Odessa-Kishinev Railroad

one of the oldest railroads in the southwestern USSR. The first section of the railroad, between Odessa and Balta, was built in 1865 and totaled more than 200 km. From 1867 to 1870 the railroad was extended to Elizavetgrad (present-day Kirovograd) and Kriukov (on the Dnieper). In 1870, Odessa was connected by rail to Kiev and to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

As of 1973 the Odessa-Kishinev railroad consisted of all the southwestern sections of the railroad network of the USSR, with a total length of 5,039 km. The headquarters of the railroad are in Odessa. The railroad is divided into six regions: Odessa, Znamenka, Kherson, Imeni T. Shevchenko, Moldavia, and Gaivoron (narrow-gauge). The railroad serves the entire Moldavian SSR and Odessa Oblast; Nikolaev, Kirovograd, Kherson, and Cherkassy oblasts; and parts of Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Vinnitsa, and Kiev oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR. The railroad has a comparatively well-ramified network of north-south and east-west lines and sections, thus creating favorable conditions for providing the required passenger and freight transportation in the regions immediately adjacent to the railroad.

The Odessa-Kishinev railroad is bounded on the north by the L’vov railroad at the Oknitsa station; by the Southwestern railroad at the Mogilev-Podol’skii, Vapniarka, Ziatkovtsy, Andrusovo, Mironovka, and Grebenka stations; and by the Southern railroad at the Burty and Grebenka stations. On the east the railroad is bounded by the Dnieper railroad at the Piatikhatki, Dolinskaia, Vysokopol’e, Novoveselaia, and Vadim stations, and on the west it is connected to the railroad network of Rumania via the Reni and Ungeny border stations.

The railroad carries traffic to and from the ports of Odessa, IPichevsk, Nikolaev, Kherson, Izmail, and Reni. It has a considerable number of major junctions—Odessa, Znamenka, Imeni T. Shevchenko, Nikolaev, and Razdel’naia. The largest railroad stations in terms of freight turnover are Odessa Junction, Nikolaev, Kishinev, and Kirovograd.

The Odessa-Kishinev railroad accounts for 2 percent of the freight shipped over the railroad network of the USSR. The proportion of incoming freight is higher than that of outgoing freight, because a great deal of freight for export is shipped from various regions of the USSR to the border stations and ports of the Odessa-Kishinev railroad. The proportion of transit shipments is also high (about one-third of the total freight turnover), which is also a result of the railroad’s geographical location.

Traffic on the Odessa-Kishinev railroad uses advanced traction methods in almost all cases. In 1973, electric traction was used for 41 percent of all freight traffic, and diesel traction for 59 percent. Steam locomotives are still used for switching work in marshaling yards. Work now in progress includes continuing electrification of the railroad, the laying of second tracks, and development of stations and junctions. The railroad is receiving the most modern equipment for mechanization of operations, as well as advanced computers and automatic traffic-control systems.