BY RAIL TO INDIA.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4977, 22 December 1884, Page 2

BY RAIL TO INDIA.

The long talked of Indo-European railway appears to be-in a fair way of becoming un fait accompli, as there is now every probability of a company being formed to carry out the scheme. The principal points of the route would bo Paris, Madrid, Gibraltar, Tangiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Catro, Bassorah, Kelat, Kurrachee, and Bombay. Outside of Europe, of course, large distances would have to be covered with iron roads, but as far as Gibraltar the existing railways of Franca and Spain would' be utilised. The Straits of Gibraltar would have to be crossed either by steamboat or steamferry, and the steamboat will continue to supply the missing link between this country and the continent of Europe. From Ceuta, in Africa, a line would have to be constructed in Morocco to join on to the system of French railways in Algeria and Tunis. From Tunis a railway would have to be made through Tripoli to form a junction with the Egyptian railway system. From Egypt the route to India would be con* tinued to reach the Euphrates along the coast of the Persian Gulf to Kurrachee. Here the great system of Indian railways would be struck, communicating with Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, Five years is the period in which it is thought the whole line from Tangiers to Kurrachee could be constructed. The nominal capital for this grand undertaking, is fixed at £12,OOO,C3O; but to complete the whole Indo-European railway a much larger sum will probably be required. The surveys of the line have been entrusted to compe* tent French and Knglish engineers, who are said to be confident that the success of the undertaking is assured. The eatire distance from London to Bombay by the proposed railway is calculated at 7C20 miles, which, going at an average railway speed of thirty fire miles an hoar, could be covered in less than nine days.—Morning Post.