CHINESE PROGRESS IN RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION, 1952

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120535-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 535
• Publication Date: August 13, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120535-3
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
CENTRAL INTEL~~~~TION
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
Economic; Transportation -Rail
Yearbook
Hong Kong
5 Feb 1953
REPORT
CD t;0.
DATE OF
DATE DIST. 1,3 Aug 1953
N0. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
txn oxoa.r coxuw uro,x?nox ?rnau. rxr .?nom o.rt.n
or rx. u.rtro .nm nnu r.. uui.o or gno.uc .cr .o
u. .. c.. n uo o,, ?a unorn. m r.?xuuuo+o. rxu.r.uno?
or m co.n.n a ur xmu ro ?. uuurxo.~n. ru.o. a no
xmno .r Lb. pr.O.VplO. 01 TMU ro.~ a noxunm.
Chin -chi Nien- 0 1953 (Economic Annual 1953), published by Ching-chi
Tao-Pao She
CHINESE PROGRESS IN RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION 1952
During 1951 and up to the end of August 1952, a total of 1,255 kilometers
of railway Were constructed. During the past 3 years, over 10,000 kilometers
of railway lines were put back into operation.
The 505-kilometer long Ch'eng-tu-Chungking line was finished some time ago
~une 19 2]; the Tien-shut--Lan-thou line is in operation; the Chin-chow--Ch'-
eng-te Jehol] line has been rebuilt, and work or. the Lan-thaw-- Sinkiang line
wea started on 1 October [y5?J? The Tien-shui--Ch'eng-tu railway is now in
the process of rapid construction.
The construction of the Ch~eng-tu--Chungking Railway xas started on 15 June
1950 and was completed 13 June 1952. By 1 July 1952, the whole line was opened
for transportation.
The 347-kilometer line between Tien-shut and Lan-thou is the westernmost
section of the Lung-Rai Railway. It starts from Tien-shut, in Kansu, and passes
through the very rough terrain of Kan-ku, Wu-ahan, Lung-hai, Ting-hsi, and Yu-
chung haiens, including the gorges of the Wei Ho and the Ch'ing-shui Ao, where
numerous bridges had to be built.
In this section there are, on an average, two and a half bridges and/or
culverts and 30 meters of tunnels for each kilometer. In the course of construc-
tion, over 23 million cubic meters of earth and stone were excavated and over
1,000 culverts were built. The bridges, including 60 large and medium sized
ones, totaled 4,395 meters in length. Over 40 tunnels were dug, one of which
ie 1,980 meters long. All materials such as sand and gravel, and even the water
used in t2~e building of these structures as well as for human consumption, were
transported from long distances to the :~ork sites.
STAT
STAT
~s~~?
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120535-3
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
~~
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120535-3 ~
According to the Ministry of Railway's -- 1951 preliminary plans for the
transportationfinh,.neel+{^-~ ~~~ railway was to be completed and rzady for
953? However, the laying of the tracks was completed
" months ah=.,a of schedule and the line was completed and put into regular
o^ ~ October 1952, 8 months ahead of the original target date.
When the Yellow River bridge ~n the Peiping-Hankow line] was completed
by grench and Relgium builders 52 years ago, engineers set the highest safe rate
of speed while crossing the bridge at 15 kilometers per hour. ps a result of
the many wars prior to liberation, the bridge had been so severely damaged that
only a small locomotive pulling ten or less boxcars at a time was able to cross
the bridge. It required 3 hours for a train to pass, gr+,SVeen 12 September 1849
and the end of October 1952, traffic on this bridge conti?ued while repairs
were being made. Upon completion of the repairs, the (permissible] weight of
trains was raised from 600 tons to an unrestricted amount, and the speed of
travel increased from 5 kilometers per hour to the present unlimited rate of
speed. To cross the bridge it was no longer necessary to break up the trains
into sections, and the crossing time was decreased to 22 minutes. More recently
the time was further decreased to 5 minutes, which i.s 35 times as fast as when
repairs were begun.
with the19951 speed,~theoPe ping--HankowaEns increased noticeably. In comparison
hours 30 minutes; the Peiping-Shan hai E xpress reduced its running time by 6
Nankin g xpress by 3 hours 12 minutes, and the
g--Lu-pin Express by 11 hours 32 minutes.
In the same period, railway rates were progressively reduced in line with
the government's general economic policy of encouraging production. Apart from
luxuries, for which the rates remained rather high, daily necessities, industrial
equipment, agricultural implements and products, lw.~ber, steel and iron, coal,
and other mineral products were put in n low-rate class. The rate for the trsns-
port of coal, which is so basically important for practically all economic develop-
ment, is set at below cost. Preferential rates arc also granted to certain na-
tive products, particularly those for export.
The volume of rail transportation was increased continuously. As a result
of unified transportation planning, the efficiency of operation has been constantly
raised. In 1951, the volume of traffic was 8.6 percent greater than in 1950.
This was 48.6 percent higher than the highest record made in the history of Chi-
nese railways, while the figure set Sn the first half of 1952 was 11.9 percent
higher than that of 1951.
In 1949, freight locomotives traveled an average of 278 kilometers per day.
In 1951, this was increased to 371+,6 kilometers which is 47.5 percent higher than
the 254 kilometers per day record which was the highest performance in the pre-
vious history of Y.he Chinese railways. In the first half of 1952, the record
reached 416.6 kilometers per day.
In July 1952, the average net load per car increased 6 percent over the
figure for the same month in 1951.
The turnaround time, 3.34 days in 1950, was decreased to 3.22 days in 1951,
and further decreased to an average of 2.90 days in the first half of 1952.
Of the total number of freight locomotives in China in 1952, 29.5 percent
covered 500 kilour=tens per day in April, and in July this proportion was raised
to 43 percent.
The total length of railway lines in operation throughout China at the end
of 1948 was 12,769 kilometers; and in October 1952, 23,858 kilometers.
- END -
- 2 -
RESTRICTED
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700120535-3