African Entrepreneurship Record

With the blessing of the Hechingen Consortium and East Africa, Jiaozhou has already taken the shape of a large city in the Far East and is also the most influential oriental city in Germany.

Quite different from those semi-colonial treaty ports, Jiaozhou was a port controlled by the Qing government. However, out of distrust of the Qing government bureaucracy, the Heixingen Group chose to continue to hold force.

Even if the Manchu officials did not have this courage, the same cannot be said for those local gangs. Local gangsters are local gangsters after all, and they are definitely brave enough. As long as the interests are in place, there is nothing they dare not do. These people really live a life of licking blood, and there is no way to fight against them without arms. There's really no deterrent.

Don't think that just because you are a foreigner, you can be tyrannical. That is the treatment that only Britain and France have. The two countries are eager for the Qing Dynasty to give their own citizens a knife. If it is not done well, it is another excuse for war.

…

"Father, I plan to build an experimental railway between Dar es Salaam and First Town to strengthen the connection between Dar es Salaam and First Town, and at the same time accumulate experience for future railway construction in East Africa. ." Ernst picked up the phone and said to Prince Constantine.

When it comes to the topic of railways, Prince Constantine is very interested, especially since this is a railway that belongs to his own family.

Hechingen in Europe is a remote place with neither a decent river nor a railway passing through it. Transportation basically relies on carriages, horses and walking.

However, the road conditions in Hechingen were not very ideal, not even comparable to those in East Africa at this time. European roads did not change much until the eighteenth century.

Even the roads built in the ancient Roman era were repaired and used, but they were already the best roads in Europe at that time.

After the 18th century, Europeans began to pay attention to transportation construction, and roads and railways developed rapidly, but all of this had nothing to do with Hechingen.

Hechingen's geographical location, construction conditions, products and population cannot support road renovation. At most, the original dirt road can be repaired to be slightly smoother.

"Very good, but the railway is not an ordinary project. Do you have any specific plans?"

"Father, the Rons Railway Company I acquired is now on its way to East Africa. When they arrive in East Africa, they will plan a route based on the actual local conditions."

"Rones Railway Company? Never heard of it!"

"It is a small company in the Grand Duchy of Baden, so it is not very well-known."

"Then if we leave this project to them, can they complete it?"

"You can rest assured about this. They have experience and have been building railways for the French before."

"France?"

"Yes, but it's mainly outsourcing projects. After all, human resources in South Germany are abundant, cheap, and easier to manage than French workers."

Upon hearing this, Prince Constantine nodded and said: "Well, I'm relieved then. What I'm most afraid of is that they don't have relevant experience. But even so, how do you solve the problem of materials for building railways?"

"East Africa can currently provide cement. Things like sleepers can be made freshly from East Africa. There is no need to worry about land resources. That is, locomotives, rails, some parts and equipment need to be imported from Germany.

In addition, the distance between Dar es Salaam and the First Town is not far and the terrain is relatively flat, so the final construction cost of this railway will not be too high. "

"Then what do you need me to do?" Prince Constantine asked.

Isn’t this problem solved? Just give me a call about this?

"Father, I still need to discuss some details of this railway with you. For example, didn't you say you wanted to build a defense project in the first town some time ago?

Railways are strategic means of transportation. You saw the effect of Prussia's use of railways to transport troops last time, so we must pay attention to this railway in terms of national defense. Dar es Salaam is very close to the first town. With this With a railway, the speed of travel between the two will be faster.

So when you carry out this project, you must take the railway into account and there should be no loopholes. "

"I know about this. The defense project has not started yet. I will arrange for people to set up checkpoints by then."

"This requires cooperation between designers and railway companies, so there is no rush. At least we have to wait until they arrive in East Africa. Moreover, railways belong to national defense transportation. By then, a Ministry of Railways should be established in the government!" Ernst said.

"Any question?"

“There is also the issue of railway track gauge, which I am still undecided about.

At present, the main ones we can refer to are 1000mm, 1435mm, 1520mm, 1676mm, etc. 1435mm is the most popular, and it is also the same in Prussia. If we directly use 1435mm, we can save some costs, but the larger the railway gauge, the larger the freight. The greater the amount. "

Constantine pondered for a moment and said, "I don't know much about railways. You can tell me in detail about the railway conditions in various countries."

"There is no unified standard for railway track gauge, and it is relatively flexible. For example, 1435mm was the width of Roman chariots. European carriages also adopted this number. Later, the British were the first to develop railways, so this number is used in Britain and its colonies. , the United States, and some European countries.

1000mm is mainly used by France and its colonies, especially the French colonies. It is suitable for construction in mountainous areas and is cheap.

1520mm is a broad gauge, mainly used by the Russians. For military reasons, they do not want to integrate with Europe.

1676mm is a wider railway. In addition to these types, there are many different standards. In short, there are many types, so I am more difficult on this issue. "

"I almost understand what you mean. 1435mm is currently the most widely used, but it should be relatively common among various railway standards. It is cheaper to build than the narrower one and has higher flexibility, but has lower transportation capacity. It is wider than the other one. , the cost is high, the flexibility is poor, and the transportation volume is large, that’s what I mean!”

"This is not a railway. If you think about it, there are only two iron bars. These two iron bars are the main cost. If they are parallel on two straight lines, the width is actually about the same, which means more materials are used when turning. And there are The sleepers are longer and take up more land area.

But none of the above is a problem for East Africa. There is plenty of land in East Africa and there is no shortage of timber. The loss caused by turning can be completely offset by the transportation volume.

After all, the railway is a long-term operation project, so it is true that the cost is slightly higher. However, the longer the subsequent railway operation, the higher the profits and efficiency will be, after all, the transportation volume is large. "

Hearing this, Constantine completely understood. This boy still preferred to use wide gauge. After all, he started to defend wide gauge before he finished speaking. However, because the world mainly uses 1435mm railways, especially in Europe, So it's hard to choose between them. After all, everyone follows the herd.

Therefore, Prince Constantine said: "Let's use broad gauge! But you also said that there are many standards for broad gauge. We will not discuss which one to use first. After the railway company relocates to East Africa, let the East African government and professionals People will make an assessment based on the actual situation in East Africa, and we will choose another standard."