Chapter 274 Stolypin
Steel rails have higher strength and wear resistance, and are more suitable for high-speed railways and heavy-haul railways.
Because of its soft material, the rails can be used on low-speed railways without any problem. If they are used on high-speed railways, they will become twisted like twists in a few years.
Today’s trains are not very fast, and the rails are barely usable.
But as technology improves, the speed of trains will become faster and faster, and these rails will need to be demolished and rebuilt.
Different from Amur's high standards and strict requirements, Chelyabinsk's standard is: it can be used.
"If possible, steel rails must be better, but the production of Imperial Steel is limited, so it would be nice to have rails for use."
Witt also knew that rails were better, but he and George often It's the same as what I said, first solve the problem if there is any, and then decide whether it's good or not.
The empire has its own national conditions here, and it is impossible to get it right in one step. If George is picky, he will not be able to do his job.
George’s mood was the same as Nicholas’s former palace teacher.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is like Nikolai's study. It's okay here and make do there. There is nothing to praise, but after all, it has solved some problems, and this can be explained.
Obviously he has the ability to do better, but for some mysterious reasons, it always turns into a special project of the Russian Empire. Even George feels helpless and helpless.
There is no way to solve it unless we start over.
Of course there is progress. At least now no one dares to ignore the security work of technicians. The food of workers has also improved significantly. They can eat enough every day and can still eat meat every now and then. This has made many people happy. The workers felt satisfied.
The project was at a standstill throughout the winter and could not be restarted until the end of April or the beginning of May.
The snow in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok almost melts in early April every year.
The snow cover period in Siberia is about a month longer than that in coastal areas.
After the ice and snow melt, it won’t be long before the flood season again. Calculating the time for normal construction, it will definitely be less than half a year.
Compared with Chelyabinsk, Amur provides workers with better treatment and greater security. So after the winter started last year, some workers from Chelyabinsk went to work in Amur. As a result, construction in Chelyabinsk was affected.
After all, they are building railways, so whoever pays more will definitely work for him.
In order to ensure that the construction in Chelyabinsk would not be affected, George transferred a group of workers from Amur to Chelyabinsk.
Such repetitive and inefficient work was common during the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
George tried his best not to talk about it. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. As long as it is not too much, George will tolerate it for the sake of the early opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
But if George's bottom line is breached, George will take action if he doesn't take action. Once he takes action, it will be earth-shattering.
For some people who lose money if they don’t pick it up when they go out, the Trans-Siberian Railway is an extremely fat piece of fat. Even if you can’t eat it, you can still get a lot of oil and water if you pass it.
George had nothing to say about these people. No matter whose relative he was, he found one and ransacked the house of another. Nicholas jokingly called George's behavior of collecting odd amounts and fishing for law enforcement.
Witt did not dare to ridicule. He was probably the person in the entire Russian Empire, other than George, who most hoped that the Trans-Siberian Railway would be completed as soon as possible.
Just after Christmas, Werther came to Chelyabinsk and did not go home for four months.
The winter before last, Witte's wife died of a heart attack. Last year he married Mrs. Lisanievich.
Mrs. Lisanievich married Werther after divorcing her husband. This marriage was undoubtedly unseemly for an important imperial minister, and even the Tsar considered it inappropriate.
Witte loved his wife very much and would rather resign as Minister of Transport to marry Mrs. Lisanievich.
The Tsar had to compromise, but the Queen never invited Werther's wife to the court dance. George had no problem with Werther's re-engagement. This was Werther's private matter and George had nothing to do with it.
However, Werther's wife was a Hebrew, which made George worry about whether Werther would follow his wife and break away from the Orthodox Church.
In Chelyabinsk, George also met Pyotr Stolypin from the Imperial Ministry of State Assets.
Stolypin was born in 1862 and graduated from St. Petersburg University.
When Stolypin graduated, with his grades, he could enter the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences for further study.
Stolypin chose to work and entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
As a minister during the period of Nicholas II, apart from the evil monk, George only had an impression of Stolypin and Werther.
In George's impression, Stolypin seemed to have become one of the greatest Russians in the history of the Russian Empire because of the land reform.
Stolypin has not yet emerged, and his task is to assist Witte to ensure the smooth construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The private railways of the Russian Empire are gradually being nationalized. After the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed, it will become the most important state-owned asset of the empire, which is why Stolypin appeared in Chelyabinsk.
The acquaintance of George and Stolypin was not pleasant.
There is still controversy over the ownership of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Long before the official start of the Trans-Siberian Railway, railway construction had begun in the Amur Governorate, and the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk had even been completed.
The section between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk is an important part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the ownership of this section of the railway does belong to George.
The Russian Empire is nationalizing private railways.
So in Stolypin’s opinion, the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk should also be managed by personnel from the Imperial Ministry of State-owned Assets.
“Yes, as long as the Ministry of Empire’s State-owned Assets pays me back the cost of repairing the railway, I will hand over the railway to the Ministry of Empire’s Land-owned Assets.”
George secretly told Stolypin Dig a hole.
"How much?"
Stolypin realized something was wrong.
"Not much, just 25 million rubles."
George calculated the cost according to the empire's cost of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Stolypin frowned. The Imperial Land and Assets Department said he couldn't even afford 2.5 million, let alone 25 million.
Werther sat next to him and engrossed himself in reading the documents, paying no attention to it.
About this issue, Werther and George had already discussed it in front of the Tsar, but in the end it came to nothing.
After all, George's identity was different from that of the Hebrews who ran the railway company. Witte knew the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. Although it did not cost much, the standard was very high.
If calculated according to the standards of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 50,000 rubles per kilometer is not enough for the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.
(End of this chapter)