Government To Consider Structural Reforms For Railroad Transport

The Russian government will consider the implementation of structural reforms for the railroad transport today, the press service of the Russian Railroad Ministry reported. This program of reforms was approved in May 2001 and it will be implemented in three stages through 2010. The first stage of reforms was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2002. This stage stipulates the establishment of a public company Russian Railroads. The state will own a 100 per cent stake in this company. At the second stage, which will be implemented in 2003 to 2005, various subsidiaries will be created from the Russian Railroads Company. These subsidiaries will specialize in different businesses and this will provide conditions for real competitiveness on this market. The second stage (from 2006 to 2010) includes the establishment of a competitive market of railroad transportation. It is worth mentioning that supplies by railroad made up 80 per cent of all cargo transportation in Russia in 2001 and 40 per cent of passenger traffic.