NEW STRATEGIC RAILROAD TO LINK UP WITH SOUTHERN TRANS-SIBERIAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500790310-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 310
• Content Type: REPORT

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Approved For Release 2006/10/20 CIA-RDP80-00809AO00500790310-7
5X1
Czechoslova.kis/USSR
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
New Strategic 1a11road to Link Up
'41th Southern Trans-Siberian
5X1 PLACE ACQUIRED
(BY SOURCE)
?5X1
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DATE DISTR.:;L3 Feb 1954
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
1. On 10 Dec 53, General Kratochvil authorized the command of the Fourth
'dilitary District at Kosice to place military units in the district at
the disposal of the civilian authorities in charge of the construction
of the new railroad line from Slovakia. to Soviet Russia called the Tra.'t
1..?uz"by. After having driven through the 12 km Bujanov tunnel the civilian
authorities encountered difficulties in the winding valley of the River
Hornad, and the pre iect has been seriously delayed.
2. On 8 Dec 53 General Artemov, of the Soviet Military Mission, informed the
Czechoslovak Government that it would be necessary to speed up the new
line. This line is linked with the construction of the new South-Trans-
'iberian line, now being built on the 1550 km stretch between Abakan and
Akmolinsk, and will be completed by construction of the Cardzu-Kungrad-
:'akat line. It was originally intended to complete the line in 1956, but
on c insistence of the Soviet general staff, the date has been stepped
up to 1955.
3. new Central Asian Command has charge of the work. This command is in
charge of the defense of the Urals, the Caucasus, the Kuznetzov Basin and
especially the now Volga.-Don Canal, and is the base for all Soviet operations
in the Middle F`jst, and the railroad is of obvious importance to it.
4. The new line will be connected through Kharkov and Kiev with Central Europe
and the Balkans. As the Trat druiby line connects not only Prague, Brno and
73ratislava to this line, but also the industrial districts of Moravckd
Ostrava. and Pilsen Soviet authorities are putting pressure on the Czechoslovaks
011M OT PA 3l' 1 tE! LMro:CV a AREA COMO
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DISTRIOUTION * STATE ARMY ISV NAVY AIM FBI ,
This report is for the use within the t 8A of the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It Is not to be transmitted: overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Omce of Collection and Dissemination, CIA.
AMO 7SA. 0/ TML U. S. COO[. AS WGIO [0. ITS TMAMSMISSIOM OM ICON.
LATI OM 01 ITS cOMT[MT3 TO OS I[c[I.T S? AM UMAUTM0111Z[0 I[MSDM IS
I OIIT IS -IIONISIT[O.
 Approved For Release 2006/10/20: CIA-RDP80-00809AO00500790310-7
to finish the' wo t;mugh earlier than planned.
5. The syndicalist organizations- Have objected vigorously to the employment of
soldiers on' the new line, considering it an antilabor step.
6. Members of the Czechoslovak general staff consider the haste displayed in
pushing through these new railroad lines as an indication of the reactivation
of Soviet strategy, which was visibly held back by Stalin's death. The strategy
aims -4t the achievement of Soviet military supremacy in 1954, or 1955 at latest,
and is oriented toward the Middle East, now considered the weakest point in
Western military dispositions.
LIBRARY 14'UBJECT & ARE ^_,_ CODES
755.52 2,76+
.755.52 3N
755.2 529N
755.2 4N