APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110013-9
Transportation and Telecommunications
A. Appraisal (S)
Czechoslovakia has well-developed transportation and telecommunication (telecom) networks, and all the state-operated systems are adequate for current economic needs. The transportation and telecom networks carry large amounts of traffic; there are good rail, highway, airline, and waterway connections to adjacent countries.
The western part of Czechoslovakia is heavily populated and industrialized; Prague and seven surrounding regions (the Czech lands) account for more than two-thirds of the total population. The eastern part is mountainous, sparsely populated, and relatively inaccessible. Reflecting these factors, transportation facilities in western Czechoslovakia are far more extensive than those in the east. Except for the high-capacity heavily trafficked Cierna nad Tisou-Prague rail line, east-west transportation facilities are limited.
Rail is the most significant mode of transportation. Highways serve mainly as a short-haul supplement to the railroads. Statistics for 1972 show that of the three principal means of surface transport, rail accounted for about 80%, highways for some 15%, and waterways for about 5% of the total 51.8 billion ton-miles. In the same year, railroads carried about 24%, highways slightly more than 75%, and waterways less than 1% of the total tonnage moved. The contribution of waterways to the national transport system, although significant, is small, largely because of the sparsity of routes and their lack of interconnection. An extensive system of pipelines for moving oil and gas provides an important complement to the surface transport facilities; of major importance is the CEMA (Friendship) international pipeline.
The rail, highway, and airline systems serve all the important economic centers of the country. Although the railroads have a freight-car shortage that prevents them from meeting peak demands, the lines are rated among the most efficient of those of the Eastern European Communist nations, and the highways, although inferior to those of most Western European countries, compare favorably with those of other European Communist countries. Domestic air-carrier services move only a small portion of the total passenger and cargo traffic, but the government is making every effort to encourage public use of air-transport services.
Direct exchange of rail equipment of the standard-gage (4'8½") Czechoslovak network is made with all adjacent countries except the Soviet Union, which has a 5'0" broad-gage system. The most important facilities for translating freight from Soviet to Czechoslovak rolling stock are located at Cierna nad Tisou, and supplementary facilities are at Vel'ke Kapusany. A significant development in recent years is the 57-mile extension of a Soviet broad-gage line to Kosice. Numerous highway connections are made with East Germany, Poland, the U.S.S.R., Hungary, Austria, and West Germany. International connections via inland waterways provide economical means of transport for cargo moving between Czechoslovakia and ports on the North, Baltic, and Black Seas.
The international air-route network of Czechoslovakia is, among Communist air carriers and in terms of points served and number of flights, second only to the international air-route network of the U.S.S.R. The Czechoslovak air carrier—CSA—links Prague with key cities in Europe, West Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Cuba, and North America (Montreal and New York).
The government owns all transportation modes and telecommunications. Control is vested in the Ministry of Transportation. Railroads are operated by the Czechoslovak State Railways. All highway-transport services are nationalized and are carried out from motor-transport centers in major cities. The Czechoslovak Elbe-Oder Navigation Co. and the Czechoslovak Danube Navigation Co. control all inland-waterway operations. The ministry exercises control of air transport and air work services through the Civil Aviation Administration.
Telecom facilities are among the best of the Communist countries and include modern telephone, telegraph, telex (teleprinter subscriber exchange), facsimile, radiobroadcast, and TV services.
Czechoslovakia, although landlocked, transports a significant amount of its foreign trade by sea, principally through foreign ports on the Baltic, North,
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110013-9
