The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-08-09
To India by Rail.

English project, indeed, advocated by
ScoTT RUseEIL and Sir Henry RAwLIN-
SON, and which contemplated road from
Scutari TO the Indus across Turkey and
Persia, has been summary arrested by the
bankruptcy of the former power. On the
other hand. the scheme suggested by Fer
DINAND DE LEssEPs, the creator of the Suez
canal, Is viewed with favor by the Rus
sian Government, and under the auspices
Of a commission organized by Prince Or
LOFT Is rapidly taking definite shape. A
preliminary exploration of the route has
been completed by tho promoters OF the
enterprise, and its results, together with
an estimate of the outlay required for the
new line, were laid before the Geographic
cal Society OF Paris at its last session.
There is no doubt that the route from
England to India, by way Of Russia, Is al
together the most direct, shorter even
than the maritime course through the
Mediterranean aud the Suez canal. The
direction rs bird flies, or in other words,
n great circle of the earth drawn through
London and Calcutta, by no means in-
chnes so far to the south. Such line
would pass through Amsterdam, Berlin.
aud Warsaw, cut the Caspian and the Sea
OF Aral, touch Samarcand, and cross the
Himalayas. The drauyht of a railway
which should approximate very closely to
this ideal track has been sketched by n
Russian engineer, but 1t is open to the fatal
objections of traversing deserts wholly
destitute OF water aud combustibes, and
of leaving out Tasolkend, which is the
great entrepot of commerce for Central
Asa.
The most easterly point 30 far attained
by the railway system of Russia is Oren-
bourg; but in December, 1875, the Govern
ment decreed the immediate extension of
the Siberian line from Mini Novgorod to
Ekaterinbourg in the Ural Mountains,
distance of eight hundred miles. Last
April II was announced by the Russian
journals that the Car had authorized the
commencement of preparatory works Tor
a further section between Elk iterinbourg
and Taschkend. The point of departure,
therefore, for the Central A;iatic" may
be regarded us dehnitively fixed at the
former town.
From TIschkend the proposed line
passes to Khojend, aud thence by easv
gradients TO Samarcaud, after which IL
| bridges the Amou-Dlria T. reach ID ilkh,
sometimes affirmed to be the oldest city
on earth. at the foot of the range known
az the Hindu Kush. Here the difficulties
begin. Nevertheless, according TO the
data collected by NJ. CorARD. an engineer
associated with NJ. DE LEssEPs both in the
Suez canal and the new enterprise, the
crossing OF the chain by rail Is certainly
practicable and probably no more difficult
than that of the Alps. After leaving
Peshawur, the point of junction of the
projected line with the ra lway system OF
/ HIndostan. IL would be necessary to as
| cend some nine thousand feet. in order to
attain one of the passes OF the Hindu
| Kush. 1t Is estimated, however, that the
| grade need nowhere exceed one foot TO
the hundred, which is much less than some
| inclines presented by the Central Pacific
| in the Sierra Nevada. Neither does the
| absolute altitude of these passes constitute
| an objection, when We consider that the
| snow limit in this latitude is ut least half IA
| mile higher than in Switzerland. Sun, the
| troublesome portion of the route doubt
| less consists in these Ave hundred miles
dividing Peshawur from Balkh: but it Is
| TO be noted that this section would open
quitS PoPulouS
The middle link connecting Balkh with
Taschkend would have a length OF six
hundred miles but could be far more
| easily constr ucted; IL would tap more
| over, important centres OF trade. Finally.
| between Taschkend and Ekaterinbourg,
| an interval of twelve hundred rules, lies
region of steppes less deusely populated
but in no sense n desert On the whole, II
| we contrast these conditions with those
encountered by the Pacific Railroad. we
must ackno wledge that our American line
would u priori seem "a less reasonable uu-
dertaking.
NJ. CorARD has endeavored 10 compute
on the one hand the expense OF oonstruc-
ton, and on the other the immediate and
certain income OF this great under aking.
The cost OF the first subdivision traversing
the steppes should not exceed $4,000 per
mile. that OF the middle section spa n
ming Turkestan might reach 10000 (;
but the portion OF tue road scaling the
Hindu-Kush could not be laid for less
than sl25,0 900. Thus, surprising the whole
line to be completed III eight years, and
allowing interest on the capital for half
that period, we should have total exp en-
diture of less than TWO hundred millions Of
dollars-about tho sum supposed to be
represented by the Union and Central Pa
clfic Railroads,
To form an estimate of the amount OF
passenger traffic on which the Central A5i-
attic might fairly count, we may take as n
basis The figures furnishedb by the Suezc canal
Al present eighty thousand p lssengers pass
through the canal annually, three-fourths
OF whom go to India, or beyond, aud the
total IS augmented by 1--WE thousand every
year. Now, the journey from Paris to
Calcutta, via Marseilles, covers thirty two
days. aud costs 1926, while by the most
rapid, or Brindisi, route it requires twenty
three days, aud an outlay of $40. by ran,
on the other hand, NJ. CorARD calculates
that we might traverse the same distance ill.,
at most, eleven days, for "a sum OF $500. The
comparative security and regularity OF
railway travel would probably assure to
the Central Asiatical large patronage which,
If computed at hundred thousand passen-
xvnnlI NialH "a "a