The main aim of the report, prepared by the World Bank, is to serve as a reminder of the need to accelerate the reform, and countries aspiring to become European Union member-states should realise that the speedy reform implementation would encourage their growth and boost their prospects of getting the European Union's positive opinion in the rail traffic sector, said Vasile Olievschi, World Bank railway specialist for Europe and central Asia.
Olievschi called on the governments in the region to use available funds for financing the improvement of the railway infrastructure rather than supporting inefficient state railway companies that are over-staffed and have old management.
The report evaluates the progress made by state railways in institutional reforms and in operational and financial effects in ten countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia.
The railways in South East Europe and Turkey saw a significant decline in their turnover in 2009, as a result of the international financial crisis and deteriorating local economies. Lower traffic volumes translated in most cases into a serious deterioration of the financial performance of the state-owned railways.
"The three main reasons why the countries covered in this report should prioritize the reform of the rail sector are: to ensure compliance with the requirements of relevant European Union (EU) directives for the railway sector contained within the acquis communautaire; to reap the envisaged benefits of adopting this institutional framework; and to ensure that when competition is introduced, state rail incumbents are able to compete with new entrants, and do not require increased levels of support from the state," reads the report.
"With the exception of Bulgaria and Romania, which are already EU member states, all of the countries covered in this report aspire to join the EU: they are either candidate countries or potential candidate countries. This means that one of their fundamental goals is compliance with the relevant EU directives for the railway sector contained within the EU rail acquis," reads the report.
"For those countries that are candidate countries, there is particular urgency in progressing with the EU rail acquis. For potential candidate countries there is more time. However, precisely because those countries are further behind, there is a compelling need to start now in accelerating the reform process.
If those necessary reforms are carried out, the transit time between Ljubljana and Istanbul can be reduced to a fascinating 25 hours, bringing great economic consequences, the document reads.