Transport Infrastructure of Asian Russia (Review of the Monograph ‘Analysis and Evaluation of the Processes of Creation and Development of the Transport Main Network of Different Purposes in Asian Russia’)

This paper analyzes the content and features of the monograph ‘Analysis and evaluation of the processes of creation and development of the transport main network of different purposes in Asian Russia’. It is noted that the monograph is based on a combination of macroeconomic and sectoral approaches. The author of the review points out the features of the monograph that distinguish it from scientific publications on the functioning of transport in the eastern regions of Russia at the current stage of geopolitical shocks. The first of these features is the comprehensiveness of the approach, which is expressed in a wide list of research objects (freight and passenger segments, railroad, automobile, air, and river transport). The second feature of the monograph is a broad presentation of theoretical, methodological, and practical research results, including a review of approaches to the study of transport infrastructure as a factor of spatial development, analysis of trends and key problems of freight and passenger segments, forecast assessments of economic and transport development in the long term (up to 2035), study of promising technologies and opportunities for the greening of transport processes. The third feature is the proximity of the paradigms of ‘infrastructure for production’ and ‘infrastructure for people’, emphasizing the social significance of decisions taken in the transport complex. In general, the monograph presents a systemic view of the current situation and development of the transport complex of the eastern regions of Russia. At the same time, the involvement of a large number of experts (from four institutions) in the work on the monograph determines the difficulties of maintaining a unified approach to the text and overall coordination of the work. The latter is reflected, on the one hand, in the presence of substantial repetitions of certain problematic points in the sections of the monograph, and, on the other hand, in the absence of aspects important for the transport complex of the eastern regions of Russia (e.g., the dynamics of tariff policy, effective development of the system of checkpoints across the state border, assessment of the regulatory impact on the transport complex under changing institutional conditions for the use of limited infrastructure, etc.)