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Baghdad (AFP) Feb 17, 2011 Iraq's train network is to suspend all operations from Monday because of a cut in state aid needed to pay staff, an Iraqi National Railway Company spokesman said. INRC "will cease to operate from Monday following a decision taken on February 10 by the finance ministry to stop loaning us money as of this month, which prevents us from paying staff salaries," said Jawad al-Kharsan. The 12,000 employees plan to demonstrate on Monday at stations nationwide, while protesters are to march from Baghdad's Central Station to the Green Zone, the high-security which houses the main ministries and premier's office. Under a 2003 deal, the finance ministry was to loan the company 75 billion dinars ($63.5 million) a year until 2014 to cover its operating deficit, as annual revenues from fares amount to only nine billion dinars, Kharsan said. "The government was to decide how INRC would repay the loans after this period and on steps to make INRC more competitive. But the ministry terminated the agreement in a letter and has asked INRC to turn to banks from now on." Iraq's rail network covers 2,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) of track. The company transports one million passengers a year between Baghdad and Basra in the south, and from the capital to the Turkish border via the northern city of Mosul. The INRC also ferries goods to the Syrian border to the west, as well as crude oil and refined petroleum products between Baghdad and Baiji, 200 kilometres north of the capital. The finance ministry was not available for comment on Thursday. Iraq has been hit by two weeks of angry demonstrations calling for improved basic services. On Wednesday, a teenager was killed and 27 others wounded in clashes in Kut, south of Baghdad.
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