APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00020011022-9
short tons. Grades generally do not exceed 10% except in the southern mountainous regions when 25% grades are encountered. The known minimum radius of curvature on the network (328 feet) is located between Sangerhausen and Blankenheim to the Harz Mountains.
Modern track-laying machinery and maintenance equipment are gradually replacing manual labor; however, insufficient quantities of equipment and personnel shortages are the primary reasons for inadequate construction and maintenance performance. Defective rails and switches and the continual determination of ties, rails, and ballast are constant sources of slowdowns and derailments.
Train control throughout the network is accomplished by the absolute-block system (only one train in a block at a time), and automatic train control is in use on most lines. The more important lines are being considered for Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) throughout, but only section of the Berlin-Rostock line and the Berlin Outer Ring have been equipped with CTC. Home and distant semaphore signals are widely used but are being replaced by color-light signals. The DR maintains its own nationwide telegraph and telephone nets. Advances in signal equipment, including track diagrammatic safety control, provides for further automation and efficient utilization of locomotives and rolling stock.
Little good-quality fuel is available, and briquettes of locally available brown coal constitute the principal fuel in use. East Germany imports coal from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the U.S.S.R., but never in sufficient quantities for year-round needs. Attempts have been made to alleviate the shortage, such as converting locomotives to coal-dust and oil-firing and mixing low-grade anthracite from the U.S.S.R. and Poland with domestic goal, but none has proven satisfactory. Electrification is confined to the Berlin area and in the dense industrial area encompassing Magdeburg, Erfurt, and Dresden. Electric power for the electrified system is supplied by the Muldenstein thermal powerplant just northeast of Bitterfeld. Crude oil is piped from Mozyr, U.S.S.R., to the refinery at Schwedt, which supplies more than 90% of the total petroleum requirements of East Germany and should be able to satisfy any increases in dieselization of the DR network and industrial demands. The water supply is generally adequate for railroad purposes, but the chemical content is usually so high that treatment is necessary.
In 1970 the railroads carried 289.1 million short tons of freight and produced 22.4 billion short-ton-miles. The principal commodities carried were coal, coke, construction materials, and industrial and agricultural products. The bulk of rail traffic consists of shipments to and from the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern European Communist countries over lines connecting the major terminals of Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt, Halle, and Magdeburg. Soviet forces in East Germany also make considerably use of the rail system for transporting troops and equipment. Electric (16.2%), and diesel (41.5%) traction handed 57.7% of the freight, the balance (42.3%) was handed by steam locomotives. The average gross weight of freight trains was 700 short tons; the average net load, 445 short tons. Freight-car turnaround time was about 4 days.
Motive power and rolling stock are numerically adequate for normal traffic requirements. Distribution and maintenance problems cause temporary shortages of freight cars during peak traffic periods in the spring and fall when agriculture and military (troop rotation) demands place a marked strain on equipment. Much of the equipment is in poor condition, however, and only an exceptional maintenance and repair program has permitted steadily increased railroad performance. Manufacture of steam locomotives was sopped in 1961 and since then production has been devoted to diesel and electric locomotives. In 1971 the locomotive inventory totaled about 7,000 steam, diesel, and electric standard-gage units.
In 1971 the rolling-stock inventory totaled about 145,000 standard-gage freight cars, mainly closed types. Despite domestic production of freight cars, the rate of replacement has been inadequate because most of the equipment produced in East Germany has been exported. Two-axle car predominate but these are being replaced by four-axle equipment. The approximately 11,000 standard-gage passenger cars are considered adequate for normal demands. East Germany's membership in the CEMA freight-car pool, which is designed to achieve more efficient car utilization among the Eastern European Communist countries, is helping to ease freight-car shortages somewhat.
East Germany is placing increased emphasis on containerization (shipping freight in standardized metal containers), a service first opened in June 1968. The initiation of container freight service is a significant economic and strategic development in DR operations. Container shipping is growing rapidly, and, as new container centers and transfer points open, more shippers are expressing an interest. In their major specifications East German containers meet the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization, Lloyd's Registry of Shipping, and the International Union of Railroads (UIC), thus, the containers are adaptable to the European container transport system—aimed at insuring the rapid transport of freight.
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R00020011022-9
