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A few lucky passengers on Moscow's new suburban railway have received early "new year gifts": the ticket system has credited them accidentally with about 20,000 roubles (£240; $320) each.

Anton Belitskiy, a photographer, : he actually had less than 100 roubles on his card, but the machine gave him more than 20,000.

Moscow transport officials say the lucky ones can keep the credit.

They said they wanted passengers to "keep believing in new year miracles".

"True, there were some cases of extra sums being credited to Troika cards after rides were paid on the scanners at Moscow Central Diameters (MCD) stations," the transport department said.

"The lucky ones who found such a credit on their card can regard it as a new year gift."

The MCD, consisting of two new suburban overground lines, was inaugurated in November. But passengers only started paying for their journeys on 9 December, because of initial ticketing problems.

The service - with modern Russian Ivolga ("Oriole") trains - is integrated with the Moscow metro. The city hall website says it is modelled on overground lines in other cities such as Paris and London.

Russian commuters are more familiar with old Soviet-era "Elektrichka" trains: very basic and usually crowded.

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Mr Belitskiy said the scanner repeatedly showed him having a credit of more than 20,000 roubles.

However, when he reported the anomaly to MCD staff they simply said his card was "faulty" and he should get a replacement.

He followed their advice, to avoid future problems at station turnstiles.

The balance on his new Troika card is just 1,000 roubles, he wrote, with some regret. The MCD also gave him some gifts with his new card: a portable charger, two pens and a seasonal bauble.

The fare for a journey within Moscow's central zone is 38 roubles (£0.50), and for outer zones the fares are 45 and 68 roubles.

More than half a million people travelled on the MCD lines on 9 December, when paid journeys started,

There are plans to launch three more lines in the next few years, radiating from the city centre in all directions.