Lvov Railroad

organized in 1939 and combined with the Kovel’ Railroad and with the Chernovtsy branch of the Kishinev Railroad in 1953. The railroad has operated within its present sector since May 15, 1953. Its central office is in L’vov. Construction of the railroad began in 1855.

The railroad runs through L’vov, Rovno, Volyn’, Ternopol’, Ivano-Frankovsk, through the Transcarpathian Oblast and Chernovtsy Oblast, through part of Zhitomir Oblast in the Ukrainian SSR, through Brest Oblast in the Byelorussian SSR, and through the Moldavian SSR. The L’vov Railroad connects with the Byelorussian Railroad in the north at Verbka and Luninets; with the Southwest Railroad at Olevsk, Zdolbunov, Lanovtsy, Podvolochisk, Gusiatin, and Kel’mentsy; and with the Odessa-Kishinev Railroad at Oknitsa. In the west it connects with the Polish railroads at lagodin, Rava-Russkaia, Mostiska, Nizhankovitsy, and Starzhava; with the Czechoslovak railroads at Uzhgorod and Chop; with the Hungarian railroads at Chop and Batevo; and with the Rumanian railroads at D’iakovo, Berlebash, and Vadul-Siret. In 1972 the railroad had 4,583.2 km of operational track, or 3.4 percent of the total railroad network of the USSR. The railroad has through connections with other European socialist countries and with several capitalist countries.

Most of the railroad network was built during the prerevolutionary period. The equipment was not uniform, and railroad junctions and tracks were poorly developed. The growth of domestic freight transport and foreign trade after the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) necessitated overall reconstruction of the railroad. Heavy rails and crushed-stone ballast were laid, new types of locomotives and automation were introduced, important stretches were electrified, and junctions were developed.

The railroad serves important industrial regions, with coal mines, oil fields, plants producing machinery, lathes, and chemical products, power generating stations, oil refineries, logging and woodworking areas, and building material deposits. It also serves farm regions producing grain and beets and centers of animal husbandry. In 1972 the railroad transported 45,853,000,000 ton-kilometers of freight, or 1.7 percent of the freight carried by the USSR’s entire railroad network. Transit freight accounts for 50 percent of the total; import freight, 16 percent; export freight, 15 percent; and local traffic, 19 percent. The greatest proportion of the transit freight is made up of ore, coal, ferrous metals, oil and petroleum products, machinery, and grain. Import freight consists chiefly of coal, metals, construction materials, petroleum products, and products of the light and food industries. Export freight includes grain, beets, lumber, chemical products, and machinery. Local freight traffic is made up mainly of construction materials, lumber, and agricultural products.

Electric and diesel power accounted for 98.8 percent of all the railroad’s transport. The railroad handles 1.6 percent of the USSR’s total railroad passenger traffic, transporting 77 million passengers annually, including 63 million suburban commuters. The railroad was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1973.