From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   The Russian railways were a collection of mostly privately owned and operated   
   companies during most of the 19th century, though many had been constructed   
   with heavy govt involvement and financing. The tsarist govt began mobilizing   
   and nationalizing the    
   rail system as WWI approached, and the new communist govt finished the   
   nationalization process. With the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the Russian   
   Federation was left with 3/5 of the railway track of the Union as well as 9/10   
   of the highway mileage –   
    though only 2/5 of the port capacity.   
      
   In the 21st century, substantial changes in the Russian railways have been   
   discussed and implemented in the context of two govt reform documents: Decree   
   No. 384 of 18 May 2001 of the Gummint of the Russian Federation, "A Program   
   for Structural Reform of    
   Railway Transport", and Order No. 877 of 17 June 2008 of the Govt of the   
   Russian Federation, "The Strategy for Railway Development in the Russian   
   Federation to 2030". The former focused on restructuring the railways from   
   govt-owned monopoly to private    
   competitive sector; the latter focused on ambitious plans for equipment   
   modernization and network expansion.   
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)