Soviet Railways to Russian Railways

by John N. Westwood

In the postsoviet decade Russian railways remained highly centralised, evaded the upheavals of mass privatisation, and remained the backbone of a demoralised economy. Preserving much of Soviet practice, the Railways Ministry mounted a skilled rearguard action that achieved a gradual and considered adaptation to the market economy rather than the pell-mell, western-orientated, liberalisation that afflicted other branches of the economy. This book describes that rearguard action, and goes on to show how railway managers are coping with the new conditions.

267 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2001

About the author

Dr. John Norton Westwood, b.1931, is an honorary member of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Birmingham, England. He has been an honorary research fellow at Birmingham since 1976.

He has written extensively on Russian and Eurasian issues. He also writes on steam trains and international railway history.