INFORMATION ON THE SOVIET RAILROAD AND ROAD NETWORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A004500170004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 1, 2007
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 13, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/06/01: CIA-RDP80-0081OA004500170004-3
CENTRAC3ELUGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SECRET - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
USSR
Information on the Soviet Railroad
and Road Network
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United states within the mean-
ing of the Espionage laws, Title 18, U.S.C. Sees. 793
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law.
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
13 October 1954
NO. OF PAGES 3
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THI SOURCE (VALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE,
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
Source observed Soviet engineering units building a new highway which came
from the southeast and passed through a point four or five kilometers west
of Shakhty and then proceeded via Novoshakhtinsk to the west. Source learned
from the local population that this highway was a section of the highway con-
necting Rostov and Moscow. The road had an asphalt surface resting on a metal
foundation and was eight meters wide. Motor traffic on it was heavy.
2. the railroad network in
ZA9 ones Basin was very donee. The interlocking syntem in use in this
district was up to European standards. Passenger traffic was very light in
comparison with the extremely heavy freight traffic. Coaling stations equipped
with steam cranes were seen at every station of medium size. Source also
noticed many American-built freight cars with a load capacity of about 60
tons. These cars were built in 1943 and 1944 and were mostly used for the
haulage of coal.
3. In 1952 and 1953, a new highway was built between Krasnodon and Voroshilovgrad.
This highway, allegedly, was part of a highway leading from Krasnodon to Rostov
via Novoshakhtinsk.. Shakhty, and Novocherkassk. From Voroshilovgrad, the high-
way extended as far as Kadiyevka via Voroshilovsk. Construction was executed
by Soviet construction battalions quartered in tent camps. The troops were
well equipped with road construction machinery and motor vehicles. The high-
way under construction had an estimated width of nine meters. On both sides
of the surfaced highway there was a narrow mud road. By the winter of 1953,
the Krasnodon-Voroshilovgrad-Voroshilovsk-Kadiyevka section was put into
operation, In late 1953 work on the improvement of a highway extending from
Krasnodon to Varino (sic) via Gundorovka was started.
4.
Duki, where work was done on
a gle- rac railroad line which terminated there. Duki is about 150 kilo-
meters northwest of Komsomolsk. Passing sidings were available on the line
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jTj,VE ARMY NAVY X AIR FBI AEC
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25X1
25X1
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5.
6.
7.
By the summer of 1949, the emnank- 25X1
ment r e e had area been built in the first section from Duki.
was a camp quartering 600 to 800 force aborers.
every five kilometers. Maintenance points had been set up at these passing 25X1
sidings. Forced laborers in charge of control and maintenance work on the
individual line sections were stationed at these points. In 1949, there were
three camps for forced laborers at Duki. Permanent buildings were under
construction there,and mechanical railroad workshops were already in oieration. 25X1
In August 1949, a railroad bridge over a river was nearing completion. The
bridge had an over-all length of about 90 meters and rested upon three re-
inforced concrete piers. The railroad line was scheduled to be built to a
point 120 kilometers beyond Duki. The space required for the roadbed had 25X1
already been cleared for a distance of about 100 kilometers through the wooded
area. Every eight kilometers along the projected course of the new line there
distance between zvos ovyy and Urgal was about 300 kilometers. Th6 railroad
line did not yet extend beyond Urgal, a small town with several detainment
camps. A new railroad,line scheduled to be about 130 kilometers long was be-
ing built from Urgal. Thy, embankment had already been completed near Urgal,
but track construction work proper had not yet been started. Also along this
line there were camps for forced
The
inmates of each camp were to construct the subgrade for the railroad line
on a stretch eight kilometers long. A railroad bridge about 40 meters long
was also being built A total of 28 trues were assigned
to the constructions site. work was being
done on a tunnel 1,800 meters long, at a point about 130 kilometers from
Urgal, where, in 1949, the line under construction terminated.
I a new railroad line
had been built from Komsomolsk to Sovetskaya Gavan. The Soviets
transferred because this line was completed.
I many forced laborers were concen-
trated at ayshet for railroad construction work. From this center the workers
were distributed among numerous camps set up along a large new railroad line
under construction.
Source observed frequent shipments of new weapons and vehicles on the double-
track railroad line running from Kuzino via Khrompik toward Sverdlovsk.
8.
a. The Stalino freight station is equipped with a paved, side-loading ramp,
400 to 500 meters long and about 40 meters wide.
b. Locomotives and rolling stock seen during the journey generally were in
excellent condition. Maintenance work was very thorough.
c. The Stalino-Artemovsk-Slavyansk-Lozovaya line was double-track.
d. Ties piled up along the railroad line before Poltava indicated large-scale
track reconditioning work.
e. It was particularly noted that all freight stations are lighted by search-
,lights fitted on high masts.
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9.
f. In the Poltava area, source observed unusual red-green-white signals.
SECRET - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
Shortly before Korostenl
each about L,n ma ?.m"a ?
12 large coal dumps,
AA,
crest, travellers arriving from the direction of Moscow had to change
terminal of the line. 9Itatione on this line do not have names but are
referred to by numbers,
b. In March 1946, source learned that a railroad line extending, from Suslonger
(N 56-lx, B 48-13) to the northeast as far as the area of Suakanur had
apparently been built. Also on this line stations were referred to by
numbers.
trains. They boarded express trains parked on standard-gauge tracks.
In October 194, the Nadezhdinsk-Ivdel railroad line in the northeastern
Ural Mountains was single-track. Ivdel appeared to be the northern
co The Yudino freight station, ton kilometers east of Kazan, was five or six
kilometers long and had more than 35 tracks.
1. , omm ent: This is probably the Amgun River.
2. 0 Comment: Duki is about 80 kilometers northwest of Komsomolsk. The
information refers to the construction of the Baykal-Amur Magistral rail-
road line (BAM). This line originates at. Tayshet,north of Lake Baykal and
leads to Khabarovsk via Komsomolsk.
3. QComme t: Izvestkovyy is about 250 km west of Khabarovsk on the
Trans-Siberian Railroad: 1'Lne. The branch line extending as far as Urgal
is to be lengthened so ab to establish a link with the railroad line from
Lake Baykal to the Amur River.
4. Comment: According to the 1950 Railroad Guide, this line extends
to Polunochnoye.
5.F----]C omment: This information apparently refers to the construction of
a new railroad line, information on which was not available to this office.
Suslonger is on the railroad line extending from Kazan to Mayskiy, about
40 kilometers southwest of Yoshkar-01a.
SECRET - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
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