Transport in Moldova
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In 1995 the main means of transportation in Moldova were railroads (1,138 kilometers) and a highway system (12,730 kilometers overall, including 10,973 kilometers of paved surfaces). The major railroad junctions are Chişinău, Bender/Tighina, Ungheni, Ocnita (Oknitsa, in Russian), Bălţi, and Basarabeasca (Bessarabka, in Russian). Primary external rail links connect the republic's network with Odesa (in Ukraine) on the Black Sea and with the Romanian cities of Iaşi and Galaţi; they also lead northward into Ukraine. Highways link Moldova's main cities and provide the chief means of transportation within the country, but roads are in poor repair, and gasoline shortages make interurban motor transportation difficult. The country's major airport is in Chişinău.
Shipping is possible on the lower Prut and Nistru rivers, but water transportation plays only a modest role in the country's transportation system. In 1990 a total of 317 million tonkilometers of freight were carried on inland waterways as compared with 15,007 million ton-kilometers on railroads and 1,673 million ton-kilometers on roads.
The movement of manufactured goods and of passengers on all means of transportation started to decline in 1989. From 1993 to 1994, for example, the total amount of transported goods fell by 31 percent, passenger traffic decreased by 28 percent, and the number of passengers declined by 24 percent. The main causes for these declines are the high cost of transportation, a lack of fuels, and the poor state of Moldova's transportation infrastructure: approximately 20 percent of Moldova's roads are considered in a critical technical state.
Railways:
total: 1,138 km
broad gauge: 1,124 km 1.520-m gauge (2005)
Highways:
total: 12,730 km
paved: 10,973 km
unpaved: 1,757 km (2003)
Waterways: 424 km (on [Nistru] River) (2005)
Pipelines: natural gas 606 km (2006)
Ports and harbors: none
Airports: 12 (2006 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 6
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
under 914 m: 1 (2006 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 6
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 3 (2006 est.)
Merchant marine:
total: 7 ships (1000 GRT or over) 13,831 GRT/15,003 DWT
by type: cargo 7
foreign-owned: 3 (Ukraine 3) (2006)
- See also : Moldova
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