CAUCASUS RAILROADS CRITICIZED; IMPROVEMENTS REPORTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310647-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 647
• Publication Date: May 31, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310647-9
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CLASSIFICATION ~ SECRET SECRET
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
1NFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
REPORT
CD t':O.
COUNTRY
uSS
R
DATE OF
INFORMATION
1950
SUBJECT
Tra
nsportation - Railroads
DATE DIST. 31
May 1950
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
Dai
ly newspapers
OF PAGES
N0
3
PUBLISHED USSR; Stockholm
DATE
PUBLISHED 14 Mar - 1 Apr 1950
.
SUPPLEMENT TO
LANGUAGE Russian; Swedish
REPORT NO.
trot ooeonrt corfur~ ~r-ou~nor ur~rnrr rrr rAnoru otma
or rrc urmo rt~m rlirlr in rurur or unor~rc ~a ra
r, ~, c., ~i pro rr,u ~rrroao. in n~rrrurior or irr rrrcunor
ioino ii*c~i ~iiiiooumoi or iiu iow a -roi ri iris. ~r r~-
CAUCASUS RAILROADS CRITICIZED; IMPROVEMENTS REPORTED
NAW .
AIR -
NSRB
FBI
~_.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310647-9
CAUCASUS RAILROADS SNARL TANK CARS -- Dagens Nyheter, No 86, 30 Mar 50
Bitter criticism of conditions in Soviet industry and economy occurs
rather frequently in the Soviet press, but it is not frequent that Russian
agencies provide as much valuable information in that connection as appeared
recently in the Ministry of Railroads' newspaper Gudok.
The newspaper reports that conditions in the railroad network in the
Caucasus are so terrible that machine-tractor stations in large parts of
the Ukraine and elsewhere have no oil, despite the fact that spring planting
should have begun long ago.
During February and much of March, thousands of tank cars blocked the
Caucasus railroads, the newspaper states. At Makhachkale, the terminal of
the Transcaucasus Railroad System from the Grosnyy oil fields, 600 tank cars
destined for the northern USSR are piled up. This has thrown the entire
port organization into disorder, with the result that oil tankers engaged
in Volga traffic cannot go in, to the great detriment of Stalingrad and
other industrial sites along the river. It is estimated that the impor-
tant Ordzhonikidze System is 10,000 tank cars behind for the past year.
Guilt for this catastrophic blow to the economy in the South, the news-
paper continues, rests on the shoulders of Robel, head of the Caucasus Rail-
road Okrug, Osvetinskiy, head of the Traffic Administration of the Caucasus
Railroad Okrug, and Voskanov, head of the Ordzhonikidze Railroad System, whc
failed to take the necessary steps in time to avert the chaos on the Caucasus
systems. This has occurred despite a long period of good weather in the en-
tire southern part of the USSR: Much could have been done to rectify the
calamitous conditions, as most of the railroad stations have four and five
extra locomotives.
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Poor management, Gudok says, is the chief cause of this deplorable state
of affairs. Osvetinskiy was satisfied that the tank cars were full, and did
not worry whether ?hey were moving or not. On one day, only 35-40 percent of
the cars that should have been dispatched were cleared and sent on their way
at the most important stations.
Recently, a special expert was sent to Makhachkala from Moscow to straighten
things out, but instead of getting at the root of the trouble, he began by
bawling out people for little details which offended his eye. Everything re-
mained as it was before, and at the great junction of Mineral'nyye Vody, traffic
from Groznyy had to be rerouted to another port far from there. Great expense
and still greater chaos resulted.
It is estimated that only 15-20 percent of the oil that should have been
delivered to the North long ago is actually on the way. The rest is simply
sitting because the officials cannot agree on how the traffic should be directed.
Although the major portion of the Caucasian railroad systems are electrified,
nothing is being done about the fact that the locomotives used are steam-driven
and even then are being utilized only EO percent.
Official dissatisfaction with the oil depots is even worse. Viscous oil
is being dumped into tank cars which have been washed and prepared for gasoline.
"One would believe," Gudok says, "that the Caucasian railroad systems are simply
a playground for overgrown boys."
LATVIAN SHORE SECTION BEING ELECTRIFIED -- Sovetskaya Latviya, No 74, 28 Mar 50
Electrification of the Riga-Kemeri shore line of the Latvian Railroad Sys-
tem was begun this year. It is planned to complete the basic construction
operations and begin electric train traffic on the Riga-Dubulty sector by
21 July 1950.
MOSCOW-KATUARY LINE TO BE ELECTRIFIED -- Moskovskaya Pravda, No 32, 28 Mar 50
In 1950 electrification of the Moscow-Katuary line of the Moscow-Kiev
Railroad System will be completed.
STALIN SYSTEM GETS NEW STATION BUILDINGS -- Pravda Ukrair~y, No 74, 28 Mar 50
This year 18 new station buildings will be put into service on the Stalin
Railroad System. Construction Qf station buildings has begun in Dnepropetrovsk,
Simferopol', and Yevpatoriya. Construction of new station buildings. is being
completed in Novo-Moskovsk and Marganets.
LENINGRAD'SYSTEM LOCOhfOTIVES BURN SHALE -- Leningradskaya Pravda, No 71,
24 Mar 50
The Leningrad Railroad System first began to use shale as fuel for loco-
motives last year. Since then tens of thousands of tons of shale have been
burned in locomotive fireboxes. The use of shale has enabled a considerable
reduction in the amount of coal hauled into Leningrad over long distances.
Not long ago A. Vasil'yev, docent at the Leningrad Institute of Rail-
raod Transport, worked out a new fuel mixture for locomotives consisting of
third-grade shale and low-grade coals. Such a mixture is being used for the
first time.
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Test runs made out of the Leningrad-Vitebsk Marshaling Depot have shown
that the new mixture gives good steam formation. The mixture is being used
s:~ccessfully in other depots of the system.
CENTRAL ASIA LOCOMOTIVES TO USE NEW AIR PUMP DESIGN -- Kazakhstanskaya Pravda,
No 55, 1~ Mar 50
Two workers of the Rybtsovka depot of the Turkestan-Siberian Railroad Sys-
tem have worked out a change in the design of the steam distributor head for
locomotive air pumps. This change will be introduced in all depots of the
railroad systems of the Central Asia Railroad Okrug.
5,000-TON TRAIN -- Pravda Ukrainy, No 65, 16 Mar 50
A locomotive engineer of the Pologi depot recently took an above-norm-
weight train weighing 5,000 tons to the "Zaporozhstal "' Plant. The weight of
the train exceeded the norm?by 150 percent.
NEW RAILROAD SCIENTIFIC CENTER -- Moskovskaya Pravda, No 35, 31 Mar 50
The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Railroad Construction and
Planning was recently created and has begun work. The institute is to work
out scientific and technical problems of railroad construction and planning.
One of its main problems is to reduce construction time and costs. It will
handle questions of the improvement of technology and mechanization of rail-
road construction and will undertake the designing of new machinery. The
institute has ten departments.
SUNNIER SCHIDULE APPROVED -- Sovetskaya Belorussiya, No 67, 1 Apr 50
The Ministry of Transportation has approved the summer schedule for
passenger-train traffic. In accordance with this schedule, direct passenger
service between Minsk and Sochi and between Minsk and Simferopol' has been
established.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310647-9