Misplaced Pages

#814185

99-816: According to the Comecon directives production of heavy diesel locomotives among Eastern Bloc countries was left exclusively to Romania and the Soviet Union. The M62 was developed by the Vorohsilovgrad Locomotive Factory (today: Luhansk Locomotive Factory) on order of Hungary. The M62 designation originates from the Hungarian order, as the Hungarian railways previously ordered Swedish locomotives called M61 in Hungary. The Soviets disliked this and forced Hungary to buy Soviet locomotives, but

198-556: A customs union and economic integration of Central and Eastern Europe date back at least to the Revolutions of 1848 (although many earlier proposals had been intended to stave off the Russian and/or communist "menace") and the state-to-state trading inherent in centrally planned economies required some sort of coordination: otherwise, a monopolist seller would face a monopsonist buyer, with no structure to set prices. Comecon

297-577: A steel frame. The frame is fixed to the chassis with elastic supports. Electric traction motors are mounted on bogie frames with a tram system. M62 is equipped with electro-pneumatic multiple-unit controls ; therefore it is possible to drive two locomotives from one cab. The locomotive had enough power to pull a 1,000 t (980 long tons; 1,100 short tons) freight train with a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) (on level track), while two coupled locomotives are able to pull trains up to 3,600 t (3,500 long tons; 4,000 short tons). The top speed in such

396-500: A call for "a common single planning organ." This was resisted by Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, but most emphatically by increasingly nationalistic Romania, which strongly rejected the notion that they should specialize in agriculture. In Central and Eastern Europe, only Bulgaria happily took on an assigned role (also agricultural, but in Bulgaria's case this had been the country's chosen direction even as an independent country in

495-588: A case was 60–100 km/h (37–62 mph). In Hungarian service, the M62 proved inferior to the Swedish-American NOHAB M61, which, while 10 tons lighter and slightly less powerful, could haul 25% more weight with 50-60% of the Soviet engine's fuel consumption. The M62 was unable to run from Budapest to Nyíregyháza and back without refueling, which led to congestion and timetable problems when

594-435: A certain cult following among railfans , and is referred to by several nicknames, usually derived from its Soviet provenance: Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Russian: Сове́т Экономи́ческой Взаимопо́мощи , romanized : Sovét Ekonomícheskoy Vzaimopómoshchi , Russian: СЭВ , romanized : SEV ; English abbreviation COMECON , CMEA , CEMA , or CAME )

693-415: A country could still veto, but the hope was that they would typically choose just to step aside rather than either veto or be a reluctant participant. This aimed, at least in part, at allowing Romania to chart its own economic course without leaving Comecon entirely or bringing it to an impasse (see de-satellization of Communist Romania ). Also until the late 1960s, the official term for Comecon activities

792-827: A deputy prime minister, the executive committee met quarterly, usually in Moscow. In 1971 and 1974, the executive committee acquired economic departments that ranked above the standing commissions. These economic departments considerably strengthened the authority and importance of the executive committee. There were four council committees: Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning, Council Committee for Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Council Committee for Cooperation in Material and Technical Supply, and Council Committee for Cooperation in Machine Building. Their mission

891-423: A fairly simple construction coupled with a largely reliable diesel–electric transmission. Intensive electrification of Polish railways caused the relatively new ST44 locomotives to be mothballed into reserve stock. Many machines withdrawn from PKP found their place among industrial and private railways, where they only bore the producer's M62 designation. Heavy fuel and oil consumption as well as heavy wear caused to

990-523: A form of associate status in the organization, specified in its 1964 agreement with Comecon. Collectively, the members of the Comecon did not display the necessary prerequisites for economic integration: their level of industrialization was low and uneven, with a single dominant member (the Soviet Union) producing 70% of the community national product. In the late 1980s, there were ten full members:

1089-686: A formal or informal way, often the countries were discouraged from developing their own designs that competed with the main Comecon design. Although not formally part of the organization's hierarchy, the Conference of First Secretaries of Communist and Workers' Parties and of the Heads of Government of the Comecon Member Countries was Comecon's most important organ. These party and government leaders gathered for conference meetings regularly to discuss topics of mutual interest. Because of

SECTION 10

#1732782579815

1188-525: A high number of passenger seats, and was lightweight. According to the designers, the train was technologically more advanced than the trains used in New York's Subway, London's Tube or the Paris Metro. However, due to the plan of Comecon, older Soviet trains were used, which guaranteed profit for the Soviet Union and work for workers in Soviet factories. That economical change lead to the cancellation of

1287-461: A lesser extent, Hungary and Poland. (This principle would weaken after 1968, as it became clear that it discouraged new research – and as the Soviet Union itself began to have more marketable technologies.) In a recent paper by Faudot, Nenovsky and Marinova (2022) the functioning and the collapse of the Comecon has been studied. It focuses on the evolution of the monetary mechanisms and some technical problems of multilateral payments and

1386-538: A more "law-governed" and technocratic price-based approach. However, with the August 1948 death of Andrei Zhdanov , Voznesensky lost his patron and was soon accused of treason as part of the Leningrad Affair ; within two years he was dead in prison. Instead, what won out was a "physical planning" approach that strengthened the role of central governments over technocrats. At the same time, the effort to create

1485-471: A nearly complete halt, as the Soviet Union moved domestically toward autarky and internationally toward an "embassy system of meddling in other countries' affairs directly" rather than by "constitutional means" . Comecon's scope was officially limited in November 1950 to "practical questions of facilitating trade." One important legacy of this brief period of activity was the "Sofia Principle", adopted at

1584-609: A number of operators in Poland, PKP Cargo classifies them as ST40 and PKP LHS – as ST40s. In 2017 Polish train operator Rail Polska  [ pl ] , in co-operation with VIS Systems, converted one ST44 to 3 kV DC electric. The new locomotive, designated 207E, uses the original's bogies and underframe; it develops 2.4 MW (3,200 hp) power and has maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). The company has converted another unit since and plans to convert 12 locomotives altogether. Because of its low maintenance requirements

1683-925: A producer and any foreign customer, limiting the ability to learn to adjust to foreign customers' needs. Furthermore, there was often strong political pressure to keep the best products for domestic use in each country. From the early 1950s to Comecon's demise in the early 1990s, intra-Comecon trade, except for Soviet petroleum, was in steady decline. Beginning no later than the early 1970s, Soviet petroleum and natural gas were routinely transferred within Comecon at below-market rates. Most Western commentators have viewed this as implicit, politically motivated subsidization of shaky economies to defuse discontent and reward compliance with Soviet wishes. Other commentators say that this may not have been deliberate policy, noting that whenever prices differ from world market prices, there will be winners and losers. They argue that this may have been simply an unforeseen consequence of two factors:

1782-504: A single regime of planning "common economic organization" with the ability to set plans throughout the Comecon region also came to nought. A protocol to create such a system was signed January 18, 1949, but never ratified. While historians are not unanimous on why this was stymied, it clearly threatened the sovereignty not only of the smaller states but even of the Soviet Union itself, since an international body would have had real power; Stalin clearly preferred informal means of intervention in

1881-663: A special red tablet mounted on it that states that this machine was personally inspected by Kim Il-sung . Two copies were built in North Korea, numbers 8001 and 8002, and given the designation “Kŭmsŏng” (“Venus”). 8002 has been on display at the Museum of the Three Revolutions since its construction, while 8001 is in regular service. At least 15 North Korean M62 locomotives were converted to electric locomotives by Kim Chŏng-tae Electric Locomotive Works in 1998. This

1980-548: Is presumed to be quite easy, as the overhead voltage in North Korea is 3000 V. Numbered 1.5-01 to 1.5-15, these are known as the Kanghaenggun-class (강행군, "Forced March"). A total of 396 locomotives were sent to East Germany between 1966 and 1978, most of which ended up at the Deutsche Reichsbahn with some being delivered to East German industry. The Reichsbahn used the M62 locomotives at first under

2079-619: The Czech Republic and Slovakia until 2002. From 1965 till 1978 the Hungarian State Railways MÁV received 294 locomotives named M62 . The M62 001 was actually the first M62 ever built, and is still running. The M62 designation and creation of the type originates from the MÁV order, as the Hungarian railways previously ordered Swedish Nohab locomotives called class M61 in MÁV service . A program to replace

SECTION 20

#1732782579815

2178-689: The Eurasian Economic Union with Armenia , Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Along with Ukraine, Georgia , Azerbaijan and Moldova are also part of the GUAM . Vietnam and Laos joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and 1997 respectively. Albania had stopped participating in Comecon activities in 1961 following the Soviet–Albanian split , but formally withdrew in 1987. East Germany reunified with

2277-528: The Fairbanks-Morse 38D8 design which was installed by F-M in their H15-44 Hood and H20-44 Hood road switcher locomotives, as well as the F-M 'Erie-Built' Passenger and Freight cab units. The Soviet opposed-piston engines, like their US counterparts, were simply too tall to fit in locomotives designed for the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard-gauge railways with

2376-627: The Ferrocarriles de Cuba . The "K" designation comes after the Russian spelling of the name Cuba, "Куба". Though most of these machines are no longer in service on the island, one of them, numbered 61602 is on display at the National Railroad Museum in Havana . This one was driven by Fidel Castro on the inauguration of a tram between Cumbre and Placetas in the center of the country. Other surviving M-62Ks have been spotted in

2475-702: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . All four Central European states are now members of the Visegrád Group . Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union, along with Ukraine and Belarus founded the Commonwealth of Independent States which consists of most of the ex-Soviet republics. The country also leads the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and

2574-549: The West and withdrew from Comecon on 2 October 1990. In the late 1950s, a number of communist-ruled non-member countries – the People's Republic of China , North Korea , Mongolia , Vietnam , and Yugoslavia  – were invited to participate as observers in Comecon sessions. Although Mongolia and Vietnam later gained full membership, China stopped attending Comecon sessions after 1961. Yugoslavia negotiated

2673-519: The tighter tunnel allowances of Eastern Bloc satellite countries. After the fall of the Soviet Bloc , 31 units of MÁV 's M62 fleet were rebuilt with Caterpillar engines in the 1990s, but lack of funds stopped further upgrades. The M62 was a dedicated freight mover and lacked any carriage heating or power supply equipment, even though most Soviet satellite-state customers needed to use them in dual cargo/passenger role regularly (Soviet trains of

2772-406: The 1930s). Essentially, by the time the Soviet Union was calling for tight economic integration, they no longer had the power to impose it. Despite some slow headway – integration increased in petroleum, electricity, and other technical/scientific sectors – and the 1963 founding of an International Bank for Economic Co-operation, Comecon countries all increased trade with

2871-432: The August 1949 Comecon council session in Bulgaria. This radically weakened intellectual property rights, making each country's technologies available to the others for a nominal charge that did little more than cover the cost of documentation. This, naturally, benefited the less industrialized Comecon countries, and especially the technologically lagging Soviet Union, at the expense of East Germany and Czechoslovakia and, to

2970-559: The Bundesbahn's scheme. However, they were quickly phased out and by the end of 1994 the class had all but disappeared, with 31 units from Germany having been sold to North Korea . Between 1966 and 1979 a total of 599 locomotives were imported into Czechoslovakia where at first they were given a T679.1 designation for standard-gauge locomotives and T679.5 for broad-gauge machines. Later in 1988 those numbers were changed to 781 and 781.8 respectively. Those machines were working in

3069-598: The Comecon members deemed underdeveloped, Cuba obtained oil in direct exchange for sugar at a rate highly favorable to Cuba. Within the socialist economic paradigm, the subsidies in favor of Cuba and other underdeveloped Comecon members were viewed as rational and fair because they counteracted unequal exchange . The organization of Comecon was officially focused on common expansion of states, more effective production and building relationships between countries within. And as in every planned economy, operations did not reflect state of market, innovations, availability of items or

M62 locomotive - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-482: The Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning drew up draft agreements for joint projects, adopted a resolution approving these projects, and recommended approval to the concerned parties. If its decisions were not subject to approval by national governments and parties, this committee would be considered Comecon's supranational planning body. The international Secretariat, Comecon's only permanent body,

3267-548: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, officially the highest Comecon organ, examined fundamental problems of economic integration and directed the activities of the Secretariat and other subordinate organizations. Delegations from each Comecon member country attended these meetings. Prime ministers usually headed the delegations, which met during the second quarter of each year in a member country's capital (the location of

3366-546: The Economic Commission for Europe. Some say that Stalin's precise motives in establishing Comecon were "inscrutable" They may well have been "more negative than positive", with Stalin "more anxious to keep other powers out of neighbouring buffer states … than to integrate them." Furthermore, GATT 's notion of ostensibly nondiscriminatory treatment of trade partners was thought to be incompatible with notions of socialist solidarity. In any event, proposals for

3465-590: The European Community (the renamed EEC), and the " Sinatra doctrine " under which the Soviet Union allowed that change would be the exclusive affair of each individual country marked the beginning of the end for Comecon. Although the Revolutions of 1989 did not formally end Comecon, and the Soviet government itself lasted until 1991, the March 1990 meeting in Prague was little more than a formality, discussing

3564-496: The LHS broad gauge line. Today around 50 of the class are located at Zamość depot, and it has been decided to mothball them for the moment. In 2005, two ST44 locomotives were completely rebuilt by Bumar-Fablok S.A. and delivered to the LHS line. Changes made included new Caterpillar 3516B HD Diesel Engines and Primary Alternators. These locomotives were designated as 3001 and 3002. Since 2007 Newag offers extensive modernisations of

3663-714: The M62 locomotive is quite popular with the Korean State Railway of the North Korea , where they serve not only on non-electrified lines but on electrified ones as well. 64 locomotives of this type were imported from the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation between 1967 and 1995, numbered in the 내연6xx (Naeyŏn 6xx) series. Between 1996 and 1998 31 locomotives were delivered from Deutsche Bahn . In 2000 six units were delivered from Slovak Railways and 13 units from Polish State Railways . None of

3762-415: The M62 locomotives that involve the replacement of the prime mover and generator, fitting new drivers' cabs and new body. The modernised units bear the manufacturer's designation 311D (standard gauge) and 311Da (Russian gauge). The modernised locomotive develops 2,133 kW (2,860 hp), 331 kN tractive effort and has maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Modernised units have been supplied to

3861-528: The NOHAB was replaced by the M62 on that route. The M62's 14D40 V diesel engine was unreliable because it was developed in a short timeframe from scratch, without previous design experience. In the 1950s domestically built Soviet diesel locomotives, having the wider 1,520 mm ( 4 ft  11 + 27 ⁄ 32  in ) track base and taller tunnel clearances, used vertical opposed-piston engines. These (e.g. Kharkov 2D100/9D100/10D100) were based on

3960-628: The OEEC, which later became the OECD . The Comecon was founded in 1949 by the Soviet Union , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Poland , and Romania . The primary factors in Comecon's formation appear to have been Joseph Stalin 's desire to cooperate and strengthen the international relationships at an economic level with the smaller states of Central Europe, and which were now, increasingly, cut off from their traditional markets and suppliers in

4059-687: The Paris Conference on the European Recovery Programme. This has been described as "the moment of truth" in the post- World War II division of Europe. According to the Soviet view the "Anglo-American bloc" and "American monopolists ... whose interests had nothing in common with those of the European people" had spurned east–west collaboration within the framework agreed within the United Nations, that is, through

M62 locomotive - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-735: The R1 trains by A. Honzík. The Comecon plan, though more profitable for the Soviets, if less resourceful for the Czechs and Slovaks, forced the Czechoslovak government to buy trains "Ečs (81-709)" and "81-71", both of which were designed in early 1950s and were heavy, unreliable and expensive. (Materials available only in Czech Republic and Slovakia, video included) On the other hand, Czechoslovak trams ( Tatra T3 ) and jet trainers ( L-29 ) were

4257-584: The Soviet Union in the Warsaw Pact . There were three kinds of relationships – besides the 10 full memberships – with the Comecon: Working with neither meaningful exchange rates nor a market economy, Comecon countries had to look to world markets as a reference point for prices, but unlike agents acting in a market, prices tended to be stable over a period of years, rather than constantly fluctuating, which assisted central planning. Also, there

4356-444: The Soviet Union, six East European countries, and three extra-regional members. Geography, therefore, no longer united Comecon members. Wide variations in economic size and level of economic development also tended to generate divergent interests among the member countries. All these factors combined to give rise to significant differences in the member states' expectations about the benefits to be derived from membership in Comecon. Unity

4455-646: The Soviet Union. For political reasons, the Soviet Union simply forced Poland to buy Soviet instead of Romanian locomotives, as it preferred satellite countries not to export their products. The first four locomotives, produced by the Voroshilovgrad Locomotive Factory (in today's Luhansk, Ukraine), were delivered to Poland in September 1965. Deliveries continued until 1988, with 1,191 locomotives delivered in total (1,114 for PKP standard-gauge network, 68 broad-gauge units for LHS and 9 for

4554-489: The Soviet military 154 locomotives named DM62 were built. These engines have been modified for pulling SS-24 Scalpel ballistic rocket launcher trains . For industrial railroads 39 engines of the version M62UP have been built. These engines had improved trucks, larger fuel tanks and modified exhaust silencers. In the early 1960s an urgent need appeared in Poland for a heavy freight diesel locomotive. The Polish industry at

4653-623: The USSR did not have suitable diesel locomotives at the time, spurring the development of the type. The first few prototypes of this heavy freight locomotive were ready in 1964 and the first buyer outside the Soviet Union was Hungary. A total number of 723 units were produced in the Soviet Union. Between 1970 and 1976 the Soviet Union Railway (SZhD) received 723 M62 engines, further 13 M62U units have been delivered between 1989 and 1990. These engines were single 3M62U sections. For

4752-503: The West relatively more than with one another. From its founding until 1967, Comecon had operated only on the basis of unanimous agreements. It had become increasingly obvious that the result was usually failure. In 1967, Comecon adopted the "interested party principle", under which any country could opt out of any project they chose, still allowing the other member states to use Comecon mechanisms to coordinate their activities. In principle,

4851-416: The auspices of Comecon; compilation of digests on Comecon activities; conduct of economic and other research for Comecon members; and preparation of recommendations on various issues concerning Comecon operations. In 1956, eight standing commissions were set up to help Comecon make recommendations pertaining to specific economic sectors. The commissions have been rearranged and renamed a number of times since

4950-610: The border region of the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine). In 2005 still seven M62.5 have been in use. 1972 also the Raab-Oedenburg-Ebenfurther Eisenbahn (Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút, GySEV), an Austro-Hungarian joint venture, received six standard-gauge locomotives named M62.9 . The locomotives were stationed in Sopron but were scrapped in 1996. Twenty locomotives, named M-62K class were shipped to Cuba between 1974 and 1975 and subsequently used by

5049-425: The central city of Cienfuegos ; these are numbered 61611 and 61605. (See photo here:) From 1980 till 1990 MTZ received 13 single units M62UM and 66 twin units 2M62M . The M62 locomotive has a Co-Co wheel arrangement , running on two bogies with three axles on each bogie. Chassis and bogie frames are constructed out of box elements. The two-stroke diesel engine and the main alternator are mounted on

SECTION 50

#1732782579815

5148-593: The coordination of non-existent five-year plans. From January 1, 1991, the countries shifted their dealings with one another to a hard currency market basis. The result was a radical decrease in trade with one another, as "(Central and) Eastern Europe… exchanged asymmetrical trade dependence on the Soviet Union for an equally asymmetrical commercial dependence on the European Community." The final Comecon council session took place on June 28, 1991, in Budapest , and led to an agreement to dissolve in 90 days. The Soviet Union

5247-420: The deliberate elimination of barriers to trade and other forms of interaction"). Although such equalization had not been a pivotal point in the formation and implementation of Comecon's economic policies, improved economic integration had always been Comecon's goal. While such integration was to remain a goal, and while Bulgaria became yet more tightly integrated with the Soviet Union, progress in this direction

5346-444: The delivered locomotives were painted in standard North Korean livery (which is light blue over green) and they still bear the same livery as in previous service, except the former German ones, which were given a different, green livery. Those units acquired from Germany are numbered in the 내연7xx (Naeyŏn 7xx) series, while those acquired from Poland and Slovakia are numbered in the 내연8xx (Naeyŏn 8xx) series. Locomotive Naeyŏn 602 has

5445-580: The designation V 200 , while later reclassifying those units as BR 120 . After the reunification of Germany and subsequent merger of the Deutsche Reichsbahn into the Bundesbahn the class designation was changed to BR 220 for the Deutsche Bundesbahn , as the original class number was already in use for the electric BR 120 , and class designation ranges 100-199 were reserved for electric locomotives under

5544-495: The direction appeared to be toward a coordination of national economic plans, but with no coercive authority from Comecon itself. All decisions would require unanimous ratification, and even then governments would separately translate these into policy. Then in summer 1950, probably unhappy with the favorable implications for the effective individual and collective sovereignty of the smaller states, Stalin "seems to have taken [Comecon's] personnel by surprise," bringing operations to

5643-561: The era were heated with individual per-coach drum fireplaces). In cold times a dedicated heating wagon had to be added to MÁV's M62-drawn trains, producing steam from oil-fired boilers (1960-70s era), later on generating electricity for electric heating (1980s era). This proved to be a costly solution, in contrast to the M61 NOHAB, which could produce 750 kg of steam per hour using an internal water tank and engine waste heat, with minimal effects on fuel consumption. This locomotive has

5742-413: The establishment of the first eight. In 1986 there were twenty-four standing commissions, each headquartered in the capital of a member country and headed by one of that country's leading authorities in the field addressed by the commission. The Secretariat supervised the actual operations of the commissions. The standing commissions had authority only to make recommendations, which had then to be approved by

5841-422: The executive committee or its specialized committees. The scientific institutes on standardization and on economic problems of the world economic system concerned themselves with theoretical problems of international cooperation. Both were headquartered in Moscow and were staffed by experts from various member countries. Several affiliated agencies, having a variety of relationships with Comecon, existed outside

5940-483: The executive committee, presented to the Session, and ratified by the interested member countries. Commissions usually met twice a year in Moscow. The six interstate conferences (on water management, internal trade, legal matters, inventions and patents , pricing, and labor affairs) served as forums for discussing shared issues and experiences. They were purely consultative and generally acted in an advisory capacity to

6039-477: The industry). One of the locomotives (ST44-1500 – producer's designation M63) had newer bogies and traction engines, allowing it to reach a higher top speed. The broad-gauge units, numbered from 2001 to 2068, imported to run on the LHS , were equipped with an automatic coupling system. There were several reasons for importing M62 locomotives to Poland, and today's views on this decision are quite ambiguous. The locomotive

SECTION 60

#1732782579815

6138-725: The introduction of the " convertible rouble  [ ru ] ", revised efforts at national specialization, and a 1959 charter modeled after the 1957 Treaty of Rome . Once again, efforts at transnational central planning failed. In December 1961, a council session approved the Basic Principles of the International Socialist Division of Labour, which talked of closer coordination of plans and of "concentrating production of similar products in one or several socialist countries." In November 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev followed this up with

6237-527: The meeting was determined by a system of rotation based on Cyrillic script ). All interested parties had to consider recommendations handed down by the Session. A treaty or other kind of legal agreement implemented adopted recommendations. Comecon itself might adopt decisions only on organizational and procedural matters pertaining to itself and its organs. Each country appointed one permanent representative to maintain relations between members and Comecon between annual meetings. An extraordinary Session, such as

6336-590: The mid-1970s. They were largely unaffected by the 1973 oil crisis . Another short-term economic gain in this period was that détente brought opportunities for investment and technology transfers from the West . This also led to an importation of Western cultural attitudes, especially in Central Europe. However, many undertakings based on Western technology were less than successful (for example, Poland's Ursus tractor factory did not do well with technology licensed from Massey Ferguson ); other investment

6435-411: The nicknames "Remot-Szergej" for remotorized Szergej , "Csendes" meaning quiet , as well as "Csörgős" because of the rattling sound made by the engine. Between 1970 and 1978, MÁV purchased 15 locomotives M62.5 with bogies for the Russian 1,524 mm ( 5 ft ) broad gauge. Three more M62.5 have been rebuilt from standard gauge M62. The broad-gauge engines are used for operation near Zahony in

6534-450: The official Comecon hierarchy. They served to develop "direct links between appropriate bodies and organizations of Comecon member countries." These affiliated agencies were divided into two categories: intergovernmental economic organizations (which worked on a higher level in the member countries and generally dealt with a wider range of managerial and coordinative activities) and international economic organizations (which worked closer to

6633-527: The one in December 1985, might be held with the consent of at least one-third of the members. Such meetings usually took place in Moscow. The highest executive organ in Comecon, the executive committee, was entrusted with elaborating policy recommendations and supervising their implementation between sessions. In addition, it supervised work on plan coordination and scientific-technical cooperation. Composed of one representative from each member country, usually

6732-924: The operational level of research, production, or trade). A few examples of the former are the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (managed the transferable rouble system), the International Investment Bank (in charge of financing joint projects), and Intermetall (encouraged cooperation in ferrous metallurgy ). International economic organizations generally took the form of either joint enterprises, international economic associations or unions, or international economic partnerships. The latter included Interatominstrument (nuclear machinery producers), Intertekstilmash (textile machinery producers), and Haldex (a Hungarian-Polish joint enterprise for reprocessing coal slag). Fablok Too Many Requests If you report this error to

6831-520: The original, very outdated two-stroke Kolomna 14D40 power plants with a modern, more efficient engine was started in 1997, with the first locomotive, M62 301 debuting in early 2001. M62 301, 303 and 304 received MTU , the rest Caterpillar power plants. The program also included a thorough overhaul of the locomotives, including fitting better equipment for the driver, air conditioning, improved electrical system, etc. The 34 remotorized locomotives (M62 301–335) have been renamed M62.3 and received

6930-430: The other Comecon states. This lack of either rationality or international central planning tended to promote autarky in each Comecon country because none fully trusted the others to deliver goods and services. With few exceptions, foreign trade in the Comecon countries was a state monopoly , and the state agencies and captive trading companies were often corrupt. Even at best, this tended to put several removes between

7029-635: The peculiarities of the transfer ruble. Comecon as an organization proved unable to develop multilateralism mainly because of issues related to domestic planning that encouraged autarky and, at best, bilateral exchanges. After Stalin's death in 1953, Comecon again began to find its footing. In the early 1950s, all Comecon countries had adopted relatively autarkic policies; now they began again to discuss developing complementary specialties, and in 1956, ten permanent standing committees arose, intended to facilitate coordination in these matters. The Soviet Union began to trade oil for Comecon manufactured goods. There

7128-506: The previous year. Although the Cominform was disbanded in 1956, interparty links continued to be strong among Comecon members, and all participated in periodic international conferences of communist parties. Comecon provided a mechanism through which its leading member, the Soviet Union, sought to foster economic links with and among its closest political and military allies. The East European members of Comecon were also militarily allied with

7227-414: The problems they had been intended to solve. One economic success of the 1970s was the development of Soviet oil fields. While doubtless "(Central and) East Europeans resented having to defray some of the costs of developing the economy of their hated overlord and oppressor," they benefited from low prices for fuel and other mineral products. As a result, Comecon economies generally showed strong growth in

7326-478: The rank of conference participants, their decisions had considerable influence on the actions taken by Comecon and its organs. The official hierarchy of Comecon consisted of the Session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the executive committee of the council, the Secretariat of the council, four council committees, twenty-four standing commissions, six interstate conferences, two scientific institutes, and several associated organizations. The Session of

7425-515: The rest of Europe. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland had remained interested in Marshall aid despite the requirements for a convertible currency and market economies . These requirements, which would inevitably have resulted in stronger economic ties to free European markets than to the Soviet Union, were not acceptable to Stalin, who in July 1947, ordered these communist governments to pull out of

7524-399: The rise to power of Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev increased Soviet influence in Comecon operations and led to attempts to give Comecon some degree of supranational authority. The Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technical Progress was designed to improve economic cooperation through the development of a more efficient and interconnected scientific and technical base. This

7623-447: The slow adjustment of Comecon prices during a time of rising oil and gas prices, and the fact that mineral resources were abundant in the Comecon sphere, relative to manufactured goods. A possible point of comparison is that there were also winners and losers under EEC agricultural policy in the same period. Russian and Kazakh oil kept the Comecon countries' oil prices low when the 1973 oil crisis quadrupled Western oil prices. As one of

7722-456: The specific needs of a country. One example came from former Czechoslovakia. In the 1970s, the Communist party of Czechoslovakia finally realized that there was a need for underground trains. Czechoslovak designers projected a cheap but technologically innovative underground train. The train was a state-of-the-art project, capable of moving underground or on the surface using standard rails, had

7821-431: The standard for all Comecon countries, including the USSR, and other countries could develop their own designs but only for their own needs, like Poland (respectively, Konstal trams and TS-11 jets). Poland was a manufacturer of light helicopters for Comecon countries ( Mi-2 of the Soviet design). The USSR developed their own model Kamov Ka-26 and Romania produced French helicopters under license for their own market. In

7920-502: The time was not able to produce such a locomotive, so a decision was made to import a large number of M62 locomotives from the Soviet Union, which were already imported by Hungarian MÁV . In Poland those machines received ST44 designation During first-revision repairs all locomotives had front lights changed from small ones into standard, Polish large types. The decision is said to have been made after Poland had started to import ST43 locomotives from Romania and probably came directly from

8019-607: The tracks has resulted in Polish State Railways reducing the use of the class. In 2007 many of them still remain in service with PKP for freight use, although most of them have now been stored. Some routes (e.g. Gdynia – Hel line) forbid the running of the ST44 class because this class's excessive weight causes serious damage to lightly built track work. The locomotives that are still in use in large numbers, are owned and operated by private railroad companies, as well as

8118-762: Was cooperation . The term integration was always avoided because of its connotations of monopolistic capitalist collusion. After the "special" council session of April 1969 and the development and adoption (in 1971) of the Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Improvement of Cooperation and the Further Development of Socialist Economic Integration by Comecon Member Countries, Comecon activities were officially termed integration (equalization of "differences in relative scarcities of goods and services between states through

8217-422: Was "to ensure the comprehensive examination and a multilateral settlement of the major problems of cooperation among member countries in the economy, science, and technology." All committees were headquartered in Moscow and usually met there. These committees advised the standing commissions, the Secretariat, the interstate conferences, and the scientific institutes in their areas of specialization. Their jurisdiction

8316-532: Was Comecon's primary economic research and administrative organ. The secretary, who has been a Soviet official since Comecon creation, was the official Comecon representative to Comecon member states and to other states and international organizations. Subordinate to the secretary were his deputy and the various departments of the Secretariat, which generally corresponded to the standing commissions. The Secretariat's responsibilities included preparation and organization of Comecon sessions and other meetings conducted under

8415-429: Was a tendency to underprice raw materials relative to the manufactured goods produced in many of the Comecon countries. International barter helped preserve the Comecon countries' scarce hard currency reserves. In strict economic terms, barter inevitably harmed countries whose goods would have brought higher prices in the free market or whose imports could have been obtained more cheaply and benefitted those for whom it

8514-470: Was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of socialist states elsewhere in the world. The descriptive term was often applied to all multilateral activities involving members of the organization, rather than being restricted to the direct functions of Comecon and its organs. This usage

8613-834: Was dissolved on December 26, 1991. After the fall of the Soviet Union and communist rule in Eastern Europe, East Germany (now unified with West Germany ) automatically joined the European Union (then the European Community) in 1990. The Baltic States ( Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania ), Czech Republic , Hungary , Poland , Slovakia , and Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. To date, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany (former GDR), Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia are now members of

8712-473: Was established at a Moscow economic conference January 5–8, 1949, at which the six founding member countries were represented; its foundation was publicly announced on January 25; Albania joined a month later and East Germany in 1950. Recent research by the Romanian researcher Elena Dragomir suggests that Romania played a rather important role in the Comecon's creation in 1949. Dragomir argues that Romania

8811-463: Was generally wider than that of the standing commissions because they had the right to make policy recommendations to other Comecon organizations. The Council Committee for Cooperation in Planning was the most important of the four. It coordinated the national economic plans of Comecon members. As such, it ranked in importance only after the Session and the executive committee. Made up of the chairmen of Comecon members' national central planning offices,

8910-534: Was interested in the creation of a "system of cooperation" to improve its trade relations with the other people's democracies, especially with those able to export industrial equipment and machinery to Romania. According to Dragomir, in December 1948, the Romanian leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej sent a letter to Stalin, proposing the creation of the Comecon. At first, planning seemed to be moving along rapidly. After pushing aside Nikolai Voznesensky 's technocratic , price-based approach (see further discussion below ),

9009-454: Was more powerful than even the strongest of the Polish steam locomotives used for freight transport in those days, but it could not haul passenger trains due to it being not equipped to provide heating or power to carriages, it also caused extensive damage to railway tracks. Another important disadvantage of the M62 is its very high fuel consumption. The advantages of this machine though are

9108-450: Was much discussion of coordinating five-year plans . However, once again, trouble arose. The Polish protests and Hungarian uprising led to major social and economic changes, including the 1957 abandonment of the 1956–60 Soviet five-year plan , as the Comecon governments struggled to reestablish their legitimacy and popular support. The next few years saw a series of small steps toward increased trade and economic integration, including

9207-566: Was not a success. "The Gorbachev regime made too many commitments on too many fronts, thereby overstretching and overheating the Soviet economy. Bottlenecks and shortages were not relieved but exacerbated, while the ( Central and) East European members of Comecon resented being asked to contribute scarce capital to projects that were chiefly of interest to the Soviet Union…" Furthermore, the liberalization that by June 25, 1988, allowed Comecon countries to negotiate trade treaties directly with

9306-789: Was otherwise continually frustrated by the national central planning prevalent in all Comecon countries, by the increasing diversity of its members (which by this time included Mongolia and would soon include Cuba) and by the "overwhelming asymmetry" and resulting distrust between the many small member states and the Soviet "superstate" which, in 1983, "accounted for 88 percent of Comecon's territory and 60 percent of its population." In this period, there were some efforts to move away from central planning, by establishing intermediate industrial associations and combines in various countries (which were often empowered to negotiate their own international deals). However, these groupings typically proved "unwieldy, conservative, risk-averse, and bureaucratic," reproducing

9405-502: Was provided instead by political and ideological factors. All Comecon members were "united by a commonality of fundamental class interests and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism" and had common approaches to economic ownership (state versus private) and management (plan versus market). In 1949 the ruling communist parties of the founding states were also linked internationally through the Cominform , from which Yugoslavia had been expelled

9504-596: Was sometimes extended as well to bilateral relations among members because in the system of communist international economic relations, multilateral accords – typically of a general nature – tended to be implemented through a set of more detailed, bilateral agreements. Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's response to the formation in Western Europe of the Marshall Plan and

9603-444: Was the era of perestroika ("restructuring"), the last attempt to put the Comecon economies on a sound economic footing. Gorbachev and his economic mentor Abel Aganbegyan hoped to make "revolutionary changes" in the economy, foreseeing that "science will increasingly become a 'direct productive force', as Marx foresaw… By the year 2000… the renewal of plant and machinery… will be running at 6 percent or more per year." The program

9702-479: Was the other way around. Still, all of the Comecon countries gained some stability, and the governments gained some legitimacy, and in many ways this stability and protection from the world market was viewed, at least in the early years of Comecon, as an advantage of the system, as was the formation of stronger ties with other socialist countries. Within Comecon, there were occasional struggles over how this system should work. Early on, Nikolai Voznesensky pushed for

9801-493: Was wasted on luxuries for the party elite, and most Comecon countries ended up indebted to the West when capital flows died out as détente faded in the late 1970s, and from 1979 to 1983, all of Comecon experienced a recession from which (with the possible exceptions of East Germany and Bulgaria) they never recovered in the Communist era. Romania and Poland experienced major declines in the standard of living. The 1985 Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technical Progress and

#814185