The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-06 00:00:00

THE RUi

L JVAYS.

La Pr•esse publishes the prospectus of the Russian Rail-
way Company, from which we make the following extract :
" The company has for its object the construction of a
vast network of railways, the lines of which have been
combined in such a manner as to satisfy the most imme-
diate and important requirements of Russia. This net-
work is divided into four lines :-
1. The lino from St. Petersburg to 'Warsaw,
with :s branch towards I.ionsigsberg 1.2-19 kilos.

2. The line from Moscow to TheodOsia - 1259 ...
The line from Kursk or Ord. to Libau ... 1227 ...
4. The line from Moscow to Nijui•Novgorod 427 ...

Total 4162 kilos.
These lengths are only approximative, and may be modi-
fied by the definitive tracing of the lines.
" A glance at the map shows the importance of these
lines, the object of which is to secure the conveyance of
those articles which are the chief necessaries of life through-
out the interior, the exportation of agricultural produce,
and the importation of foreign products, at the same time
that they will facilitate the movement of the population in
those parts where it is most dense.
" In fact, the north of Russia is partly covered with
forest ; the soil does not produce in sufficient quantities
the corn required for the support of the population. The
central provinces, around Moscow, are manufacturing, and
their soil likewise is incapable of furnishing sufficient food
for the inhabitants. Further south, on the contrary, there
is an immense belt of lands of uncommon fertility, the
region of the Black Soils.' Lastly, towards the south,
come the steppes, where the greater part of the cattle are
reared that are destined for the consumption of Russia.
" Now, setting aside the line from St. Petersburg to
Warsaw, which has its special destination as an interna-
tional line, ccnnecting the capital with the European sys-
tem of railways, all the other lines have been combined
with a view to favour in the highest degree home and fo-
reign trade. The necessities of the first are shown by the
enormous differences in the prices of breadstuffs, which
fetch low prices where they are grown, at a time when
scarcity is severely felt in the northern provinces; the
actual importance of the second is to be measured by the
fact of one milliard of francs changing hands for the value
of goods most of these cumbrous, weighing about 1,500,000
tons. Its future importance is limited only by the wants
of Europe with respect to wool, corn, oleaginous grains
and seeds, skins, wool, tallow, flax, hemp, &c.
" The line from Moscow to Nijni-Novgorod connects the
industrial or manufacturing capital of the empire with its
principal mart, celebrated for the extensive transactions
that take place there at the annual fair; it places the
Volga a navigable artery of 3,600 kilometres, and situated
entirely outside the territory which peculiarly belongs to
the conceded network of railways, in communication with
Moscow by the shortest line of junction. A large traffic is
secured for it.
" The southern line connects Moscow with Theodosia
(Kaifu.), the best natural harbour of the Black Sea, where
commerce will find the facilities and accommodation which
are wanting at Odessa ; besides it communicates with the
latter city through the maritime part of the Dnieper and
the sea. It crosses the Black Lands' for an extent of 700
kilometres ; it affords them an easy outlet towards the
Black Sea for their corn, oleaginous grain, tallow, flax,
hemp, Sec., but a still more important one towards the
Baltic. It will convey northwards the cattle of the Step-
pes, the wines of the Crimea, the salt of the Sea of Azoff,
and especially the coal of the Donetz basin, discovered and
worked already in the vicinity of Khaikoff, and destined
to play a considerable part in the future manufacturing
career of Russia.
" The lino from Kursk or Orel to Libau is destined to
become one of the great routes for the exchange of rural
produce, so unequally distributed between the various
parts of the empire ; it is especially destined to convey to
the Baltic for exportation the corn and all the vegetable
and animal produce collected by the southern line in the
centre of the Black Lands,' rind by the Nijni line from
the Volga and its tributaries.
" England, France, Belgium, &c., import annually for
their own consumption more than three million tons of
wares, which Russia could exclusively supply them with ;
with respect to the greater part of which she has to en-
counter the rivalry of the United States, but in which she
will have an incoutestible preponderance when the net-
work of her railways shall have been completed.
"One of the most decisive elements of success for the
Russian network is to be found in the very rigour of the
climate. The cold never prevents the regular despatch of
railway trains. The snow has interrupted the traffic upon
the average only one day per annum along the line from
St. Petersburg to Moscow ; but, on the other hand, the
navigable routes are frozen for six months in the north,
and during that period the railway will have the monopoly
of all the transports, with facilities also, by means of
sledges, for the branch communications.
" This advantage is the more striking, because the start-
ing point of the lines, which form altogether what may be
called the exportation system of railways, debouches at
the port of Libau, which is three and a half degrees further
south than St. Petersburg, and is scarcely obstructed by
the ice during three weeks or a month, whereas at St.
Petersburg and Riga all navigation is suspended for five
or six months together. Libau, which is an unimportant
harbour at present, is therefore destined to become the
centre of exportation for Russia's produce and of importa-
tion of foreign products. The Government has engaged to
construct the works for improving the harbour of Libau,
in order that they may be ready by the time the railway
is fit for being worked.
"The harbour of Libau will supersede the harbours of
St, Petersburg and Riga at those periods when they are
closed by the ice. Moreover, the exportation which pro-
ceeds at present via Memel and Konigsberg will resort
there for the sake of the facilities afforded to the national
commerce. This twofold advantage adds greatly, there-
fore, to the importance of the line between St. Petersburg
and Warsaw, which at the same time will become a great
commercial route.
"The conceded lines will supply the inhabitants, and
especially the bodies of workmen who are shifted about in
the various parts of the country, with rapid and cheap
means of conveyance, which have hitherto been quite a
desideratum.
" The engineers charged by the company with the preli-
minary survey and estimate of the undertaking have calcu-
lated that the average gross receipts of the network would
come to 45,500 f. per kilometre ; this is the result of the
calculations in detail for each line, confirmed by the facts
observed on the line from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where
notwithstanding the insufficiency of the materiel and of the
accommodation for the traffic of merchandise, the gross re-
ceipts per kilometre rose in 1856 to more than 46,000 f. In
the estimate adopted travellers have been set down at only

one-fourth, although the lines traverse the most populous
parts of the empire. In proportion to the facilities result-
ing from the low price of fuel and manual labour, espe-
cially on account of the considerable receipts per kilo-
metro which will be derived, taking the trains on the ave-
rage, from the goods traffic for great distances, drawn by
powerful locomotives, with very favourable gradients, we
may estimate the working expenses at the rate of 45 per
cent. as the maximum.
" In consequence, the total receipts will be 189,345,800 f. ;
the expenses at 45 per cent., 85,205,610 f. ; yielding a net
return of 101,140,190 f.
" With the exception of the line from St. Petersburg to
Warsaw, all the works are of very easy execution ; upon
this line the Government abandons temporarily the
72,000,000 f. it has already expended, and which will lie
defrayed only by its sharing in the special profits of this
line, after payment of the interest.
" The average cost of the lines which go to form the net-
work, supposing only one line of rail to be laid down, but
including the works already finished at 273,560 f. per kilo-
metre. This average is obtained from the figures given in
the concessionary charter, and which have been calculated
with the assent of the Government, so as to enable the
company to take possession completely, and provide for
the exigencies of a considerable traffic. Should there be a
surplus, it would be employed in diminishing the com-
pany's capital, or would form a reserve for the further
development of tho lines.
The price of land in Russia will be very moderate ; a
great part will be made over gratuitously from the domains
of the Crown. The wood, an essential element in all
Russian constructions, is extremely cheap; the iron and
machinery are to be imported free of duty, and conveyed
at the cost of back freights by the railway from St. Peters-
burg to Moscow. Except on the line from St. Petersburg
to Warsaw there are only a few bridges, not many em-
bankments or artificial works; and over great tracts of
land there are uncommon facilities for construction.
Throughout the 4,000 kilometres of network there will not
be a single tunnel, oven of inconsiderable length ; the
difficulties which would be incurred in crossing marshes
will bo avoided in the adoption of the routes.
"The railways that may beet be compared with that of
Russia have been constructed at a far less average cost
than the present estimate for these railways when com-
pleted and worked."