The reforms could also “help state rail companies reap economic
benefits from enhanced coordination, management, and organization,”
bring regional railway lines “closer to standards required by the
European Union” and foster health competition, improving transport
services, says the report, which analyzes the rail sector in ten
states: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo,
Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey between
2005 and 2010.
In 2005-2009, passenger rail traffic dropped in Romania by 33%,
while freight traffic dropped by 44%, according to the report.
With their current management structure and operational results, state-owned companies will find it more difficult to compete, once the rail markets are opened.
“From a public policy perspective, a gradual set of reforms aimed at turning around the financial results of the state railways is less costly socially and politically, than dramatic layoffs at a time of acute crisis,” the World Bank notes.