TRANSPORTATION - RAIL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600140162-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 162
• Publication Date: May 14, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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COUNTRY
SUBJECT
CLASSIFICATION 0WII f 'IIiIAL
P.FMTRAL INTELLIGENCE AG CY REPORT
Transportation - Rail
DATE OF
INFORMATION
DATE DST. /i/ way 1951
SUPPLEMENT To
REPORT NO.
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
111FORMATION ON CHIME RAILWAYS
~ Thanks to the aid of Soviet experts, who brought with them knowl-
edge of bridge-building acquired during the war, the status of the railway
bridges has improved neatly. The Soviet experts did not operate according to
the conserv3tive repair methods which are customary in China. They used weld-
ing processes primarily, and were often able in this way to cut the recommended
repair time in half. For example, the large bridge over the Hsiang Chiang near
Chu-thou on the Chu-chou--Kuei-yang Railway was repaired in only 35 days. The
bridge ov^r the Huai No near pang-fou on tie Tientsin-=Vu-k'ou Ez.ilvey, the re-
pair of which was expected to take 6 months, was repaired in only 60 days.
The briF.ges have been restored to full capacity and have been given
protective coats of paint. The bridges on the Peiping-Mukden Railway, the Tien-
tsin--P'u-k'ou Railway, the Chiao-chi Railway, and the Nanking-Sbwnghai Railway
were restored by the end of 1949. The bridges on the SbaAghai--Rangchow--Ning,.po
Railway, the Chekiang-Kiengsi Railway, and the Cantou-Hankow Railway were completed
early in 1950. In particular, the old bridge over the Huang No near Cheng-chou,
which had already been in use for more than twice as long as it was guaranteed for,
was temporarily reinforced with Soviet assistance. Abridge on the Canton--Chiu-
lung (Kowloon) Railway was still lacking in mid-1950, but it should since have been
completed..' The bridges on the Lung-hai Railway between Sian and the Lien-yun
Chiang were completed early in 1950. On the Hanan-Kwangal kailway, 42 destroyed
bridges were restored.
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CONFIDENTIAL
In Manchuria, all bridges on the Peiping-flukden Railway and on the
Chinese Chang-ch'un Railway between Shan-hai-kuan and Man-chou-11 were restored,
earl rim 1950;, he?bridge'bver the Pai-tu Cb'ang between Ch'i-ch'i-ha-erh and
Pej-an was salvaget by building three underwater y-ders. Otherwise, repair work
on it would have bakes two months.
In Feng-t'ai, near Peiping, there is a stockpile of bridge-building
material, some of it still from captured Japanese stocks.
New bridge construction under way inciudes a repiaceieut for be
old bridge, mentioned above, over the Huang Ho near Cheng-chou (Peiping--Hankow
Railway) and a large bridge near Hankow over the Yangtze River to connect the
?eiping-Renkow Railway and the Canton-Hankow Railway. The piers for both bridges
were to have been completed by the end of 1950. It should be possibly to find
out in Hong Ka* whether this was actually the case.
The status of the tracks has improved considerably since 1949. Now
ties and ballast were put in on the Peiping-Mulcden Railway and also on the Tien-
tsin--P'u-k'ou Railway. The Communist practice during the Civil War (1945 - 1949)
of tearing up whole stretches of track and burying the rails provided new material
for track after the Communists assumed power. Furthermore, unimportant railways,
such as the Te-Hsien--Shah-chin-chuang Railway, are being torn up in order to use
the rails elsewhere.
It is planned to double-track the Peiping-Mukden Railway for its
entire length. The Chinese Chang-ch'un Railway in also to be double-tracked
from Dairen to Ilan-chou-Ii. The Minister of Railroads, T'eng Tai-yuan, has in-
dicated that 100,000 tons of rails, valued at 10 million US dollars, will be
needed for this purpose. Rails were ordered at the end of 1949 in England (50,000
tons?), in Germany, and in France (130,000 tons). Whether or not deliveries were
made can be learned only in Hong Kong. Ties were imported in great quantity from
Chia-mu-ssu in Manchuria. They were laid continuously on all stretches, but were
not given any protective coating. Ballast is constantly replaced.
The signals are in better condition than they were formerly. The
Shan-hai-kuan workshops deliver the equipment required for n --w installations and
for maintenance.
In 1950, 22,000 kilometers of railroad were in full operation, and
500,003 laborers and office workers were employed in the operations. .. total of
10,0(X) passenger and freight cars made a daily round trip of 440,000 kilometers.
These cars were kept in running order in 26 workshops by 37,000 vorkerc. A total
of 1,500 locomotives and 15,000 passenger and freight cars were serviced. Replace-
meat parts are produced in the shops. The rolling stock is used on all roads with-
out restriction, so that the improved uanditions of maintenance are in evidence
everywhere.
Ithe Tientsin--P'u-k'ou Railway)
is 1,009 kilometers long a n d has 244.6 kilo-
meters of feeder lines. It links the most important part of Perth China with the
v tze malls- and therefore handles a great deal of through traffic. In peace-
n
a
g ,
time, coastal shipping, inland shipping, and air transport competed with the rail-
road, but at present coastal shipping is cut off by the blockade of Formosa, the
inland waterways serve only local traffic, and civil air transport has not regained
even a fraction of its prewar proportions. Roads, because of their poor condition,
play no role in long-distance shipping. Of the traffic on the Tientsin--P'u-k'ou
Railway, 44.5 percent is passenger traffic and 55.5 percent is freight. On tEe
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CONFIOEIN71"Al,
P'u-k'ou--Lin-ch'eng section (400 kilometers), there are 17 trains a day in
each direction. On the Lin-ch'eng-.Tientsin section, there are my ten trans
a day, averaging 39.37 kilemneters an hour. Thus the first section is the most
important. The number of trains a day in the first section could be raised to
20 in each direction. The following addition measures could be taken to in-
crease the road's performance, (a) increase in the weight of trains; (b) reduc-
tion in the distance between stations; (1C) increase in the rate of speed.
The Ministry of Railways has improved the condition
of maintenance o the locomotives (heaviest type Santa Fe) in order LO Utilize
their hauling power to the utmost. The time required for repairs is the shops
has been reduced, in order to keep more locomotives in operation, that is, to
double the available traction power. The locomotives are assigned to the vari-
ous operational units with regard to the difficulty of the road, so that the
heaviest types are used on the sections with the steepest grades.
In order to run heavier trains safely and at greater
speeds, more cars are to be equipped with air brakes.
The length of the passing sidings at junctions and passing stations
should be great enough to accomrmodkte the longest trains.
The permanent way of the railways Ps in good condition. The weight
of rails, 41 kilograms per meter, is adequate if the distance between the ties is
reduced to 0.67-0.70 meter. The Ministry of Railways has the ties replaced con-
tinuously.
The bridges on the Tientsin--P'u-k'ou Railway were repaired in 1950
with Russian assistance and were reinforced throughout to carry Cooper E 35 freight
trains and in some cases even Cooper E 50 freight trains. The large Huang Ho
bridge near Tsinan is in operation. All these measures Indicate that double-
tracking would not be absolutely essential for increasing the road's capacity.
At any rate, double-tracking would probably be limited to the P'u-k'ou--Lin-ch'eng
section.
aively 1,'or freight. It is designed to relieve the Peiping-Suiyuan Railway between
Ta-t'ung and Peiping of hae-ing to carry the coal trains from Ta-t'ung.
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CotiP'IOSNi'
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a. The road was started by the Japanese in 1943. The new line
s planned to7 run from Ta-t'ung directly to Sha-ch'eng, avoiding Kalgan, a.-d
from 8ha-ch'eng to the Peiping-Men-t'ou-kou Railway.
b. The Japanese had extended the Peiping-Men-t'ou-kou Railway
as far as Tung (last) Ch'i-yang and had built 16 piers in the Tung-ting Chiang
for a railway bridge. In comparison with the steepest grade on the Peiping?-
Suiyuan Railway (33 percent, than-k'ou pass), the new Sha-ch'eng--Nen-t'ou-kou
section, 105 kilometers long, will have a grade of only 10 percent. Fifty tun-
ot- "-- 2a 000 teeters in length ntie bride- +-+-I'-- meters in
'macaw teMaa-0 .-v,v -0-.. -'*-- - ,rdIn
length will have to be built. At Tzu-chin-shan, near Men-t'ou-kou, a large
switching yard is planned, which will serve the Men-t'ou-kou mines and the Lung-
yen ironworks.
From the very beginning it was planned that the Ta-t'ung--
T'ang-ku line should be electrified. In any case, this is one of the projects
in the Five-Year Plan (1949 - 195k) of the present Ministry of Railways.
The Five-Year Plan also includes She extension oil the Pao
t'ou--Lan-chou section (1,007 kilometers-,-- that is, the extension of the Pei
ping--Suiyuan Railway to the west) and the Lax-chow--Tien-ahui section (378
kilometers -- that is, junction with the Lung-Hai railway).
c. A direct line between Feng-t'ai and 'T'ang-ku harbor was also
planned. It is not clear whether the Ministry of Railways is continuing this
project, since the Peiping-Mukden Railway is already double-tracked between Pei-
ping and Tang-ku. The Peiping-Mukden Railway would naturally continue to be
used for other traffic.
Further construction is being carried on in Tang-ku harbor.
The first pier was finished in 1942. Since then, four piers have been completed,
in order to be able to transship 7.5 million tons of freight a year. T.'ang-ku
is especially important for shipping coal, iron, aluminum, and raw cotton. Ships
up to 10,000 tons can enter T'ang-ku harbor.
e. Some of the bridge materials comes from Japanese stock. The
Soviet-Chinese trade agreement of 1950 also provides for deliveries of such ma-
terials.
Up to the beginning, of 1950, about 500 kiiometers
of rails had been delivered by the USSR, which were used for the reconstruction
of the Peip_sag-Hankor Railway and the Canton-Hankow Railway. With the assistance
of Russian experts, 14 kilometers of track were laid a day (3.5 kilometers a day
previously),
are rapidly being repaired with Russian experts' assistance. Today 87 percent
of all railway workers are organized into rail workers' unions. By raising their
social status and by appealing to their desire for recognition (Hero of Labor,
following the Soviet pattern), it has been possible to reduce the period of time
for repairing locomotives from 6 months to one month.
w b, ..
qWr*I~n
GONFWDEN11At
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Before the war (1937), China proper had: 1,272 locomotives, or
one per 6.3 kilometers; 2,090 passenger cars, or one per 3.3 kilometers; and
16,342 freight cars, or one per 0.49 kilometer. In 1945, Manchuria had:
2,130 locomotives, or one per 5.4 kilometers; 3,072 passenger cars, or one per
'3.8 kilometers; and 30,450 freight cars, or one per 0.38 kilometer. Of this
stock, only 3 percent was found by the Chinese when they took over in Sep?em-
ber 1945. The remainder had been shipped out by the Soviets as Japanrae war
booty. Some of this rolling stock has been returned or resold to the govern-
ment of the People's Republic of China.
The Peiping Ministry of maiivuya stated that on i September 1950
the whole of China, including Formosa and Hainan, possessed 26,857 kilometers
of railways. Subtracting the railways in Formosa and Hainan -- approximately
3,925 plus 55 kilometers -- leaves 22,877 kilometers in all of China today.
For this length of roads there were available: 1,500 locomotives, or one per
15.2 kilometers, and 15,000 passenger and freight cars, or one per 1.52 kilo-
meters.
Since traffic has increased heavily, there must therefore be a
great shortage of locomotives and cars. I should estimate it at 3,200 locomo-
tives and 43,000 freight cars. The Ministry of Railways ordered about 60 loco-
motives in Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1950.
"turnover"' in operation. For the first time in the history of Chi- 50X1-HUM
nese railways a mimstry of Railways, with Soviet aid, has set up a central car-
distribution office. It has proved possible to keep track of the actual number
of freight cars available on a given day and to determine their whereabouts.
On the Tientsin-P'u-k'ou Railway, for example, the "turnover" was
reduced from 4 days to 2.58 days. In this way, approximately 200 freight cars a
day could be set free for other use. This increase of 73 fs-!,c7 percent in cars
available for loading was achieved 'ithout investing capital for produring new
cars. Furthermore, the repair of cars in the`vorkshope was expedited.
introduced or all of China. is an indication of the rational management o
the railways and of the recovery of the Communist c.rrency that as early as June
1950 it was possible to reduce the rates.
The following new traffic was introduced: coal shipments from Ta-
t' ung to T'aug-ku, coal shipments from Ch in-huang-tao to P'u-k'ou and Shanghai
(via Tientsin), coal shipments from Ta-t'ung and Men-t'ou-kou to F'u-k'ou, and
grain shipments from Manchuria to Borth China.
b. Through trains from Hong Kong to Shanghai via Chu-thou--San-
eh'ang were introduced. Military transports have been running North China'to
Manchuria (Korean border) since June 1950.
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CO? FIDK 1 IAL
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CONFIDENTIAL
yearly production possibilities were as follows-
a.
Manchuria
Locomotives
Cars
Manchu Sharyo (Rolling Stock f
), Mukden
80
700
Manchu Ironworks, Mukaien
250
Mukden Arsenal, Mukden
--
200
Sha-ho-k"ou Works, Dairen
100
400
Dairen ICikai (Machinery) Company
--
400
Dairwil Shipyard
300
b. China Locomotives Cars
Tang-shah Workshops About 100
Chli-shu-yen. Workshops -- 100
Ssv.--rang Workshops 10 500
T'asi-yuan Workshops 20 1,000
All the above figures are estimates.
tion since early 1950, one workshop is being built in Ch'eng-tu.
For the H'man-Kwangai Railway, there is a shop in Kuei-lin which
has been in existence since 1938.
4?
On the Kwaiagsi-Kweichow Railway there is a shop it Liu-chou. The
last two shops are equipped with machines and cranes which were moved there during
the Japanese war.
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