The Sentinel=record., 1917-05-08
OBJECT IS ID REsTORE
 RAILWAY TRANSFORMATION
Germans in Their Retreat Have De stroyed All Railway Lines-Reorui- tng Places Are to be Opened in Near. y All the Large Railway Centers.

Washington, May 7.-Nine new regiments of army engineers. to be composed exclusively of highly trained railway men, will be the first Ameri- can troops to be sent to France. They will go Cat the earliest possible mo 1dent' the war department announced today F work on communication lines. but speculation as to exactly when or to what points they will be sent is forbidden because of the sub. marine menace.
 The new forces will be volunteers. raised at the nine great railway cen trrs otF the country. Each regiment will be commanded by an engineer colonel of the regular army, aided by an adjutant All other officers will be railway engineers or officials.
 The expedition will have a total strength of between 11,000 and 12.OO0 men, each regiment being composed of two battaliOns of three companies each Every branch of railway work CTS necessary to the building or op- eration of lines wih be represented in the ranks and the war department expects a response to the call that will permit ca eful selection to be exercised and insure a force already trained to the minute, an army of experts in railway operation.
 Recruiting for the regiments and the organization of each force will be directly under the colonel of each regiment Recruiting machinery of the regular service or the national guard will be placed at their service and it is hoped the enrolment of the troops will take little time. The re. emitting points will be New York, Chi. cago, St. Louis, Boston. Pitt burgh. Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
 officials believe the great railroad brotherhoods will cooperate, throw ing the strength Of the unions behind the recruiting efforts The railway companies already are so organized under the Council of National Defense that their cooperation is assured. The engineers and officials of the lines who Cffer themselves will be selected in such manner as not to cripple the operating forces of any company.
 The decision to send the engineers is understood to have grown out of conferences here between government officials and members cf the French and British war missions. One of the great problems of the war are the vital element of the system that feeds men, shells and food toward the fight. ing frcm channel ports and from France
 Commanders for the new regiments probably will be announced tomorrow Work of recruiting the regiments will start immediately. and as each re- cruiting center is a city where there is an army post, it is assumed the regiments will be assembled in army barracks and their organization per fected.
 It is improbable that the new regi- ments will be subjected to any lengthy military training. They will be given military organization only for the sake cf great mobility and efficiency They will carry the usual arms and equipment CT engineer troops, rifles and bayonets, but their real fighting will be done with the complicated ap. plianees and engines of railway opera. tion or construction
 Supplemented by labor and skill available in France. the nine regi CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVEN