Russian Railways is seeking an extra 30 billion roubles from the Russian government in order to help it survive in the face of massive losses, according to new reports.

Losses at Russia’s largest employer, which has a monopoly on trail operation in the country, could be double the amount expected. The firm employs 1.2 million workers but has already announced that it will be making 54,000 people redundant to try to adjust its business to the slump in use of passenger and freight rail use.

The government has also already pledged 50 billion roubles to Russian Railways to compensate the firm for increasing tariffs by 8% rather the 14% that had been planned. The news that the firm is now seeking a further 30 billion roubles has come from a high level source at the rail operator.

Kommersant reported that the source said, “the money could come from the (federal) budget, or in the form of a tariff hike.” The source added that about nine billion roubles could be raised with just a 1% tariff hike.

The report also said that the board of directors at the firm is discussing losses of 97 billion roubles, while the official expected losses were just 50 billion.