Restructuring Soviet Transport: a Study in Similarities and Contrasts

The nation states created by the disintegration of the former Soviet Union inherited transportation systems ill suited to the needs of market economies. Technologies were often outmoded, too energy intensive and not well adapted to the on-time delivery of small shipments characteristic of a modem consumer society. Furthermore, similarly to much of the rest of the Soviet economy, the transport sector was burdened with unwieldy and diffxcult-to-manage vertically integrated monopolies that were largely unresponsive to customer needs. Policies to solve these problems will vary from mode to mode. For water and highway transport, simple pro-competitive policies that emphasize easy entry, little regulation and prompt privatization should be appropriate. Because of network coordination and specialized infrastructure requirements, rail and air transport will need less fragmented approaches. One positive aspect of the transport situation in the former Soviet Union, slightly reducing the pressures for immediate reforms, the substantial capacity put in place by the old regime-a consequence of the former command/control economy being one of the most transport intensive in the world