The times., 1899-07-06
RUSSIAN RAILWAY BUILDING.
Information Regarding n Market fo-
American ProductIons.

American Productions.
The progress OF railway building in
Russia is a matter of more than ordinary
interest to the American people. since
their mines, mills. and locomotive plants
will be extensively employed in providing
rails, bridges, and equipment for the lines
now in-eo1rse Of construction nr projected
Some interesting data on the subject OF
Russian railways has been furnished in
communication to the New York SUM-"
from which We quote:
'The total length OF the railways now
in operation in Russia is $3.50 miles OF
those in course OF construction. !, 400 miles
in all. one-haif Is being built by the Gov
ernment and the other half by private
companies. These lines should be COM
pieted within two years, which will give
Russia 34,l50 miles OF completed railways
10 operation in 1901. In addition a num-
Der OF new lines are projected. the con-
structlon OF which will be undertaken and
partially executed during those two years.
But there cannot be any cessation OF
railway building in Russia for long time
to come. The completion OF the great
trunk lines connecting the extremities OF
| the empire must necessarily be followed
| by the construction of branches and link
| ment of the great wastes OF Asia and give
life to the trade arising from the growth
OF population There is, therefore, every
| prospect that for years to come our
| American rolling mills and factories will
be busy turning out material for the Rus
sian railways that are to bring the vast
territories Of that empire in touch with
civilization.
THE figures relating to the Russian
r-at1 ruvf Ne oI- Irxf-,
! tally those connected with the working OF
the zone system. which has exercised n
! considerable influence in increasing the
passenger tariff returns In 1856, before
| the application of the tariff by zone, the
Russian railways carried 81, SIS, 900 passen-
gers, while in 1886. ten years later. they
| transported $500, 600 passengers. The
! goods traffic during the same period near
| ly doubled. The rates for third class
travel are calculated as follows, computing
by the rouble Of 100 kopecks. the equlva-
lent Of which. in our money. is about so
cents: From l to 160 versts. the verst
| being reckoned at about fve-elghths of a
mile, the fare for each verst is .057 rouble,
| but from 100 to 800 yersts it is reduced TO
.023 rouble per verst. After the s00th verst
| the fare is no longer calculated by versts.
| but by zones, the tariff on the first zone
of twenty-five versts being So rouble, and
! for each subsequent zone it Is only rs
rouble.
1T must further be remarked that while
the fare remains the same, the length OF
| the zones increases progressively. The
first eight zones following the 300th verst
are each % versts in length: the next
seven have each 4 length of IS versts; and
those following have a length OF 40 versts
up 10 the 1.510th verst- Beyond that dis
tance the zones have length Of so versts
each; the fare remains the same, .4S rouble
The second class rate is fixed by increa5-
ing that of the third class so per cent
The advantage Of this system for long
distances is very great. Thus. from st.
Petersburg to Odessa, run of over 1900
miles, one can travel third-ciass for $3.50
and second-class for $40. The journey
from St Petersburg to Omsk in Siberia,
about 1.500 miles. costs only SIS second
class
THE result of the first reductions in
tariffs has been found to work so well
that the Minister Of Finance, Mr.. Witte.
is considering the preparation of another
and still lower tariff. In view of the ad-
vantages we are deriving from Russian
railway enterprise. Americans. certainly.
can only wish success to any measure that
tends to stimulate railway construction AMI
travel in Russia"