Title: Reform, Commercialization and Private Sector Participation in Railways in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Language: English

Type: Document

Nature: Report

Published: January 1, 2005


Region: Europe and Central Asia

Country: Croatia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation

Keywords: Knowledge Lab, Rail

Document(s):


Document Summary:

The World Bank is currently undertaking a review of private sector participation in infrastructure in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. The intention is to write a regional report documenting the experience of private sector participation and commercialization in water, power and rail sectors in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report will also evaluate the prospects for private participation in and commercialization of infrastructure in ECA going forward.

This review of the rail sector in ECA will form an input to the wider regional infrastructure review, but is also published separately as it may be of specific interest to rail policy makers and industry leaders in the region.


Document Details:

This paper reviews reform progress in the railway sector in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. It primarily focuses on Estonia , Croatia , Kazakhstan , Poland , Romania , and Russian Federation . The reforms lessons that emerged from this region are similar to the ones l earned in other developing regions: reforming a complex industry is a long term process, structural change is a mean to an end, structural separation of railway infrastructure from railway operations cannot of itself improve business performance, one of structural model is unlikely to fit all operations, ownership does matter, railway reform does not necessarily mean stand-alone profitability, and market themselves will not stand still.


Updated: June 16, 2022