Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-16

TH HE list or things Germany has
lost by plungng into war grows
day by day. The latest items
are several routes of express
railway travel to which, before the war,
she contributed the vital central link.
If plans now in contemplation in en-
tente lands reach maturity the route
of the most important Europen en-
presses will no longer be through Ger
many, or. at most. only for a stretch
far shorter than before the war.
The first great railway route which
it is proposed to alter in such a way
that Germans will no longer have a
share in it is that of the far-famed
Orient express. Before the war, this
train, surrounded by glamour attaching
probably to no other train in the uni
verse, ran from Paris to the frontier of
Germany at Avricourt, and then con-
tinued over German soil through Stras-
bourg. Stuttgart. Ulm and Munich to
the frontier of Germany and Austria
Hungary, whence it went through
Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia
to Constantinople. AS will be noted 1t
ran for the last part of its journey over
a section of the Berlin to- Bagdad
through route, the ambition to control
which was one of the contributing
causes of Germany's downfall.
According to the new plan, the Orient
express, instead of running from Paris
through Germany, will go across French
territory to the Italian frontier, through
northern Italy and the new Jugoslavia
to a junction with the old route, and
thence through Sofia to Constantinople
AS feeder it would have a line run
ming from some point in Jugoslavia to
the Danube to connect with the Ruman-
ian railway system. thus providing COM
munication with Odessa, the great me-
tropolis of southern Russia. and other
important Russian cities. Neither main
line or feeder would run for a single
mile over German railway.
The project for this substitute for the
former route Of the Orient express was
carefully worked out during the war
by French experts. The route between
Paris and Constantinople. through
Italy and Jugoslavia, has no missing
link, though considera BILE work Of grad
ing and ballasting would have to be
done to fit it for the great accession of
traffic that would undoubtedly come If
1t became the substitute for the old
Orient express line. For the Rumanian-
Russia feeder short section of track
would have to be built, from some point
in Jugoslavia to the Danube, where
connection would be made with already
existing Rumanian railways.
If this plan bears fruit Germany
will not only cease to provide the
great central link in the route of the
Orient express, but two lines formerly
great feeders of that route. from Ham
burg through Berlin to Vienna and
from Berlin to Budapesth. will lose
much of their Importance.
Germany's loss of Importance on the
most vital trunk railways of Europe
will not be confined solely to the
Orient express route, it seems. for an
other plan contemplates DETECTING the
route taken before the war by the
celebrated Nord express. which ran
from Paris through Cologne and Ber-
lin to Petrograd. Instead of running
through nOTtll Germany, tnuS DOtn Hill
ing the pockets and tickling the over
weening pride of the Prussians, it is
planned to have this train bear east
ward from Paris. over the old route
of the Orient express, through Stras-
bourg, Stuttgart and Munich, thence
viz Prague. capital Of the new repub-
lie of Czechoslovak and across the
territory of the new Poland. to Petro-
grad, with Il branch southwark to
Moscow. With the collapse of the old
route of the Nord express will disap-
pear much of the tremendous import
ance of it's feeders. the Frankfort
Berlin and Hamburg Berlin expresses.
The Germans, apparently. are also
to lose the quick rail route which
their lines used to provide between
England and Scandinavia. Before the
war passengers from England de9rous
Of avoiding sea travel could crCss to