Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-13
RAILWAYS IN CHINA
AN INTERESTING FEATURE OF
CURRENT DEVELOPMENT.
Roads in Operation and Construction
or Projected approximate 5000
Miles-The Earnings.

One of the most interesting and significant
features of Chinese development, accord
ing to a report of Consul Haynes to the
Department of Commerce and Labor, Is the
extension Of the railway system.
The mileage of roads now in operation,
being built and projected, including the
railways built under the Manchurian con-
cession, approximates 5000 miles. This Is
more than Spain, only thousand miles
less than Italy. and nearly half as much as
the United Kingdom possess. Its insignifi-
capce however, from the American stand
point, is seen when we notice that 1t Is
less than that of the single state OF Hi
nois, or of Ohio or Pennsylvania, or Texas.
Railways in China have been classed as
commercial political, commercial political
and strategical.- They may also be group
ed according to the nationality OF their
concessionaries. These would be Chinese,
English, German, French, Belgian and Por-
tugueSe.
The most numerous as we'll as the most
important of the concessions are retained
by the Chinese There are seventeen OF
these The British naturally come next
with four concessions. Some of these were
originally Anglo German and in one OF the
lines America had an interest. But the
total length is 1,045 miles and the control
Is now entirely British. Germany has three
concessions and France the same number.
Belgium has one and Portugal one. But
the most important line Of all Is known
| as the Chinese Imperial railway. 1t Is
from Picking to -Tientsin and from Shan
hai-kwan around the Gulf of Pechih to
Newchwang.
Cost of Construction.
1t has been computed by the engineer-in-
chief of the imperial railways in north
China that the capital cost of the intra-
mural line from Picking to Shanhaikwan'
distance of 25S miles, exclusive of sid
ings, was 50, 600. or about s36,65O to
mile. The cost of the line from Shanhai-.
kwan to Chunghousu 40 miles, was about
$4O,315 per mile: but If the sidings are
taken into consideration the cost per mile
is about the same as the intramural line.
Taking these figures as a basis. we find
that the cost of construction in north China
amounts to about $36. $50 per mile.
For the line from Picking to Chunghousu,
a point forty miles outside the great wall,
according to the same authority mentioned
above, the annual receipts before the year
1900 averaged 81, 100000, while the working
expenses were $S79,60O. If the capital cost
of the line was $11 ,72SOOO, there was net
profit of 1886, 400 or per cent on the in
vestment But railway enterprise was then
only in it's infancy and the volume OF both
passenger and goods traffic must have
greatly increased since then, SO that I'M
der proper management there Is no reason
why a profit Of or even 10 per cent should
not be returned. During 1905 it Is COM
puted that the net earnings were sufficient
to pay a dividend Of 20 per cent on the
capital cost The bridges of these lines
consist of steel Orders resting on ma
sonry concrete piers and abutments,
sunk by compressed air to proper foun-
dalton. The largest and longest bridge
on the intramural line is that over the Ian
Ho, spanning distance Of 200 feet.
The Workshops
=. At Tongshan are situated the principal
workshops, where several thousand men
are employed in car building and general
repair work. Here and in vicinity are also
the Chinese Engineering and Mining Com
pany's mines. the products from which
yield much traffic. The mines are now
working as a joint stock company COM
posed Of foreign and Chinese stockholders
and registered in London. They employ
about 600 men. with an output of about
5000 tons of coal per day. The shops for
girder building are at Shanhaikwan, and
are capable of turning out 5000 tons of
girder work per annum.
The rolling stock is built similar to the
best American types. The freight cars
have a thirty-ton carl wing capacity. The
passenger cars are similar to those in
America, having through passages and end
platforms. At Kaochiao, which means
''high BRIDGE and is distant sixty miles
from Shanhaikwan. there Is branch line
running northwesterly for thirty miles and
connecting with the Nanpiao coal mines.
These mines are pronounced by experts to
be the richest and most valuable coal
mines in north China.
There are two large bridges on the Shan
MISUNDERSTANDING lines-one across the
Talingho, east of kinchow and +.s other
over the Siaolngho, Immediately south of
the same city. The latter bridge, which
was of much more difficult construction
than the other. built by Chinese
civil engineer who graduated from the Shelf
field School of Yale University. At Yinghow,
the seaport Of Newchwang, and where is
situated the more important railway ter
minus of the extra mural line, a fine site
of 1000 acres has been secured to meet
the extensive requirements of the traffic.