Based on a review of the strengths and weaknesses of the railways in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in the Commonwealth of Independent States, this Round Table comes to a series of inescapable conclusions.

This set of previously out-of-print titles is an essential reference collection on the topic of transport economics. Providing in-depth analysis on a variety of aspects, including the economics of the airfreight, shipping and rail industries, it also examines the economics of road transport and more focused areas such as containerisation.

As an important industry, transportation costs account for a considerable percentage of the gross national product of countries. It is therefore key to have at the disposal of those concerned with transportation activities, a bibliographical literature on costs and costing. The bibliography lists books, papers, technical reports, journal articles, and information rarely found in books and dissertations.

This liber amicorum honours Professor Jan Tissot van Patot as a scholar, referring in particular to his concern with transport economics. The signi ficance of his work grew out of his influence within Netherlands Railways as, with the passage of the years, he dedicated himself increasingly to the vastly wider field of transport economics. I would emphasize, however, that his theoretical knowledge and views in wider contexts have also been of great value to Netherlands Railways, and I greatly appreciate this opport unity of referring to this aspect in a few personal words. It is characteristic both of his person and his attitude that his work was often the occasion for contacts of a more personal nature, contacts which were profoundly marked by his philosophy and convictions. Our relations date from more than thirty-seven years ago, when he asked me for a con tribution for a magazine which he helped to edit at that time and which was concerned with the same field as I was. We became colleagues when he entered the service of NS, the Netherlands Railways. His sphere of work at that time was such that he was consulted more and more frequently by others. His particular value to NS has been the increased dimension of transport policy and decision making he added to the company's existing policy and decision making.