African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 847 - 151: Railway Conditions of Various Countries in 1890

"Currently, internal combustion engine tractors mainly focus on Mbeya City and Dar es Salaam City as research and development centers. Harare, due to its inland location, has relatively weak technical talent training, which is not conducive to academic exchange. Therefore, if Harare and other central cities want to innovate in the field of education in the future, they must develop both external and internal channels." said Andre, the Minister of Education of East Africa, to Ernst.

Currently, East Africa is vigorously advancing cutting-edge technology inland. As a late-developing country, most of its knowledge sources are "imported," and the local talent training system is not yet complete.

Mbeya City, with a longer development history, is currently the endpoint for East Africa's absorption of advanced cultural knowledge and technology from the world. As for Harare City, deeply located in the center, and with a shorter history, although it has rapidly developed industrially, its capacity has already surpassed Mbeya City. However, in terms of cutting-edge technology and scientific education, it is far behind Mbeya and other eastern cities.

"Actually, Harare is not that far from the ocean. It's just that previously Mozambique was in the hands of the Portuguese. Now that Mozambique has become part of East Africa, we must open up the fastest external channel for Harare, thereby promoting the development speed of central cities, especially in high-end industries." said Liu Yideville, the Minister of Transportation.

The names of East African ministers are quite peculiar. Of course, as a nation of immigrant integration, this is very normal, just like the Minister of Transportation is an older generation Chinese immigrant, originating from the Heixinggen Military Academy.

Ernst asked Liu Yideville: "What ideas does the Ministry of Transportation have?"

"Your Royal Highness, the current Bela Port has already developed significantly, so we believe that the conditions for building a railway from Harare City to Bela are mature. The Ministry of Railways and we unanimously agree that constructing the Habei Railway is highly necessary. Just a railway of about 450 kilometers can give Harare City the fastest exit to the sea and promote the development of central Mozambique." said Liu Yideville.

The railway system is obviously also part of transportation. However, in 19th-century East Africa, the railway system was separately designated as a government department, on the same level as the Ministry of Transportation. Of course, the close ties between the two departments make it necessary for them to communicate and cooperate in the development of East African countries.

"The Habei Railway can solve the issue of Harare City's sea outlet. If completed, it will only take a day to travel from Harare to Bela, just a little over ten kilometers more than from Dar es Salaam City to Dodoma, and will even cut travel time from Mbeya to Dar es Salaam City by half." said Andre, Minister of Railways.

East African railway speeds range from 30 to 50 km/h, so if the Habei Railway is built, it would take less than a day to reach the destination. Given the current conditions in Mozambique, it's also unlikely to set up too many stations along the way, as there are hardly any towns or even villages along the railway line, which means the completion of the Habei Railway could significantly save time costs.

The export route of Black people from East to West is slow mainly due to the numerous cities and strongholds along the way, coupled with the need to address the food, drink, and sanitation needs of Black slaves, leading to many stops and wasted time.

Ernst nodded and said: "The value of the Habei Railway is undoubtedly significant and is very necessary for the development of eastern cities. However, this is far from enough. In Mozambique and Angola, as well as the Boer Republic and these newly occupied territories, we need future railway connections. Currently, the railway distribution in East Africa is dense in the east, balanced in the center and north, and sparse in the west and south. This is something your Ministry of Railways needs to plan carefully." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Andre replied: "As of last year, which is 1889, our total railway mileage was nineteen thousand kilometers. In 1889, railway construction was slightly delayed for a year due to war reasons. For the past 20 years, an average of over a thousand kilometers of railway has been built annually, so the specific situation for railway construction in the west and south will depend on geographical conditions, economics, and defense requirements."

East African railway construction actually started around 1873 and hasn't reached 20 years. However, in the seventies, influenced by an economic crisis, the global steel production capacity was excessive, so the railway construction in East Africa was rapid, with a slight decline in the eighties.

Of course, this also promoted the healthy development of East Africa's industrial structure, with most steel and machinery imported from Europe in the seventies, while by the end of the eighties, East African railway domestic production had exceeded seventy percent.

"In the past twenty years, our railway construction has achieved brilliant results. Among the non-European great powers, only Argentina can compare with us, although Argentina's railway growth rate is fast, it has not exceeded ten thousand kilometers. We are twice the railway size of Argentina. The country with the highest railway mileage is now the United States, with over two hundred thousand kilometers, followed by Tsarist Russia with more than forty thousand kilometers, Germany with about forty thousand kilometers, then the United Kingdom with about thirty thousand kilometers, and France and Austria-Hungary close to thirty thousand kilometers each." said Andre.

There is no need to elaborate on the US railways, as they were already the world's largest before the economic crisis.

The railway development speed in Argentina is extremely fast. In 1870, Argentina's nationwide railway was only 740 kilometers, 2133 kilometers in 1880, 5964 kilometers in 1886, and by 1890, it had reached 9254 kilometers.

Although East Africa is twice Argentina's size, when density is considered, East Africa is no match, as Argentina's territory is only about a quarter of East Africa's.

Of course, while the world overlord Britain's railway is only thirty thousand kilometers, this is only domestically. In the past twenty years, Britain's railway construction has been astounding. For example, the previously mentioned Argentine railway was mainly constructed with British capital. Additionally, British capital is involved in the railways of the United States and India.

In 1890, the length of India's railways had exceeded more than twenty-five thousand kilometers. If taken separately, it already surpasses the vast majority of countries worldwide.

As for Tsarist Russian railway length, it aligns with East Africa's on the same latitude. Tsarist Russian railway is also twice that of East Africa, yet its area nearly exceeds East Africa by ten million square kilometers, so both countries are essentially even.

Siberian railway construction hasn't even started, and Tsarist Russian railways are mainly concentrated in the European region. Within this region, many railways are distributed in Poland and Western Ukraine, so strictly in Russian regions, railways are not necessarily much stronger than East Africa.

Regarding France, it is clearly influenced by the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, making railway construction rather challenging. In fact, after the Franco-Prussian war, throughout the entire seventies, the French government was working hard to restore the economy, but unfortunately encountered an economic crisis.

Therefore, it wasn't until the late seventies that France ambitiously proposed the "Fresine Plan," which entailed the large-scale construction of railway networks, roads, and waterways. For this, the French government allocated fifty billion Francs in special funds.

The plan aimed to construct thirty thousand kilometers of railway, two hundred thousand kilometers of road, and two hundred kilometers of canals within twenty years, while also expanding and dredging the ports of Nantes, Bordeaux, Rouen, Dunkirk, and others.

This amount of funding coincidentally equals the war reparations of the Franco-Prussian War, effectively making the war cost France at least "twenty years."

However, this also reflected France's resilient life force, as within ten years, they essentially eliminated the negative impact of the war on France.

As for Austria-Hungary, it roughly matches France, after all, Austria-Hungary itself lagged behind France in many areas.

Besides these countries, some small European countries have been developing extremely rapidly, especially the Low Countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Nordic trio.

Apart from these countries, others are not as promising, like Japan, which in 1890 only had about 2700 kilometers of railway, and the Far East Empire had only around 400 kilometers.

Thus, although East African railway construction is impressive, when looked at on a global scale, it is not particularly outstanding.