The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-03-04
RUSSIA'S RAILROAD.
HOW TRANS-SIBERIAN HAS M
PROVED SINCE WAR BEGAN

200 Sidings Put in Operation In First
Nine months-sixteen Trains Each
Way Day Now Running.
Prince Khilkoff, Russian secretary q
state and minister Of ways and COM
munications, has the following state
ment in the current Golfers:
The Trans Siberian railroad has sue
cessfully met the severe strain which
the war has imposed upon it, and it
win continue TO do so. AT the outset
of the war many Of our foreign critics
predicted that it would break down;
that it could not possibly transport the
troops. their impedlmenta and supplies
which would be necessary to enable us
10 defeat our enemy. How their pre-
diction has been fulfilled is shown BY
the result. We have transported 70
Manchuria up to this time about three
hundred thousand men; we are now
! transporting about four hundred thou-
| sand more. We have been sending
hundreds of guns, thousands of horses
and countless ions of ammunition and
| supplies. We have conveyed all the
Red Cross offerings, hospital equip
ment, lumber for understanding
! in fact that an army requires. At the
| same time we have carried freight for
the inhabitants of Siberia, to whom the
railroad is a vital artery.
How has this been accomplished?
Many who knew that we had only q
! one-track line, eight thousand kilome-
! tiers in length, were astounded. This
single steel rail, that binds the Russian
| force in the far east to- the parent
country, seems the weakest link in our
| armor But believe that those who
| look for Russia's discontinue because
of inability to get men to the front and
| to supply them will be disappointed.
When built the railroad, ] thought:
1--WE may have need for this some day
People said that there would be little
traffic upon it. thought differently.
/ felt that the railroad would develop
i the country; that the commerce which
a vast and growing country demand
| ed, and which only a railroad could
handle, would steadily develop, and
that constant and increasing strain
would be put upon the line.
When war came near we appreciated
| in ST. Petersburg that the railroad
would be put to a very severe test.
We did not have enough sidings to en-
sure the prompt passage of trains. 1t
\ was, Of course, important that the cars
should come. back from the east, for
they were needed not only for the
wounded and to bring supplies waiting
along the route to European Russia,
| but TO return with reinforcements and
4 supplies. So started for Siberia last
| winter, impressed with the necessity oil
building additional sidings Immediate
". In the first nine months Of the war
we built and put into operation two
hundred Of these sidings. The nlagni
tude of this work will appeal to any
engineer. Besides constructing these
sidings, FASTENED the completion Of
the railroad around the great Lake
Baikal Personally / did not see thu
need Of this branch. We had on thu
lake two ice breakers one of which Ii
American in thought, in design, in eve
rything, in fact, save construction, fol
it was built in England. 1t is similar
to some of the steamers you have OF
the Great Lakes. 1t can make fou
round trips day. On the lower decl
on each trip 1t can carry twenty-eigh
wagon-loads Of supplies; on the mali
: deck two thousand men, and on the llr
per deck three hundred horses. TIL
other ice breaker is smaller and !
:, used as an auxiliary. For five year
these ice breakers have handled TIL
/, traffic of the railroad without a hitch
, They could have continued to do s.
! without difficulty. But the nilitar.
thought it advisable that there shout,
be not single break in the line, an,
to meet their wishes built the circun
Baikal branch. The distance acros
the lake is only forty Kilometres; TIL
/. length of the circunn- Baikal line is tw
! hundred kilometres. 1t was Difficult
work. We had to build forty tunnels
we had to cut the rock down in some
places in order to form the roadbed. i
was hard job, but we finished 1t, am
the road is now in operation.
The railroad was originally built 70
e., seven trains each way per day. Tn
roadbed and the rails could have stood
a heavier traffic, but the comparative,
! ly few sidings limited the number 0
trains. Every siding added to til
transportation capacity of the road.
Il Around the circum Baikal line W
, can run an average of sixteen train
each wayper day; on the rest of tn