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Soviet Union [USSR] Organization and Equipment of the Railroads
The Soviet Railroads (Sovetskie zheleznye dorogi--SZD) were
managed and operated by the
all-union (see Glossary) Ministry of
Railways. The ministry was divided into twenty-three main
administrations, each responsible for an overall segment of the
railroads' operating or administrative management. Directly under
the ministry were the thirty-two regional railroads, which in fact
constituted the SZD. The railroads were named after republics,
major cities, river basins, or larger geographic areas. The October
Railroad, headquartered in Leningrad, was of course named in honor
of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution. Each regional railroad,
except the Moldavian, was subdivided into divisions. The divisions
were generally named after their headquartered stations (see
table 40, Appendix A).
In 1989 the most important lines carried heavy freight and
passenger traffic and were electrified. Among them were lines
linking industrial areas, maritime ports, and foreign countries.
Also, major population centers were interconnected and linked to
vacation areas. Lines with steep grades, as in mountainous regions,
were often electrified (see
table 41, Appendix A).
The railroads had about 7,000 marshaling yards, of which 100
were of major importance. Computer technology has gradually
increased the efficiency and quality of train handling at the
yards, many of which had centralized hump release controls and
automatic rolling speed devices. Such automated procedures as
checking a train's weight and composition, as well as modernized
communications facilities, have sped train formation and dispatch
and provided yard management with advance information on the
composition of arriving trains. Nevertheless, in the mid-1980s
classification yards were unable to process efficiently the
required number of trains.
Automated signaling equipment and devices helped improve
traffic control and train safety, although the latter remained a
problem in 1989. Some 20 percent of track lines were under
centralized train control. This enabled the railroads to increase
track capacity substantially, particularly over long distances. In
1989 more than 60 percent of the network was equipped with the
automatic block system, which regulated distances between trains,
as well as with automatic cab signaling.
Electric and diesel-electric locomotives were the basic
categories of traction. Within these categories were about twenty
versions of electric locomotives and about twenty-five versions of
diesel-electric locomotives. In 1981 some 1,377 electric
locomotives and 6,870 diesel-electric locomotives were in mainline
freight service. The self-propelled ER 200 train set operated on
limited-schedule service on the Moscow-Leningrad line in the mid1980s . Composed of traction units at each end and between three and
six married sets of powered cars, the ER 200 had a maximum speed of
200 kilometers per hour and was the Soviet counterpart to French,
Japanese, and American high-speed trains.
In 1982 the railroads had an estimated 1,856,000 freight cars.
The fleet consisted for the most part of four-axle (two bogies)
cars of sixty-two- to sixty-five-ton capacity. Nevertheless, sixaxle (three bogies) and eight-axle (four bogies) cars of 120- to
125-ton capacity were increasing in numbers. These high-tonnage
cars raised train weights without extending train lengths. Maximum
axle-loads ranged from twenty-three to twenty-five tons. In 1989
all cars were equipped with automatic couplers and brakes, and over
half had roller bearings. New freight cars were designed for
maximum speeds of 120 kilometers per hour, but normal operating
speeds were limited to 90 kilometers per hour at full load and 100
kilometers per hour when empty.
In addition to the basic types of freight cars--boxcars,
hoppers, gondolas, and flatcars--the inventory included specialized
types for transporting specific cargos, such as automobiles, dry
and liquid bulk materials, grain, perishables, and materials under
pressure. Several types of cars transported passengers. Depending
on train sets, their passenger capacity ranged from 384 to 1,484.
Long-distance and international trains were composed of
compartmented cars, sleepers, and dining cars. New cars were
designed for maximum speeds of 200 kilometers per hour. Most of the
passenger rolling stock was of foreign manufacture, primarily from
the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Data as of May 1989
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