Roads and Transport

How do the member-countries of the Council Mutual Economic Assistance cooperate in the development of transport?

What are their plans in this area?

Transport has an enormous role to play in extending foreign economic interaction. The principle of balanced development and interaction of all its components lies at the foundation of the Long-Term Purpose-Oriented Programme of Cooperation in the Development of the CMEA Countries Transport Ties for the period up to 1990. The latest meeting of the CMEA Executive Committee, defined as one of the major tasks the further strengthening of the material and technical basis of transport through the introduction of the latest achievements of scientific and technological progress.

Contrary to the widespread view that the “golden age” of railways is long gone, this from of transport has lost none of its significance and is continuing to develop. In the CMEA countries railways account, for 55 per cent of the overall freight volume of all forms of transport.

In the sphere of water transport we are continuing to modernize and expend the merchant marine of the CMEA countries and new jointly-owned shipping lines and enterprises are being formed.

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Bicycle

The bicycle is making a comeback. In an ecology-conscious age, it seems the ideal way of getting around: it doesn’t smell or make a noise; it costs very little to run and not much to buy. Also, riding a bicycle is” healthy”. More and more ecology and health-conscious Americans are riding bicycles. A cycle-riders club meets every Saturday in Central Park, New York, and spends the day-cycling. Recently, in the university city of Cambridge, students and townspeople demonstrated their opposition to the heavy traffic in Cambridge; they rode their cycles into the middle of the city, and stayed there, riding round and round, while an enormous traffic jam developed and the police didn’t know what to do…The city authorities promised to take action – quickly.

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The Choice of Transport

The public transport systems are being improved and developed on an integral basis; the technical and financial considerations are fully examined for each or the possible schemes, and the basic trends and priorities for developing particular transport means and routes are worked out. The choice is made with an eye to various technical factors, such as speed and passenger-carrying capacity (the maximum number of passengers a vehicle can carry in one direction, along one route per hour). Since the bus and the trolleybus differ little, if at all, in passenger-carrying capacity and speed, other factors taken into account are maneuverability and the non-pollution of the air with exhaust fumes (with the trolley-bus). The tram, with its high passenger-carrying capacity, is only practical for routes with heavy and steady passenger flows.

In many cities express train routes, capable of carrying 13-22.000 passengers an hour, are being introduced, complete with bridges and tunnels.

Developing the transport system is a complicated process largely dependent on the city layout. It is a matter that needs thorough investigation.