Table Of ContentStudies in Russian and East European History and Society
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SOVIET RAILWAYS TO RUSSIAN RAILWAYS
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Soviet Railways to Russian
Railways
J. N. Westwood
Honorary Research Fellow
Centre for Russian and East European Studies
University of Birmingham
in association with
the Centre for Russian
and East European Studies,
University of Birmingham
© J.N. Westwood 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-67417-8
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting
limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90
Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identifed as the
author of this work in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of
St. Martin's Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and
Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd).
ISBN 978-1-349-39921-5 ISBN 978-0-230-28587-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230285873
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Westwood, J. N.
Soviet railways to Russian railways / J. N. Westwood.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-39921-5
1. Railroads-Russia (Federation) 2. Post-communism-
Economic aspects. I. Title.
TF85.W47 2001
385'.0947-dc21
2001036887
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Contents
Preface viii
Part I Restructuring the Old Railway 1
1 The Soviet Legacy 3
The Old Regime 3
The market economy 7
The view from the Ministry 12
An editorial view 14
2 New Frontiers 18
Partition 18
The Railway Transport Council 21
Russia loses its ports 25
The freightcar share-out 26
The Extra-territorial Trans-Sib 29
Constructive inertia 30
3 Privatisation 31
First steps 31
The railway repair works 34
Industrial railways 38
The frst private railway 39
A new railway law 41
Defender of the faith 42
Privatisation of railway catering 43
Fadeev's last stand 47
4 The Zaitsev Interregnum 50
The man 50
Zaitsev as Minister 52
Restructuring the railways 54
The Canadian National model 58
Merging the railways 62
Zaitsev in retreat 66
5 Rethinking Restructuring 68
The new Minister 68
Purge on the October Railway 70
v
vi Contentf
New pressures for privatisation 77
The tariff argument 78
The freightcar issue 80
Competing proposals 82
The natural monopolies service proposal 83
The Railway Ministry's concept 84
Finalising the reform 88
Part II Operating the New Railway 93
6 Freight in the Market Economy 95
Traffc 95
1995: a key year 96
A New Railway Charter 97
Freight forwarders 99
Marketing 104
Premium freight centres 105
The railway banks 111
The Reffervif failure 114
The mail service competes 118
Intermodal services 119
Cherepovets; plans and realities 119
Container traffc 121
The rolling highway 128
Trans-Sib 130
7 Passenger Service in the Market Economy 134
Traffc 134
Fares and fare collection 135
Commuter subsidies 138
Cost reduction 140
Commuter services 141
Passenger companies 142
Long-distance passenger services 146
The Passenger Time Book 149
8 The High-Speed Railway 152
First thoughts 152
The October Railway and the HST 157
High speed, snail's pace 159
The author as primary source 162
Contentf vii
9 Money Problems 166
Ingoings and outgoings 166
Tariffs 170
The debt problem 185
Taxation 191
10 Crime and Violence 196
Bribery and fraud 196
Theft 201
Smash and grab 207
'A real Russian mess' 208
The 'rail war' 211
Accidents 213
Sinking the 'Avrora' 217
Vandalism 219
11 The New Century 221
Restructuring in retrospect 221
Equipment 226
Infrastructure 228
Labour 229
Notef 232
Bibliography 249
Index 251
Preface
Falling between two stools is seldom accomplished with elegance.
This book attempts to interest two distinct readerships - those in-
terested in contemporary Russia and those interested in railways -
and this is refected in its ungainly structure, which is designed to
aid those for whom some parts of the text will have scant interest.
For those interested in the frst decade of post-Soviet Russia this
book offers a narrative, with comments, about how a major and
vital industry weathered the gales generated as the new leaders of
governments and new leaders of opinion sought to create a market
economy. That the railways in their size and signifcance were ex-
ceptional does not necessarily mean that their experience has no
relevance to the study of other parts of Russian society and indus-
try. In places, the book implies that the course taken by the railways
might have advantageously been taken by other Russian industries
and institutions.
For those interested in railway development, the Russian rail-
ways have always provided a useful subject for international
comparisons; they have followed the trends of contemporary tech-
nology but at a certain remove, with their own particularities. Soviet
Railways showed how far a railway system could be pushed. Post-
Soviet railways have shown a railway system simultaneously coping
with the political disintegration of its territory and the introduc-
tion of a completely new social and economic framework.
Concurrently, railways the world over have been undergoing their
own reappraisals, with debates over privatisation, over separation
of infrastructure from operations, over the role of information tech-
nology. Here again, Russian railways are responding to the new
universal currents, but in their own particular, and therefore in-
structive, way.
Convention dictates that the last paragraph of the Preface should
express thanks to those who helped, and absolve them from any
defects of the book. In the case of Birmingham University's Centre
for Russian and East European Studies, and the library of the St
Petersburg Transportation University, this is easily and gladly done,
for their members have offered help and hospitality which always
seemed a little more than had been hoped for. Likewise, the reader
viii
Preface ix
should be grateful for the efforts of Holland Hunter and Arfon Rees,
who have suggested several improvements, both of substance and
of syntax. No thanks are due, however, to the distributors of re-
search funds, public and private, for despite an effort which at times
approached that put into the book itself, no fnancial aid has been
forthcoming. Attribution, rather than absolution, of responsibility
for defciencies would therefore seem more appropriate here.
�.N. �EST�OOD
Bir�ingha�
