Before the construction of the railway, there was another problem before the Austrian government, the standard gauge of the railway.
This standard cannot be arbitrarily formulated, whether a wide-gauge railway is better or a narrow-gauge railway is better, which should be determined according to actual needs.
From the narrowest railway gauge of 610mm to the widest railway gauge of 2141mm, they are all options. Of course, if the reality needs, you can continue to reduce or enlarge the gauge.
The advantage of the wide-gauge railway is that the stability of the train is improved, it is not easy to roll over, and the stability and comfort of the train can be improved. The disadvantage is that the turning radius is too large and the construction cost increases.
Of course, as the track becomes wider, the carriage can also become wider, and the load capacity will also increase. The premise is that the railway can carry a larger load capacity. This requires comprehensive consideration, not just the gauge.
In general, the cargo capacity of broad-gauge railways is larger, but limited by other factors, the cargo capacity does not necessarily increase.
In terms of passenger transport, wide-gauge railways are obviously more dominant, with more spacious space and a more comfortable experience.
The high-level things of the track-changing technology do not need to be considered in this era, including the high-performance trains of later generations, which cannot be produced in this era either.
Perhaps trains with a width of more than three meters can also run on narrow-gauge railways in later generations, which is obviously impossible in this era. If there are not many problems in the plain area, once you go up and down the mountain, it will roll over in minutes.
In addition, political and military factors should also be considered. For the sake of national defense and security, the purpose of building railways of different standards from neighboring countries is to prevent the enemy from using their railways quickly in times of war.
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"Your Majesty, why must the gauge of all railways be unified? Let's change trains at a fixed station, won't we
In this way, we can build railways according to different needs and keep construction costs to a minimum. " Railway Minister Stein asked suspiciously.
Franz explained: "We have to have a question of efficiency, think about how long it takes to unload cargo from one train and reload it on another train, and how much additional labor does it take?"
Stein thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, this time is nothing, the speed of train transportation is much faster than traditional transportation.
Compared with the cost of railway construction, the increased labor cost is not worth mentioning. Our funds are limited and there is no need to waste them here. "
Franz rubbed his forehead. He finally knew what happened to the railway chaos in various countries in this era.
Limited by the era, the people of this era are different from the later generations in terms of ideology and cognition.
People have not yet entered the era of fast-paced life, and everyone does not think that time is so precious. The labor cost is even more ridiculous, and the value of labor is not felt.
Still, Franz had to find a way to convince them. Don't think that the Germans are stubborn, in fact the Austrians are not much worse, especially the engineers with low emotional intelligence.
As the senior talents of this era, they have their own persistence. If they can't be persuaded, Franz can only force them to execute.
Obviously, this is not what he wants. If these people are not allowed to do their jobs with all their heart, and if they are a little sluggish in railway design, the losses will be in the tens of millions.
In order to avoid being pitted, the core designers of Austrian railways are a group of domestic technical houses, and even the external technicians are all from the German region, and all of them are the masters of "three correct views".
Franz replied: "The needs of the country's development in the future are related to the country's next-step strategy. Are there any problems?"
"No, Your Majesty," Stein replied.
The difference in thinking and cognition was unclear for a while, and Franz was too lazy to explain it, so he just found a reason to fool it.
Anyway, it is much easier to fool a technician like this with a single muscle in his head than to fool politicians. He also has to use the design basis given by the Ministry of Railways to convince the government. It is a headache to think about.
There is no way, here the Austrian Empire. Although the imperial power is high, but the ministers below also have a high status. If the emperor does too much and makes them unhappy, they will directly hang the seal and leave.
Is it easy to change people
It's really easy, people who want to be officials are everywhere.
However, it is difficult to find ministers who are capable, loyal and prestigious enough.
If you do whatever you want, it won't take long for you to keep it with a group of sycophants around you. The emperor's order is the imperial decree, unconditional support.
Whether it can be carried out or not, no one knows. Franz knew that 80% of the good policies in the world would change when it got down to it.
If there is no strong government supervision, bureaucrats will interpret it from their own interests, and finally make it beyond recognition.
No one likes subordinates who insist on principles. Such people often hurt the leader's face. Since the emperor takes the lead, they will naturally follow suit. In the end, the rest of the government are smooth people.
Franz dared not imagine what the consequences would be. Anyway, in a country, as long as the upper layer rots, the lower layer will degenerate faster than ordinary people can imagine.
To avoid this from happening, we can only formulate a set of rules, and as the maker of the rules, we are also bound by the rules.
"Based on the actual situation in Austria, you calculated the annual economic growth rate of 5%, and considered our transportation needs in 50 years, and designed a standard system suitable for Austria. Is there any problem?" Franz asked.
"No!" Stein replied
He still has confidence in technical things. As for the issue of economic growth rate, that is a question of the government. Whether it can reach 5% or not, it doesn't matter to him.
Franz seemed to have thought of something, and added: "Wait a minute, we must also consider connecting the Holy Roman League and the Balkans. In the future, we will promote this set of standards to them, and eventually everyone's railway network will be integrated. ."
The ultimate goal of establishing the Holy Roman Alliance is to achieve economic integration, and the unification of railway standards is naturally an indispensable part.
Other parts of the Balkans can be rejected, but Belgrade must be taken. This is the gateway to the Balkans, and if you master it, you will control the lifeblood of the Balkans.
The two principalities of the Danube River Basin must also be in their hands, which is related to Hungary's grain exports, and it is also an important import and export trade channel for Austria. (Duchy of Wallachia, Duchy of Moldavia)
Before the railway was connected, Hungary's grains all passed through the Danube River Basin and entered the Black Sea and were shipped to European countries for sale. The import and export trade in Hungary was also heavily dependent on the Danube River.
This is why Austria is firmly opposed to Russia's occupation of the Black Sea Strait, which threatens Austria's national security.
Professional things are better left to professionals. Austria's big railway plan was launched in a hurry.
Who made Franz underestimate the investment enthusiasm of the nobles
Perhaps in many materials, the nobles are rotten and backward, but in fact they are conservative and progressive at the same time.
Nobles have received the best education since childhood, received information that ordinary people can't reach, and broadened their horizons.
Under such circumstances, how could the next generation cultivated be fools and idiots
They conservatively oppose political change, which is determined by their own interests. How can they allow those with vested interests to oppose their own interests
The real idiots have long since seen God. During the Austrian Revolution in 1848, there was also a big reshuffle within the aristocratic group. Many nobles who made mistakes in judgment and were blinded by greed have been removed from their names.
The concept of the nobles also changed at this time, or reality forced them to change.
In order to quell the rebellion as soon as possible, Franz promoted the liberation of serfs and the redemption of land, which was actually a concession made by the noble class.
The example of the French taught them that if they did not give in to the spread of the revolution, the final loss would be even greater, so they made concessions while helping the government to suppress the rebellion.
Among them, some unlucky people who were in the whirlpool of revolution chose to escape from this change. As a result, when the overall situation was determined, the land had been forcibly redeemed.
After losing the pillar of land, these people took the lead in finding new projects for transformation. At this time, the railway appeared, and many people saw the potential of this new type of transportation.
They need a new industry to keep the family business from falling. The railway is the choice of many people. With the efforts of so many people, the speed of railway construction has been artificially accelerated.
This is the case. The front line has already started to make preparations for construction, and the standards for railway tracks have not yet been released.
Basic information on transport requirements has been provided by the government. It is not difficult for railway designers to calculate the capacity demand, and then the railway standard is determined by the capacity demand, which is even simpler.
Soon the design standard was placed in front of Franz, and he could not understand the other parameters as a layman. The only thing that caught his attention was the track gauge.
The Ministry of Railways proposed four plans, namely: 1524mm standard system, 1600mm standard system, 1665mm standard system, and 1712mm standard system.
The main roads that started in the early stage are all prosperous commercial areas. Both passenger and freight demand are the highest.
When the railway standard system was established, it was natural that the requirements of this region were mainly considered. In addition, after 50 years of consideration, the standard naturally rose a lot.
There is no narrow-gauge railway. In this era, limited by train manufacturing technology, the transportation volume of narrow-gauge railways is limited. Due to insufficient stability, safety accidents are prone to occur, and they are rarely used in the construction of main road railways.
The final choice is in the hands of the Austrian government. In theory, several of the above schemes are feasible now, and which one to choose has become a difficult problem.