Freight and Passenger Traffic, Forms of, a

classification of transfers depending upon the location of the points of origin and destination of freight and passengers, as well as upon the means of transportation used for such transfers.

A distinction is made between internal transfers (that is, within industrial and agricultural enterprises, construction sites, and so on) and external transfers (connecting a particular enterprise with others). Internal transfers, as a rule, are carried out by industrial transportation. External transfers, carried out by general-usage transportation, are in turn divided into intracity and intercity types. The latter may be subdivided into intraoblast, interoblast (and in the USSR also interrepublic), and international transfers. Depending on the means of transportation utilized, a distinction is made among rail, water (ocean or river), motor-vehicle, air, or mixed (using two or more means of transportation) transfers. Mixed transfers require the unloading (transshipment) of goods from one means of transportation to another and consequently also require the proper technical equipment at transshipment points, which are usually located at transportation junctions. Freight transfer is significantly simplified and made less expensive if the goods are packed in containers (and container-trailers). In the USSR and other socialist countries, where all means of transportation belong to the state and form a unified transport system, conditions for the development of mixed shipments are especially favorable.

In addition to the abovementioned classification of transfers by types of traffic (which is used for transportation as a whole as well as for its individual types), there are also particular classifications by types of transportation that are used only for a particular means of transportation.

Rail transportation. In rail transportation the division of shipments according to means of transportation is as follows: local transportation, when the points of origin and destination are located within the limits of a given line; incoming shipments, when freight is delivered to a particular line from other lines of the network; outgoing shipments, when freight is transferred from a particular line to other lines of the net-work; and transit, or transfer along a particular line, when the points of origin and destination are located beyond its limits. Shipments that are made with the participation of two or more lines are called through transportation. All incoming, outgoing, and transit shipments are classified as through transportation.

Passenger traffic on railroads is subdivided according to types of transportation as suburban (taking place in suburban areas, which are usually adjacent to major industrial centers and have special, usually reduced, suburban fares), local (within the limits of a particular line), and through (with the participation of several lines). Local and through traffic is considered to be long-distance.

The division of passenger traffic into suburban, local, and long-distance categories also exists in automotive and water transportation.

Motor-vehicle transportation. In motor-vehicle transportation, passenger traffic is divided still further into intracity and intercity (highway) categories. In cases in which bus lines connect centers of cities with suburbs or more distant points, such traffic must frequently be relegated to the city or intercity categories.

Maritime transportation. In maritime transportation the following types of transportation are distinguished: small-scale coastal shipping (in which the transfers are between ports of a single marine basin of a particular country—for example, between Odessa and Batumi or between Krasnovodsk and Baku), large-scale coastal shipping (in which the transfers are between ports of different marine basins of the same country—for example, between Odessa and Vladivostok or Leningrad and Novorossiisk), and navigation abroad (for ex-ample, shipments between Soviet and foreign ports or between foreign ports, carried out by Soviet vessels).

Air transportation. In air transportation a distinction is made between Union and local lines and international lines. Passenger traffic here, owing to the high speeds of the air-planes and the directness of air routes, is characterized by quick arrival at points of destination and by the convenience of movement.

Each type of traffic presents its own demands on the technical equipment and conditions of transportation.