Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 718 Social Change ([-])

It was still cold along the Northwest Railway in early spring, but Yang Wanglin, the deputy director and director of the technical department of the State Railway Administration, who took over from his old superior who had retired from illness, was full of enthusiasm.No, he had only been in charge of the work for less than a week, and he took the train from Dongfang County all the way northward, passing through Milin Lake-Yihe River upstream; The 6 carriages pulled by the "Barbarian-10A" steam locomotive newly developed by the South Vehicle Factory galloped all the way to the Canyon Fort, Baichiya Fort, Merlot Fort and other places along the railway.

After going around these places, Yang Wanglin took the train back to Xiayihe Town, and then took a ferry boat to cross the river to the south bank.The castle in Xiayihe Town was originally built in the north, but with the gradual development of the south bank of the Yihe River, Qin Yu, the mayor of the town, began to set up several agricultural production teams on the other side of the river after obtaining the approval of the Government The jurisdiction of Yihe Town extends to the north and south banks of Yihe River.

Next to the original ferry on the south bank, it is now full of people and noisy.A large group of Kelandi and Guarani captured from the La Plata area on trumped-up charges were transported here by the police of the Ministry of the Interior, and then these poor people with shackled feet were wearing thin clothes , holding heavy tools, began to build large freight yards and stations here—this was for the construction of railways from Xiayihe Town to Ningjinbao, Dahuang Farm, and Shush Farm in the south.

This railway was built by the Executive Committee for investors who were willing to go to the Great Western Wilderness to open up wasteland and farm land. After all, if the traffic problem cannot be solved, the attractiveness of the Western Great Wilderness area will be greatly reduced.The reason is simple: if the harvested grain cannot be transported or the cost of transportation is too high, it will not be worth the loss to grow grain there.

Therefore, when planning there, the Executive Committee publicly promised to build a railway for investors as soon as possible—that is, before the end of July 1649, the about 7 kilometers between Xiayihe Town and Ningjinbao The railway was repaired and then gradually extended to the Great Western Wilderness area.

However, unlike other railways ordered by the Executive Committee, the short 40-kilometer line from Xiayihe Township to Ningjinbao adopts a public-private partnership. Funding will be raised jointly by the State Railway Administration and private investors.After the completion of the construction, the railway management right will be controlled by the General Administration of Railways, but the dividends generated will be divided into public, six and private, that is, the Railway Administration will account for 50%, and private investors will share the remaining [-]%.After [-] years of continuous operation, the General Administration of Railways will no longer distribute dividends to private investors, and all rights and interests generated by the railway will be exclusively owned by the General Administration of Railways.

To be honest, it is not that the Railway Administration, which is supported by the state, cannot afford the money to build the railway.However, considering that the current domestic inflation is already quite serious, if the General Administration of Railways alone funds the construction of a new railway, then it is equivalent to the country further injecting a large amount of money into the market, which will inevitably increase the degree of inflation in the domestic market. Not what a responsible government should do.Therefore, after a long while of consideration, the executive committee finally agreed to the proposal of the General Administration of Railways, which is to absorb a large amount of private capital into the lucrative railway industry, and lock up these funds, which may amount to more than 10 yuan, in one project. In the investment with a long return period, it is used to eliminate the excess capital in the country and reduce the pressure of inflation.

It is said that after several years of development of the current domestic railway, its current prospects have been recognized by the public.As of October 1648, 10, the total mileage of the national railways of the Eastern China Republic had exceeded 10 kilometers, reaching a new historical length of [-] kilometers.

Among them, there is even a 180-kilometer-long railway that is double-tracked, and this is the famous first railway on the east coast: the Luomei Line (from Luoqia Port to Meilin Port).The original reason for the construction of this railway was to defuse the enemy's possible naval blockade, so as to ensure that after the east coast was blocked, the domestic industrial center at the northern end of Duck Lake and the southern grassland area could still communicate through inland water systems and railways.

In other words, the railway was originally built only for reasons of homeland security, and domestic parties did not have much expectation for it.However, today, nearly three years after the official operation of the railway, the benefits of the railway have begun to attract the attention of all parties.

When the Rome line first started operating on New Year's Day in 1646, the railway was plagued by problems such as immature technology, lack of professional technicians, and frequent locomotive breakdowns.Even though there was no lack of business on the Luomei Line Railway due to the shortage of domestic transportation capacity at the time, at the end of the year the State Railway Administration sent personnel to check the accounts and found that the Luomei Line was still unprofitable throughout the year, with a loss of about 3 yuan.The reason for this is the extremely high operating expenses (the railway has over-provisioned several times more workers and technicians as a future talent reserve) and the outrageously high maintenance costs are the culprits.Of course, there are other miscellaneous expenses, such as bank loan interest, local government apportioned expenses, etc., but they are not mainstream, and the proportion is very small.

However, after a year of running-in operation on the Luomei Line, and at the same time the Southern Rolling Stock Works also greatly improved the quality of the steam locomotives, in 1647, the Luomei Line Railway finally turned losses into profits, with an annual profit of 3528 yuan.During this year, the National Railway Administration, which suffered from war and its capacity was extremely tight, revised the train timetable of the Luomei Line several times throughout the year. The frequency of trains gradually increased from once every three days at the beginning, and finally reached The frequency of two trains running opposite each other every day.

A large amount of leather, tallow, livestock, salted fish, timber, cotton, oil, building materials and other materials in the south were transported to Merlin Port by rail, and then transferred to the northern or western inland areas; while the wheat, steel, Coal, chemicals, mechanical products, textiles, and military products were also transported to the south through canal-rail transportation, which effectively supplemented the shortage of coastal transportation and enabled the industrial and agricultural systems on the east coast to continue to operate well.

At the end of 1647, the Southern Rolling Stock Works located in Meilin County once again made a certain level of technical breakthrough in steam locomotives, which reduced the maintenance cost of the railway in a straight line, and also detonated the profit of the Luomei Line railway transportation in 1648. frenzy.As of today (October 1648, 10), the Luomei Line has made a profit of more than 10 yuan in the first nine months, and it is expected that the annual profit will reach more than [-] yuan.

The State Administration of Railways has announced as early as the beginning of the year that this year, apart from retaining part of the profits of the Luomei Line for other purposes as planned, the rest of the profits will be distributed to shareholders: the State Administration of Railways and the Ministry of Communications.According to calculations, the dividend per share distributed by Rome Line Railway will reach 2% this year.This figure may not seem high, but what investors see is indeed an extremely bright prospect, because next year, the number of trains on the Rome line will further increase, and the departure interval will be greatly shortened. At the same time, huge training for workers and technicians The cost has almost reached the peak, and coupled with the continuous improvement of locomotive and railway technology, according to insiders' predictions, the dividend per share of the Luomei Line Railway may reach 6%-8% next year, which is very promising for investment.

It's a pity that the equity of this golden railway line is in the hands of the state. Although private capital covets this, there is nothing they can do about it - because the financial status of the Rome line railway is quite good, and there is no intention of selling shares.Under such circumstances, these private capitals can only turn their attention to the newly built railway.At the beginning, they flocked to the Northwest Railway, which was under construction, but the government had no intention of selling equity in various sections of the Northwest Railway or publicly offering shares to repair the railway, so they could only return in dismay.

However, the Executive Committee and the Government Affairs Council did not fail to give them a chance. For example, the 40-kilometer section of the Xianing section of the Southwest Railway (Xiayihe Town-Ningjinbao) was prepared for them.The Great Western Wilderness area is currently becoming the only large farm planting area in China with the support of the Executive Committee. In addition, the Executive Committee also plans to build new settlements in the Great Wilderness Farm and the Shrub Farm at the end of this year and early next year, so as to vigorously Open up large state-owned farms.

It can be seen that the development prospects here are quite good, and in this way, the profit prospects of the railway can also be expected: the massive tools, construction materials, food supplies, machines, livestock, personnel, etc. It can be continuously transported by railway; and after a small development there, a large amount of grain, wool, leather, tallow and other products produced will also be continuously transported by railway, and there is still quite a lot of profit space in it. .If the operation is good, the annual return on investment of 8%-10% will not be a problem. Even after the railway operation matures, the annual dividend will be further increased, and the 15% dividend will not only be a distant dream.

At this time, the pre-subgrade construction work of the Xianing section of the railway has been carried out for a long time. The extensive application of steam plows, ox-pull roller machines (to clear shrubs and small trees), and steam hammers has greatly reduced the workload of railway construction.Yang Wanglin, who went to inspect the construction site after getting off the car, could clearly see that in the drainage ditches on both sides of the roadbed, there were several steam plows digging the ditches extremely quickly, which was more efficient than those of Kelandino who was digging ditches manually with a shovel. The workers are much stronger.Moreover, as long as this kind of machine does not fail, it can work 24 hours a day and night, and its working efficiency is extremely stable. It is by no means comparable to those Indian slave laborers who are shackled, demoralized, and inefficient.

"In March 1649, the Northwest Railway will be opened to traffic at Chengshanbao; before the end of July, the Xianing section of the Southwest Railway will be opened to traffic; After the construction, the whole line will be connected." Thinking of this, Yang Wanglin couldn't help being excited, the development of the East Coast Railway is really a step by step step by step!

(End of this chapter)