economy. The political history of the Baltic States as well
as their geographic proximity to countries of the Former
Soviet Union (FSU) also explains some special problems
related to their transport infrastructure. Current road and
rail networks still emphasise an East–West connection to
major Russian cities (Economist, 2003b; Jauernig and Roe,
2001), while the North–South connections – that would
serve as a link between the three Baltic capitals, Tallinn,
Riga and Vilnius – are largely neglected. Another challenge
is posed by the use of FSU railway track gauges and
electriWcation systems. These are technical impediments
for connecting Baltic railways (Ojala et al., 2004) to
the nearest neighbour in the European Union, namely
Poland.