The railways of western Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova form the sizeable part of what was the world's most extensive rail network. Despite the break-up of the Soviet Union, this region continues to represent a sizeable proportion of the world's total long distance passenger and freight rail traffic. The European Commission, through its TACIS programme, instigated a major project to develop a passenger and freight forecasting model for the region. The project was undertaken by a pan-European consortium, including representatives of all four CIS states. A key feature of the project was an extensive market research study, the first ever to be carried out in the CIS. This paper reports the results of the market This paper reports the results of the market research. The market research involved 7,000 interviews with long distance rail passengers in the four states. The questionnaires comprised three principal sections: factual information on passenger travel characteristics; attitudes towards the quality of service; and a stated preference experiment, to derive passenger values of time and demand elasticities. Analysis of the results of the market research produced data-sets and demand parameters essential to the development of the regional passenger model. The paper describes details of passenger travel characteristics, values of time, price and generalised cost elasticities and other key results of the research. Significant differences in travel behaviour within the four states are also identified and analysed. The study is intended to inform TACIS decision-making on regional rail issues and assist the planning of the four state railways.
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