Transport in Czechoslovakia

History Politics Economy Industry Agriculture Foreign trade Transport Education Demographics Government structure Health and social welfare Mass media Resource base Religion Society Czechoslovakia was one of Europe's major transit countries for north-south movement.

In developing the transport system, the government's primary goal was to facilitate movement of industrial goods; passenger traffic, while not neglected, received secondary consideration.

Nevertheless, in the 1980s transport frequently was a bottleneck in the economy because of low operating efficiency and long-term inadequate investment.

Although the shortcomings of the systems were well known and received considerable public attention, limited funding slowed the pace of improvement.

Since the 1970s, in an effort to save fuel, the government had been encouraging the displacement of goods transport from the highways to the railways.

About 28% were electrified, including the main east-west Friendship Railway linking Prague with the Soviet border, which formed the basis of the network.

Situated near the centre of Europe, Czechoslovakia had rail links to surrounding countries, and transit traffic moved in all directions.

It was only in 1980 that a modern superhighway was completed linking the three largest cities (Prague, Brno, and Bratislava), a distance of 317 kilometres (197 mi).