Monsalve, Carolina2012-03-192012-03-192011-03-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2753The railways of South East Europe and Turkey experienced significant declines in traffic volumes in 2009. This reflected the impact of the international financial crisis unleashed in the last quarter of 2008 and its contractionary impact on the economies of the region and elsewhere. Lower traffic volumes translated in most cases into a serious deterioration of the financial performance of the state-owned railways. This brought home the costs of failing to implement essential reforms to improve the operational and financial performance of the sector when the economy was strong. In Romania in 2010, large-scale layoffs were announced at short notice for the state rail companies. The situation is similar for the Bulgarian state rail incumbents; they face an acute liquidity crisis, and will require additional state aid merely to keep running. The lesson of these events is clear: it is unwise to delay implementing state railway sector reforms during good economic times, because the consequences can be too severe if a financial downturn occurs before those reforms have been taken and properly implemented. This report begins by assessing implementation of the European Union (EU) legal and institutional framework and the state of institutional reform in South East Europe and Turkey. It then turns to a comparative assessment of the operational and financial performance of the rail sector in each of the 10 countries over 2005-2009, comparing the report countries with the EU-27 benchmark and three EU countries, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia. The report then moves on to the issue of rail corridor performance, with a specific focus on improving the institutional and regulatory environment at border-crossing points, before offering some conclusions. The first annex focuses on the performance of the incumbent state-owned railways of South East Europe and Turkey in much greater detail.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGAIRPORTBACBLOCK TRAINSBUSBUS SERVICESCAPITAL INVESTMENTCAPITAL PLANNINGCARSCEMENTCENTRALIZED TRAFFIC CONTROLCONCRETECORRIDOR PERFORMANCECOST RECOVERY RATIOCOST-BENEFIT ANALYSISCROSSINGCROSSINGSCTCDEBTDIESELDIRECTIVE ON RAILWAY SAFETYDRIVER LICENSESDRIVERSECONOMIC COOPERATIONEFFICIENT TRANSPORTEIBELECTRONIC DATAENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONEXTERNALITIESFARE DISCOUNTSFARE EVASIONFARESFINANCE MINISTRIESFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFINANCIAL PERFORMANCEFINANCIAL STABILITYFREIGHTFREIGHT CUSTOMERSFREIGHT FLOWSFREIGHT OPERATORFREIGHT RAILFREIGHT SERVICESFREIGHT TRAFFICFREIGHT TRAINSFREIGHT TRANSPORTGRADIENTSGRAVELGREENHOUSE GASGREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONSHIGH SPEED RAILHOLDING COMPANIESINCOMEINCOME STATEMENTSINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINFRASTRUCTURE CAPACITYINFRASTRUCTURE CHARGESINFRASTRUCTURE CHARGINGINFRASTRUCTURE COSTSINFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTINTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDSINTERNATIONAL PASSENGER TRANSPORTINTERNATIONAL RAILINTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTJOINT VENTURESLABOR COSTSLAND TRANSPORTLAWSLEGAL FRAMEWORKLEGAL PROVISIONSLEGISLATIONLICENSELOCOMOTIVELOCOMOTIVESLOWER TRAFFIC VOLUMESMANAGEMENT SERVICESMINISTRY OF TRANSPORTMOBILITYMODAL SHAREMODES OF TRANSPORTMONIESNATIONAL RAILWAYNEW ENTRANTSOPERATING COSTSPASSENGER RAILPASSENGER RIGHTSPASSENGER SERVICEPASSENGER SERVICESPASSENGER STATIONSPASSENGER TRAFFICPASSENGER TRAINSPASSENGERSPEER REVIEWPHOTOPOLICEPOLLUTIONPORTSPPPPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPPRODUCTIVITYPSOPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SERVICE OBLIGATIONPUBLIC WORKSRADIORADIO FREQUENCYRADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATIONRAILRAIL ASSETSRAIL COMPANIESRAIL COMPANYRAIL CORRIDORRAIL CORRIDORSRAIL DIRECTIVESRAIL FREIGHTRAIL FREIGHT MARKETRAIL FREIGHT NETWORKRAIL FREIGHT OPERATORSRAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORTRAIL INFRASTRUCTURERAIL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTRAIL INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGERSRAIL MARKETRAIL MARKETSRAIL NETWORKRAIL NETWORKSRAIL OPERATORRAIL OPERATORSRAIL PACKAGERAIL PASSENGERRAIL PASSENGERSRAIL SAFETYRAIL SECTORRAIL SECTORSRAIL SERVICERAIL SERVICESRAIL SPACERAIL SYSTEMRAIL TRAFFICRAIL TRAFFIC DENSITYRAIL TRANSITRAIL TRANSPORTRAIL TRANSPORT SERVICESRAILROADRAILWAYRAILWAY ACTIVITIESRAILWAY AGENCYRAILWAY AREARAILWAY AUTHORITYRAILWAY COMPANIESRAILWAY COMPANYRAILWAY INDUSTRYRAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURERAILWAY MANAGEMENTRAILWAY MARKETRAILWAY NETWORKRAILWAY NETWORKSRAILWAY OPERATIONSRAILWAY OPERATORSRAILWAY PACKAGERAILWAY REFORMRAILWAY REFORMSRAILWAY SECTORRAILWAY SYSTEMRAILWAY TRACKRAILWAY TRANSPORTRAILWAY UNDERTAKINGSRAILWAYSRAILWAYS INFRASTRUCTUREREGIONAL RAIL SERVICESREGIONAL TRANSPORTREGULATORY ENVIRONMENTRFIDROAD INFRASTRUCTUREROAD SECTORROAD TRANSPORTROLLING STOCKROUTEROUTESSAFETYSANDSERVICE CONTRACTSERVICE CONTRACTSSPEEDSPEEDSSTANDARD CONTRACTSTEELSTRUCTURESSUPERVISORY AUTHORITIESTAXTECHNICAL COOPERATIONTELECOMMUNICATIONTELEPHONETIMBERTRACKTRACKSTRADE FLOWSTRADE UNIONSTRAFFICTRAFFIC ACCIDENTSTRAFFIC CONGESTIONTRAFFIC CONTROLTRAFFIC DENSITYTRAFFIC DEVELOPMENTSTRAFFIC GROWTHTRAFFIC LEVELSTRAFFIC MANAGEMENTTRAFFIC SAFETYTRAFFIC UNITSTRAFFIC VOLUMETRAFFIC VOLUMESTRAIN DRIVERSTRAIN LENGTHTRAIN OPERATORSTRANSITTRANSPARENCYTRANSPORTTRANSPORT ACTIVITIESTRANSPORT COMMUNITYTRANSPORT DEMANDTRANSPORT MARKETTRANSPORT MODESTRANSPORT NETWORKTRANSPORT OF GOODSTRANSPORT OPERATIONSTRANSPORT POLICYTRANSPORT SERVICESTRANSPORT SYSTEMSTRANSPORTATIONTRANSPORTATION SERVICESTRAVEL TIMETRIPTRUCKSVEHICLESWAGONSWorld Bank10.1596/2753