Commodity Structure of the Railway Transportation Market: the History of a Century and a Half Transformation

The purpose of the research described in the article is a long-term (from the last quarter of 19th century to the present) assessment, using methods of statistical and historical analysis, of the commodity structure of transportation on the domestic railway network, identifying the main trends in its transformation and drawing conclusions about development prospects of railway cargo transportation. The analysis made it possible to identify the specifics of the commodity structure of railway transportation in the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation and its changes within the corresponding historical periods. General trends in changes in the commodity structure of railway transportation over the entire sesquicentennial period under consideration have also been identified. It is noted that adaptation of railway transport to transformation of the commodity structure of transportation indicates the high adaptability of the capital goods of the industry, and therefore the prospects of investment in development of railways. A methodological approach to the typology of the commodity structure of the railway transportation market is proposed, based on which its qualitative changes during the period under review are analysed. It has been established that at the end of 19th - beginning of 20th century the commodity structure of railway transportation was diversified, then mixed and concentrated structures alternated, and at the beginning of 21st century the concentrated structure predominated. This structure makes transport companies dependent on the situation in a small number of industries and vulnerable if it worsens, therefore, it was concluded that it is advisable to diversify the commodity structure of railway transportation based on implementation of both marketing, technical and technological innovations. The key to this is the customer-focused improvement of cargo transportation technology and introduction to the market of new transport products that are attractive to cargo owners and effective for transport companies.