Chapter 584: Hessian Railway Concept

"Ernst, I thought of a question. When I was immigrating to Chad recently, I wanted to know when you planned to extend the northern railway to the Great Lakes region, or to build a super railway from east to west." Prince Carl asked.

This is related to Prince Karl's work. He is now mainly responsible for transporting immigrants to the Chad colony in Sigmaringen, so he needs to borrow the northern railway.

Although the Northern Railway is long, its length is limited and it comes to an abrupt end after extending to the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) region.

Chad only travels half the distance to Mombasa, and the remaining half must be completed on land by walking or using animal-drawn vehicles.

This was naturally a very painful thing, and this was just the population migration. If one took into account pots, pans, guns and ammunition and other items needed for colonization, the long journey would be quite a headache, so Prince Karl asked about the Ernst railway issue.

"Uncle Carl, of course I have had such an idea, but it is not necessary to implement it. The main body of the Great Lakes region is developed along the surrounding areas of the Great Lakes. Its transportation is centered on the Great Lakes and then radiates to the four coasts. Therefore, our northern railway in East Africa was only built to Kisumu. The rest of the distance can be transported by shipping." Ernst explained.

However, Ernst's explanation, which was almost the same reason why the Northern Railway was built in the first place, did not satisfy Prince Karl.

"It is true that the turnover of Kisumu City is not difficult for transportation along the coast of the Great Lakes region, but East Africa is vast! Your territory does not stop at the Great Lakes region." Prince Carl advised.

"Uncle Karl, it's indeed a long distance to the west, but there is no need to build a railway there at the moment," Ernst replied.

"Well, why?"

"First of all, our current development focus in East Africa is on the three central provinces, namely Matabele Province, Hohenzollern Province, and Swabia Province, which is the plateau area south of the Congo rainforest. Therefore, all resources in East Africa must be tilted towards the south.

Of course, this is not the main problem, but there is no need to start the extension of the northern railway now. Railway construction requires traffic, which can be people or goods. The population of several northern provinces is not large. As for goods, there is no demand except for grain. The central railway in the south can not only transport grain, but also undertake the transportation of bulk minerals. "Ernst replied.

East Africa has never given top priority to the issue of cost, but it will not ignore it. In Ernst's opinion, the northern railway is more than sufficient now, and it is certainly necessary to extend it westward, but it does not need to be started now. It would be better to wait a few years.

Ernst believed that several provinces west and north of the Great Lakes region had low development value and sparse population, so there was no need to build railways.

As for Hesse, it can be considered. The most important thing for Hesse to East Africa is rubber, and the prospects for the rubber industry are very broad. However, Ernst does not think that the Northern Railway is a good choice for transporting the rubber from Hesse.

Ernst then said to Prince Karl: "Uncle Karl, railways are a relatively unprofitable business in East Africa. The construction of the Central Railway and the Northern Railway cost a fortune, but the extension of the Northern Railway cannot actually bring us tangible benefits in East Africa.

However, the railway problem you mentioned did remind me of something, that is, the transportation problem in Hesse. We now have several industries in East Africa that require rubber from Hesse as basic material.

The traffic conditions in Hesse are quite bad. I had not thought of using railways to solve this problem before. Generally, after the railway is built, it is least likely to be disturbed by nature. After all, it is operated on a fixed track, and the fixed track requires the laying of roadbed. "

The reason why Ernst said this is that he took into account the railway's strong adaptability to the environment. A thick layer of gravel is laid under the railway, the roadbed is very high, and drainage and other facilities are built, making it easier to maintain than a highway.

Prince Carl: "That's perfect. We can build the northern railway all the way to Hesse. Although this option is not as good as building the railway to Azande in the north, it is still acceptable."

Ernst shook his head and said, "No, on the contrary. I think that solving the transportation problem in Hesse, especially the transportation problem of strategic products such as rubber, has nothing to do with the Northern Railway, but has a lot to do with the Central Railway."

Prince Carl: "Why do you say that?"

Ernst replied: "It is mainly related to the industrial layout of East Africa. The rubber production in the Great Lakes region is sufficient to meet the needs of Nairobi and Mombasa downstream, while the cities and factories in the south need a larger amount because there are more cities and factories in the south.

Furthermore, the province of Hesse is distributed from north to south along the Mitumba Mountains, so it is naturally easier for us to build railways along this direction. The contour lines change the least, making it easiest to build railways, and this way we can take care of most areas within the province of Hesse.

On the other hand, if we extend the northern railway, we will need to cross the Mitumba Mountains, and then we will have to build the railway in Hesse according to the north-south distribution, which means the workload will be doubled, but the result will be the same, which is a waste. "

Prince Carl: "Not really! If we extend the Northern Railway and connect it to the Central Railway in Hesse, the Northern Railway can be connected to the Central Railway, which will be good for East Africa."

Ernst: "But that would double the price, and we won't be able to use it in the short term, so I think it would be enough to just build a northern extension of the Central Railway."

According to Ernst's idea, after the construction is completed, the East African Central Railway will change from the original "T" shape to a "X" shape.

In other words, the Central Railway can directly connect to the navigable area in the middle reaches of the Congo River, solving the problem of the difficulty in exporting rubber from Hesse Province and solving the problem of internal development of the Congo rainforest.

Of course, the development that Ernst referred to was not really economic construction in the Congo rainforest, but to make it easier for the East African government to send troops to investigate the interior of the rainforest and try to drive out the hidden indigenous people inside, or to facilitate the transportation of materials to East Africa and build some military strongholds to prevent other forces from entering East Africa.

If this section of railway in Hesse is completed, the transportation cost of rubber in East Africa will be reduced in the future, which will be of great benefit to the development of many industries in East Africa. At the same time, it will also utilize the development of mineral resources in Hesse. Apart from other things, the strategic mineral - tungsten - is worth building this railway in East Africa, but this is only considered from the perspective of the future development of military industrial enterprises.

After the completion of the Hesse Provincial Railway, the title of the Central Railway as the crossroads of East Africa can also be implemented, and a "M"-shaped railway pattern can be formed in the future, which will be of great significance in driving the economic development of the heart of East Africa.

(End of this chapter)