trains will run cars with the second-class open seating configuration instead of cars with [individual] seats," the rail monopoly said in a statement.
It said move was being made "in order to ensure passengers' peace of mind."
Several cars of the November 27 express from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed after a bomb exploded on the tracks, with 26 people killed and more than 90 injured.
Forensic examinations showed that most of the deaths could have been avoided if the seats had been stronger, the Kommersant newspaper reported.
The newspaper said the train was equipped with comfortable but fragile aluminum seats manufactured in Germany. It noted that the 2007 attack on the Nevsky Express, in which 30 people required hospitalization and no one was killed, showed that Russian carriages had seats that would have improved passengers' chances of surviving the derailment.
MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti)
