EDB researchers: SES rail freight traffic ranks second after China, globally
Moscow, 30 June 2014. Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) prepared the report Rail Market Development Prospects in the Single Economic Space. The report reviews the rail freight and passenger transportation market, structural reforms in the sector and the influence of integration processes on its prospects, as well as various types of competition and the freight car market.
The report states that structural reforms in the area of rail transportation in the SES are being implemented at different paces. Kazakhstan is developing in the most dynamic fashion: freight traffic is growing and the market comprises not only rolling stock operators, but independent locomotive operators as well. The Russian operator market is developing more successfully in the area of freight transportation, while passenger transportation is at the starting point of reform. The Byelorussian model of rail transport is significantly different: at the moment, the sector is being modernised under a state programme.
The report also reviews competition between passenger and freight operators and between infrastructures, which includes competition between rail routes and road corridors for freight and passenger traffic. Attracting and servicing additional freight transported between the EU countries and East Asia, primarily China, is the key objective in developing the sector in the three SES countries. If to proceed from the priorities of many countries, which are to attract additional freight to their transport systems, competition between rail routes is, in essence, a struggle for freight transit.
The authors of the report state that the rail sector prospects depend, to a significant extent, on the coordination of transport policies in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. The establishment of a common market in transport and logistics services and a common transport space, the deepening of integration and the improvement of the quality of the services provided, as well as the coordinated development of international rail routes are among the tasks that need to be solved to ensure the advancement of the sector and the use of its transit potential.
The full version of the report is available online.
Additional Information
Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital exceeds US $1.5 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan. Read more at https://www.eabr.org.