USSR RAILROADS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000200510004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 4, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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ULAJOINUAI 1011 =Ai UD.11.1, jr lialV111.1 JAM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200510004-8
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED BY SOURCE
DATE OF INFORMATION '
USSR
USSR Railroads
CHI' DOCUMENT CO',TAINS INFOSMATION AtFECTINS TOE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF TINE UNITED STA,TES, WITHIN THR MEANING OF TITLE 1St SECTIONS 793
AND 794, or THE U.S. CODE, AS AMINO.. IT. TRANSMISSION OR NEVE.
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT St AN UNAUTHORIESO PERSON IS
PROHISITED SY LAW. THE StASODUCTION OF THIS FOAM IS PROHIBITED.
SOURCE
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES 6
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1953
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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2, The railroad sections where I worked could be divided into three categories:
lat_gatezQry; which includes the following sections:
(a) Nezhin - Kiev - Fastov - Kazatin - Zhmerinka - Vapnyarka - Slobodka - Birzula
Razdeltnaya - Odessa;
(b) Fastov - Mironovka - Tsvetkovo Bobrinskaya Znamenka.
(c) Kazatin - Berdichev - Shepetovka.
These sections had double tracks with the heaviest roadbed. Their traffic capa-
city amounted to 48 train pairs per day, and the weight of the trains were from
1200 to 1500 tons each,
2nd cateaory� comprising the following sections, which are very important for the
transportation of freight:
(a) Darnitsa Grebenka Romodan;
(b) Odessa - Voznesensk - Pomoshnaya - Znamenka;
(0) Vapnyarka Ebristinovka - Tsvetkovo;
(d) Kiev - Korosten.
The traffic capadity on these sections amounted to 24 train pairs a day, with the
weight of trains being from 1000 to 1200 tons,
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Ird_221.20=, which comprises all the remaining railroad sections of secondary economic
importance:
(a) Fastov Zhitomir - Novograd Volynskiy;
(b) Kazatin Pogrebishche Khristinovka - Umant;
(c) Zhmerinka - Mogilev Podoltskiy;
(d) Zhmeritica--- Greaany Volocbisk;
(e) Siobodka'- Rybnitss4,
(f) Birzula - Pomoshmaya;
(g) Razdeltnaya - Tiraspoll;
(h) Pogrebishche Kalinovka - Starokonstantinov;
(i) Pogrebishche Zhashkov;
(j) Kamnikovichi Korosten, - Shepetovka - Grechany Kamenets Podollskiy;
(k) Pomoshnaya - Bobrinskaya - Grebenka Bakhmach.
The traffic capacity of these sections did not exceed 18 train pairs per day with the
trains weighing from 800 to 1006tons each.
idaztigibiata
3. Freight locomotives series E and ShCh and passenger locomotives series S were in use on
the sections of the 1st and and categories; freight locomotives of series ShCh and 0
and passenger trains of series N were used on the sectiOns of the .rd category. Unfor-
tunately,. technical specifications of the engines escape my memory. However, as far as
I remember, weight on axle in locomotives of series. E is about 20 tons; in series ShCh,
about 18 tons; and in series 0$ about 14 tons.
.i.194raLlizaziaLtitss_asziguitimatdzita
4. There were special plants for the repair of rolling stock on railroad lines, as follows:
(a) Kiev Car and Locomotive Repair Plant;
(b) Odessa Car and Locomotive Repair Platt;
(c) Bobrinskaya Locomotive Repair Plant;
(d) Darnitsa Railroad Oar Repair Plant;
(e) Zhmerinka Railroad Car Repair Plant.
These plants carried out heavy repair work, in the course of which, it was necessary to
hoist the locomotives. I have no information as to the number of men employed in these
plants.
Current light repairs on rolling stock were carried on in workshops of Ot; transport
service sections located at the following railway stations:
(a) Kiev. Passenger
(b) Fastov
(C) Kazatin
(d) Zhmerinka
(e) Bina&
(0 Odessa (k) Voznesenak
(g) Oolta (1) Neribin
(h) KhristinoVka Orebenka
(i) Korostent
(j) Pomosbnaya
have no information concerning the staffe of these workshops either.
SWUM'
The following stations are the most important from a technical and economic point of views
(a) Kiev
(b) Fastov
(00 Kazatin
(d) Zhmerinka
(e) Birzula
(f) Odessa
(g) Bobrinskaya
(h) Korosteni
SICORBTABOURITY INFORMATION
(i) Darnitsa
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7. All of the above stations
amount of work. Junction
Vinnitsa
Vapryarka
Slobodka
Razdel,naya
Tsvetkovo
Nezhin
Khristinovka
Grechany
Pomashnaya
Grebenka
largest bridges on
3
are large distributing centers handling a very
stations of lesser distributive impOrtance are
Mironovka
Zolotonosha
Berdichev
Pogrebishehe
Kalinovka
Shepetovka
Zhitomir
Novograd Volynskiy
Starokonstantinov
considerable
as follows:
the line were over the Dnepr River, located as follows:
On the: section, Kiev II - Darnitsa;
On the section, Kiev - Petrovka Darnitsa;
Near the station of Kandy, on the line Mironovka Zolotonosta;
Near the station of Cherkassy, :on the line Bobrinskaya Grebenka.
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9. All the bridges haa many metal spans based on stone piers carrying one track. Their
general Lobshchaya/ length was more than 1,000 meters each.
10. Less important bridge crossings are:
(a) 'Overthe Pripyat' River, near the station of Albzyri on the Kalinovichi - Korosteni
line.,
(b) Over Dnestr River: ,near the station of Bendery on the Razdeltnaya Bendery line;
near the station of Mogilev Podollskiy on the Zhmerinka - Oknitaa line; near the
station of Rybnitsa on the Slobodka Oknitsa line;
Over the southern part of the Bug River: near the station of Golta on the Birzula -
Pomoshnaya line; near the station of Vomnesensk on the Odessa - Pomoshreya line;
11. The above were also single track, 3-4 span, metal bridges on stone piers.
12. During the retreat of the Soviet Army in the Summer of 1941, iii these bridges were
blown up. The destruotion was complete --. all the span atructuree and part of the
abutments were blown up. During the German oocupation in 1941-43, the Germans rebuilt
some of these bridges and then destroyed them again during their retreat in 1.943 and 1944,
1 have no information as to when and how the bridges were rebuilt by the Soviet authori-
ties.
(c)
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.2a�to1tluktruarea
for some short stretches, whLe wog Ja4euewl.hity of the subgrade necessitated lowering
13, The subgrade on the railroad was in a quite eatisfaotory condition, except
.the established speed of traffic and making continuous expensive metre of Vie subgrade.
14. The width of the subgrado for a single-traok line amounted, at the toy, to 1.5 meters on
straight stretches, and for double-track lines it was no less than 9.6 meters; on the
curves, with a radius of less than 2,000 meters, the subgrade was wider by 200 millimeters
the slopes of the subgrade in, normal groups bad a gradient of 1-4. The following pro-
visions for drainage .were made in order to secure stability of the wcbgradet in the
luta ditchee, trenches, and elevated ditches; in the embankments - reservoirs and drain-
age ditches; when, neossaary, special drainage installations were construoted to suit'
eaoh, individual case..
1/. Under !Iormal topographic conditions, the maximum gradient of the eubgrade waa specified
at 0,00$; and the minimmourvature radius, at 300 meters. These standard ossifications'
could vary considerably depending on the conditions of the terrain.
16. The reNkeA eubgrade, consisting of ballast,: ties, rails, and bolt., In the rail-
as well as on the majority of railroads of the USSR network, rap in
extremely poor condition. This resulted in large aunt m of mbrisy spent every year to
keep the subgrade In a condition ensuring the safety of railway service.
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DAL1.805.1
17. The width on the surface of the ballast layer en a single track section had to be
3.10 meters and on a double-track sectiOn� 7e20 meters. The thiekness of the ballast
layer under the ties had to. be at least .30 meters, the gradient of the ballast slopes
being 1-1*. Only sand of various grades was used for the ballast layer on the majority
of railways of the USSR network; gravel ballast was practically non-existent. According
to its gratulometrie consistency, the sand, the use of which for subgrade ballast was
authorized, was of two kinds:
(a) Large-grain with a predominance of particles of 1.to 3 millimeters.
(b) NediuM-grain with a predominance of particles of .5 to 1 millimeter small-grain
sands, as a eulee were not used for subgrade ballast.
18. On some railroad sections, chiefly where the traffic was heaviest, the upper surface
of the ballast was covered with-a layer of gravel in order to protect the ballast sand
layer from being blown away by wind or washed away by rains and in order to prevent the
dust from penetrating into the friction parts of the rolling stock. The ballast on the
lines differed considerably in quality and quantity from the standards prescribed by
the technical regulations, especially on the railway sections which I included into
the 3rd category. The impUrity percentage in the ballast e due to the presence of clay,
silt, and other admixtures, was extremely high -Z4-25%._ The thicknees of the ballast
layer under the ties in many eases did not reach. the established standard, I myself
saw whole kilometers of railroad track where the ballast layer was not thicker than 0.10
in, while the standard called for 0.30 in, of thickness. The process of cleaning the
ballast was extremely slow, because the annual extraction of ballast from the quarries
barely covered its normal loss. 50X1
ies
19. Railroad track methe USSR railways was laid exclueively on wooden ties of various kinds-
oakt.pinee. spruce, cedar, and fir, depending on the species prevalent in the region of
the railroad, only pine and oak ties were used. All the
ties laid for tracks were impregnated with antiseptics; this procedure was eempulsory.
20. Depending on size and shape, the ties were divided into the following types
(a) Trimmed. - types IA, 'IA, IIIA, IVA, and VA.
(b) Square - types TB, IIB, TIID, IVB, and VB,
(c) Rectangular - IC, TIC, andZIC.
Rectangular ties were used only for the support of joints on the double ties,
21. The cross measurements of ties varied between 17.5 centimetersin height, le.0 cm. in.
width at the top and 25.5 cm, at the bottom for ties IL and ID,, to 13.5 cm, in height,
13.0 cm in width at the top and 21.5 cm. at the bottom for ties types VA and VD. The
height of the reotangular ties was equal to that of the dorresponding types of the '
trimmed and square ties, but the width of their surfaces, equal-for all three types, was
equal to the width of the bottom side of ties of the types VA and VB. The length of ties
of the -types 1, II, III, and IV was 2.70 meters and that of type V, 2.1-2.7 tera.
220 Depending on the amount of traffic and the type of roliingestock in usle, the number of
ties per one kilometer of USSR railroads could be 1440, 1600, and 1840. On the rued
into the let and 2nd categroy, the =bar
ar ties per kilometer reached 1600 while on the sections of the 3rd category i was 1440.
There were no sections having 1,840 ties per kilometer The errher of
ties under one length of rail depended Upon the general number of ties. per kilometer and
upon the length of rails. For instance, on a section where there were 1,600 ties per
kilometer, there were 17 ties under a rail 10.67 meters long; and under a rail 12.50 met-
ers lOng there were 18 ties. As I mentioned above, the tie situation on all USSR rail-
roads, wee extremely bad, especially on the railroad
section.cr secondary importance; the limber or defective ties lying on trackn amounted,
on individual kilometer-lengths of the sections in the 3rd category, to 18-20%. Annual
replacements barely covered the normal wear and tear, allowing practically no margin for
improvement of the condition produced by long neglect. 50X1
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23. The rails on USSR railroads are extremely varied in type, since in old times every rail-
road used its own type orrails. Attempts to standardize the type of rails resulted in
establishing one standard, divided into 4'basic types: Ia, ha, IIIa� and IVI. During
the lastfew years preceding World War II, the industryceased to roll rails of the
lighter types Ina and IVa, and so the basic type of rails Ia and Ile was eatablisbed.
-Howevere since replaceMent of the rails of old types proceeded extremely slowly, a great
nunber.of rails of the old types lay about on the USSR railroads up to the very beginning
of World War II,
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240 The length of rails of the types Ta, IIA, III*, and IVa of the old rolling was 42 feet
or 12.80 meters, and 35 feet or 10.67 meters. Lately, the normal length of 12.50 m. was
fixed for these rails.
25, The basic characteristics of the standard types of rails were as follows:
Type of rail
Weight of 1 meter of rail
Height of rail in
43.57
140
Tie
38.42
135
IIIa
33.48
128
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IVa
30,89
120,5
The sections of the railroad included in the 1st category, were laid with
rails of type ha; the sections in the 2nd category, with rails of types ha and lila;
the sections in the 3rd category, with rails of.types-IIIa and IV4, as well as with rails
of obsolete types, There were no rails of type Ia. The gauge between the intern'
edges of the head of a rail amounted, on straight stretches of track, to 1,524 milli
meters, The widening of the gauge on curves depended on the radius of the curve and was
fixed as follows:
(a) For a radius of 650 meters and more
(b) For a radius of 450-650 meters
(c) For a radius of 350-450 meters
(d) For a radius of 350 and less
1,524 mm
1,530 mm
1 535 mm
1,540 mm
27. Variations from the established width of the gauge were permitted up to plus 6mm. and
minus 2rnm.; in this way, the gauge could not be under any circumstances more than 1,546
mm or less than 1,522 mm.
28. The rail situation of the USSR railroads, as well as that of tiesp.was extremely bad.
The USSR industry was unable to meet the yearly demand for raile;. therefore, the rails
on tracks were very old and very much worn out. Old, worn-but rails were moved from more
important sections of the tracks to the less -important ones, and from the latter to sta-
tion yards. Cases where all the rails were replaced with new ones were extreme1y rare
and that on comparatively small sections.
31Q111.0.
2.- According to regulations, the rail Joints of the standard types Ia, nap lila, arid IVa
required joint bars with 6 holes, but, owing to the shortage of bolts, many sections could
be found with joints with 4 bolts only. Old type rails were joined by 4-hole joint bars.
30, Under the rail, 3-hole tie plates were laid on ties, and the rail was fastened to the tie
with. 3 spikes. On secondary sections with rails of the old type, 2-hole plates could be
found; sometimes they were absent altogethet, and the rail would be fastened to the tie
with only 2 spikes. any broken joint bars, tie plates, and spikes with eroded necks
could be found on the tracks; in general, all the joints were greatly worn out and not
always complete.
151iIialata
31. Switches on USSR railroads, like rails, were of many different types and, as a rule,
corresponded to the type of rails; the frog angles mostly used on main lines were 1/1: and
1/9; in railroad yards it was 1/8 and in any case not sharper than 1/6.
32,. The length of radius of the transition curve for the above mentioned types of frogs ranged
more or less within the limits shown beldw.
Fox' an angle of 1/4, the radius of the curve was 270320 meters
For an angle of 1/9, the radius of the curvecmas:190-220 meters
For an angle of 1/8 the radius of the curve was 170-180 meters
Ihe..Bmilludjalla-04 labor.
33. All types of work on tracks were performed by special brigades of track workmen. Track
brigaders'(artel' foremen) and rattroad foremen eupervised the work of these brigades.
These men, .,who repreeented the lower administrative and technical personnel ct the-Commun-
ication�Service, were responeiblefor the condition of the tracks on a Oomparttively
1,1 section of the road ( a brigader was it elan* of a 'sector of 4-5 kilometers; a
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railroad foreman had 3-4 brigades under him). Until the beginning of the thirties, cadres
of old experienced track workers still remained with the railroads. Beginning with the
thirties, approximately, a number of railroad purges and the subsequent reorganization of
the system of administration wrought havoc among the cadres of qualified railway men, from
the upper administrative and technical personnel down to the brigades, who were replaced
by low ekilled workers chosen for their Party reliability. At the same time, the rank and
file railroad workers who had been recruited mostly from among the cadres of qualified rail-
way men, from the upper administrative and technical personnel down to the brigades, who
were replaced by low skilled workers chosen for their Party reliability. At the same time,
the rank-and-file railroad workers who had been recruited mostly from among the local
peasant population began to desert the railroads in great numbers because of the Soviet
policy in the villages (collectivization).
340 During the period of 1930-1941, the technique and the methods of work on tracks were on the
level of those prevalent at the end of the last century, The tools and equipment in use
were almost identical with those used 30-40 years previously. Under such circumstances,
the conditior necessary for high productivity df track work could not be developed. In
the middle of the thirties, principles of mechanization of track work began to be intro-
duced, but did not meet with any sympathy or cooperation on the part of the poorly quali-
fied railroad personnel, The result of this attitude was that the Pew nachines that were
available for track work were rarely used, and not very efficiently. There were many cases
when these machines, handled by low-skilled and untrained personnel, broke down immediately.
The old methods, where physical force and skill of the workman played the most important
part, had to be re-introduced, However, in all justice, OW must admit that under such
circumstances brigades of railroad workers achieved an extremely high level of productivity.
This high productivity vas achieved exclusively by using the exhaustive "sweatshop" system
called in the USSR "the socialist methods of work" -- Stakhanovisne shock work, and Social-
ist competition� Another factor of no small value in this respect was that track work was
paid on a piece-work basis, plus bonuses. Such a pay system can hardly be considered, from
a technical and economic view point, as expedient, because in most cases it results in-
evitably in considerable deterioration in the quality of work.
As I mentioned at the begineing, the only source of information is my memory - as far as it
goes.- since, unfortunately, I have neither textbooks nor refereece books at heed., The
data I have given refer approximately to the period of 1930-1941, because after that5bX19
I obtained no information whatsoever about the condition of the railroad transport.
7. my conclusion is based on the simple reasoning that USSR industry, which only with diffi-
culty met the demands of transport in peace time and which suffered tremendous destruction
during World War II, cannot meet the enormously increased demands of the railmad transport
caused by the wargs devastation,
- end. -
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