The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-16
RAILWAY LINES VIRTUALLY
 REBUILT SINCE WAR
England and Canada Have Sent Miles of Iron and Hundreds
 of Cars

London, September 1o.-(Special Corre
 spondence of the Associated Press.)-THe
 railway has been one of the primary in
 struments of war from the day war was
 declared and its usefulness has constant
 ly increased with the increasing complex
 ity of wars activities. Even in the past
 four months, the tonnage landed at
 French ports for the use of the British
 forces in France has increased by more
 than two-thirds. and this all has to be
 transferred by rail from French docks to the front.
 Railways are the arteries of war. It was railway construction by the South African forces that made possible the conquest of German Southwest Africa and again it was railway construction that rendered possible the recent opera tions in Egypt in Mesopotan1ia and in
 East Africa. Several hundred miles Of l railways have been laid in the Sinai des- I ert with the help of native Egyptian labor while for Mesopotamia and East | Africa the necessary material and per- sonnel have been mainly derived from India. In Sinai, the line from Fl Kan | tara eastward has been extended in the course of six months, and the freight | traffic passing over it has increased threefold.
 Qn France railway development has | been most extensive. Enormous provision of railway stores and plant for use in l France has been made by England dur 1 ing the three years of war Rails. ties, l plant and tools have been delivered Tn enormous quantities for use on the new I strategic lines in the advanced areas as | well as on the French railways forming | the main lines of communication. For | three years rails by the mile, locomotives | Ixr+1 +1r.L Lrty,1 ~oI md .ats " fhnnSa
 have been pouring in steady stream | into France,
 l About half of these locomotives and cars have been obtained from British railways as a result of the restrictions placed on traffic here. Assistance has also been rendered by Canada and the other dominions, and great quantities Of
 new rolling stock has been speedily con- structed here and abroad for use on the | continent Hospital and armored trains have been designed and built, and spe- | cial railway mountings of unique design
 have been improvised for heavy siege artillery.
 1 In a recent dispatch, placed at the | disposal of the Associated Press, Field
 Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander in chief of the British forces in France, described the work done upon the rail- ways in France during the past year. 1 the success of which he says has been 1 one of the contributory causes Of British
 military success.
 By the close of the campaign of 1916, l he says, 'the steady growth of our armies and the rapid expansions of our material resources had taxed roads and | railways to their utmost capacity. The existing broad gauge and narrow gauge 1 railways being insufficient to deal with 1 the increasing traffic, an undue amount | of transportation had to be done by road. As winter conditions set in the roads deteriorated rapidly and the difficulties | of maintaining and repairing them oe- l came almost overwhelming. In order to relieve the roads, an increase of railway l and light railway facilities became inn I peratively and urgently necessary. and l at a later date the needs of the AtnlS were considerably augmented by .le adoption of large programme of new I construction in the area from which the 1 German armies had withdrawn.
 "The task of providing additional rails, ! material and rolling stock, was one of great difficulty. The successful solution of the problem of railway transport l would have been impossible had 1t not been for the patriotism of the railway companies of Canada. They did not hesi- tate to give up the locomotives and roll ing stock required to meet our needs
 and even to tear up trak in order C
 provide us with the necessary rails The
 work of railway construction had to be
 carried out with the greatest rapidity
 lin order to admit of resumption of .he
 offensive in the spring, and at the same
 time the labor and material had to ps
 found for the necessary repair of roads