GERMAN RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1957, 14 January 1914, Page 9

GERMAN RAILWAYS.

20 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT,

SPLENDID PROGRESS.

The "German Empire Statistical Year Book" for the year 1913 contains an interesting survey of tho development' of railways throughout tho principal countries of tho world from tlio year 1890 to 1811, that is to say during a space of two decades.

In'the year 1890 Germany could boast of by far the greatest extent of railway linos, although there were other •countries., in which tho railway • not was denser. The entire length of railway lines in. Germany amounted to very, nearly 48 thousand kilometres. Second in order came France,. with 37 thousand'kilometres of railway lines, about COOO kilometres less than Germany. These two countries were followed by

Great Britain with 32 thousand, Russia with 31 thousand, , Austria-Hungary with 27 thousand, and, a long way behind, by Italy, , with 13 thousand kiloirietres of railway lines. Among tho smaller countries of Europe, tho only ones with any length of railway lino were Spain, with about 10 thousand, Sweden with 8 thousand,' and Belgium with 5 thousand kilometres. Tho latter land, with its 5 thousand kilometres, possesses tho. densest railway net of nny country in Kurbpe, as it has nearly 18 kilometre's of railway lino per hundred square kilometres of land surfaco. No other country in Europe comes auyivay near these ligures. At the end of 1911, Germany still headed tho list of European States with 02 thousand kilometres of railway'line. Then followed Russia, which only took fourth place in 1890, with 61 thousand kilometres, and - immediately behind camo Franco with 50 thousand kilometres, having thus passed f-om the spcond 'to tho third plaeo in tho list, Austria-Hungary came fourth with 45 thousand, and Great Britain, which took the third'place in -.1890 with 32 thousand kilometres, has now sunk to the fifth place'witb. 38 thousand kilometres. At the tail of the listof European countries cornea Italv,- in which land tho length of railway line has only increased to tho extent of some 4 kilometres in the course of the" 21 years lving beUeen 1890 and. 1911. Little Belsrium has: 911CP more added greatlv to' its existing railway lines, nnd could in , 19] 1 boast'of■'Foriie 8700 kilometres: so that-she W.V tins 29 kilometres of railway-line to the hundred square kilometres of land surfaco. thus continuing to own tho-deriest railway'riot: in tho ivr/rld; ■■••••■ ••'■•- - ;

'It is evident'that a douse' railway net' forms a. very important factor m the scheme of militarymobilisation, for the. creator tho nuinhnr of existing railway lines the more , Vapidly and easily can troop? be brought to the frontier. This is not a very important matter for Bel- • fiiiini. which is-a neutral country.-but for tho -Great Towers' of the Continent ■ everything'that .tends to enable masses of troops to bo concentrated at short notice is of the greatest importance for the safety of tlie country. But this roallv only holds good for tho Continent, "for Great Britain, being an island, nca'd. not 'attach n> much importance;to this particular point of defence- as must Gorraariy. Austria-Hun-gary, Italy, Franco, and '.Russia. Of the" fivo Gontin«ntalvGmftt,|?ft\vQ^.ll( ser : mnny now possesses the densest.net or railway lines, having 11.4 kilometres of. line-to tho 100 square.kilometres; .then, comes- Franco ..with .-,9.3, . A-tistria-Hjin-cary with 6,6, Italy -with ,6.0,. and Russia'comes Inat with 1.1. We see, therefore, that Russia, despite the fact that she- has nearly doubled • her . railway lines in the course of twenty-one years, wrlL'-still- require a far greater space of".time in-which to concentrate her troons on tho frontier than her . two neighbours, • Germany and AustriaHungary:' . : -When we come to consider .America, naturalb tho. railway linos .of the United States play tho most important part. - As long an;o as the year law the great -Republic, had. 263 thousand kilometres ..of railways—that is to sav, 45 thousand-kilometres more than the whole of Europe together. By tho year 1911 tho 'Unitocl States railways covered 397 thousand kilometres, making U I J thousand kilometres more./ . than tho whole of Europe. ' Iα ,spite of tbrse figures, tho. railway, network ot tho United. States,, which lias a density of 4.3 .kilometres' per hundred squarp kilometres, is 'far behind; that ;of- all the crcat European countries with the solltarv exception of .Russia. The railway linen fl f the great South American itepublics have also undergone a vast development in the course of the 21 rears in question. -For instance, Brazil has increased hbr railwavs from &>OO to 22 (SUO kilometres, Chile from 3000 to 6000■'■ Uruguay from 1100 to 2600. .But the -Argentine Republic can show a far creator ineroaso during tho 21 years in question, i.e., from 0800 to 31.600, an ineroaso of more than threefold. In | A.sia the oniv country that had any rail- | wav communication of importance in tho . rear-1390 was British East India with 2/ thousand kilometres,, asatthattimothe railway lines of the whole of Asia only covered abojt 34 thousand kilometres. From this, .wo «eo that, m those days, four-fifths of the railway lines of Asia belonged to British India. -Hut tho figures for tho end of 1911 record an entirely different picture. It is true that tho railway lines of India luivo increased to 53 thousand kilometres during theso 91 years,- but all Asia-can now boost of 105 thousand kilometres of railway lmes, bo that India only owns about .50 per cent, of the entiro railways of this Continent. In tho meantime Siberia, which had no railways at all in the year 1890, hie constricted Jl thousand kilometres of lines; China has 10 thousand and Japan lias developed her railways from 2300 to 10 thousand kilometres. In the vcar 1890 tho railways of Asia Minor onlv covered 800 kilometres, whereas by 'the end of 1911 the amount quoted is 5000, so that bore too great woerees nas been made. . In the year IP3O Africa had fewer railways than any other Continent, tho. actual figure! be.np OT kilometres. In tho course, of the 21 veprs in question tho railway, lines, of thU latter Contin°iit "have increased more than fourfold, the actual length "fWnow «™«intinß to 41 thousand Vlometres. In the vear 1390 the Cier- ! n Wn-li English, and Portuirueso m ? '• ;n Africa h'ltl between them Bytho 1 n f mil tlin'O fisiircs bad increased ~a n d. in the case of lines have grown from 000 to 18W K"° m Of°ail the continents Australia shows a far oss rapid railway development Snrine Sio bit twentv-one years thou nearly 19 thousand kilometres, and bv to 32 thou-ml. Wo see therefore, tluu the Australian railway lines have not T,"n,-lv donblnrl thtir extent in thern.irsn of' these twenty-one years, wheraas

those of Asia have- increased threefold and those of Africa fourfold. Tho total length of railway lines throughout the entire world, in the year 1S)SO, amounted to 617 thousand kilometres; by tho end of 1911 thc6e ligures had increased to nearly 1.100,000. All these ligures show that tho most important existing means of communication has developed in a most remarkable manner, throughout the entire world, ill the course of the period in question.