Its latest job cuts involve many managerial people in the long-distance operation - what the company describes as a one-time attempt to reduce the bureaucracy.

Many of them have been plagued by overdiversification and poorly performing long-distance operations.

However, some long-distance operations extend beyond the boundaries.

Since a single trainset is too short for efficient long-distance operations, the first trains were used mainly for regional services.

Schöneweide became a long-distance terminal after the closure of long-distance operations at the other three stations.

The travel time savings for long-distance operations is about two minutes and in conjunction with improvements to the Nuremberg-Würzburg line about seven minutes.

The deal leaves U S West as the only Baby Bell without an equity alliance with a long-distance operation.

And total sales at Sprint's nonwireless local and long-distance operations fell 7.3 percent last year, to $15.2 billion, compared with $16.4 billion the previous year.

In its long-distance operations, Sprint said operating profit rose 47 percent, to $204 million.

Unlike those in the United States, Canada's telephone companies were never broken into separate local and long-distance operations to alleviate antitrust concerns.