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should be furnished from the Han-Yeh-Ping plant, as was the case on the Southern or British section; what was ordered later from these works was a special German section of 67.3 pounds to the yard. On the southern section anything that could be purchased in China was bought there and all other materials and equipment were opened to competition, with the result that the contracts were placed with British, Continental, and American concerns and China secured these railway requirements at better prices than in any previous instance. A considerable part of this line's maintenance requirements, such as switch stands, frogs, and switches, are being manufactured in the workshops at Tsinanfu and Pukow, although in connection with the requirements for the German section there is such a large stock on hand that many of the materials will last for a great number of years—in fact, in some instances they may never be used.

ROLLING STOCK.

On the German section all the rolling stock was purchased in Germany, and it is claimed, with very good reasons to support the belief, that much of this equipment was actually on the way to China before the invitations for tenders were published in Tientsin to comply with the terms of the loan agreement. On the British section tenders were invited for all the equipment, with the result that considerable portions of this came from countries other than the United Kingdom. Half of the first 200 freight cars came from Belgium, 2 of the first 10 locomotives from America, all the rail and fastenings from the Han-Yeh-Ping iron works, and most of the cement from the Hankow plant of the Chee Hsing Co., which also has a plant at Tangshan. This line is in need of additional rolling stock, as is indicated by the quotation on page 91 from the 1916 annual report. During the early part of 1917 the Pressed Steel Car Co. furnished the line 50 very excellent covered cars somewhat similar to the one shown in figure. 26.

WORKSHOPS.

There are very well arranged and equipped workshops on both sections, involving unwarranted expense for the construction, maintenance, operation, and overhead expense of two complete general workshops when one such shop as that at Tsinanfu would have been entirely adequate. The shops on the German section_are located at Tsinanfu and are equipped entirely with German shop machinery. This shop, with its present facilities and by utilizing part of those now installed at Puchen, would be capable of taking care of the general repairs of all rolling stock for the entire TientsinPukow line and also the Shantung Railway, running from Tsinanfu to Tsingtau. The shops on the British section are located at Puchen, about 10 miles from the Pukow terminal. These shops are not so extensive or so completely equipped as those at Tsinanfu. The shop machinery has been purchased on the open market like the other requirements, but most of it is of British manufacture.

ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL.

Under date of October 20, 1916, regulations for an organization similar to that of the Pekin-Mukden were promulgated, but, as

already explained, while the administration is under one managing director for the entire line, with a limited number of general officers, there are in addition the district staffs, retained on each of the construction sections, which are now termed the Tsinhan District for the north or German section and the Hanpu District for the south or British section. A list of the principal officers for the general office and each district is given in the directory beginning on page 262.

PURCHASE OF STORES.

The purchase and supervision of stores come under a subdepartment of the general department, and the official in charge is the secretary and general storekeeper, whose office is at Tientsin. In addition, there are district storekeepers at Tsinanfu and Pukow. The district storekeeper at Tsinanfu, since the Germans were dismissed, is a Chinese and comes under the usual regulations for the Chinese Government Railways, but the district storekeeper at Pukow is under the general jurisdiction of the engineer-in-chief of the Hanpu District. It is now the general practice of this line to invite tenders by advertisements, such as the one shown on page 68. This line recently lost considerable stretches of its roadway at the northern end of the Tsinhan District, and the permanent repairs will probably require some additional bridge materials to replace the lost bridges or to provide additional openings.

PEKING-HANKOW (KIN-HAN) RAILWAY.

LOCATION AND EXTENT.

The northern terminus of this line is south of the Chengyangmen gate in Peking, as mentioned in connection with the Peking-Mukden Railway. The total length of the main line is about 750 miles and the southern terminus is Hankow on the Yangtze River, which is in about the same latitude as New Orleans. Hankow is about the same distance south and west of Peking as New Orleans is of Indianapolis. This at present is the longest journey that can be made on the Chinese Government Railways without change of cars. There are five branches, mostly to coal mines, with a total of about 60 miles of line, the longest of these branches being 26 miles.

HISTORICAL SURVEY.

Because of diplomatic and other considerations, it is rather difficult to include the salient features of the history of this line in a report of this kind. This was one of the earliest railway projects considered in China and was the first instance in which China formally invited the cooperation of foreign capital. The first step leading up to the construction of the present line was the organization in 1896 by Chang Chih-tung, viceroy of Hukuang, of the Chinese Railway Co., a Chinese Govnerment organization with an authorized capital of 30,000,000 taels, of which, however, the Chinese were able to raise only 13,000,000 taels, after which the assistance of foreign capital was invited.

The first parties interested were an American syndicate represented by Senator Washburne, for whom surveys and estimates were made by Capt. Rich, and one of whose assistants was Mr. K. S. Low, already men

tioned as managing director of the southern section of the TientsinPukow line. For some time in 1897 it looked as though the construction of this line would go to this American syndicate, although at the same time there were in progress negotiations by British interests. During this interval Mr. Sheng Kung-Pao was made director general of the company; he took an active part in carrying the project to a conclusion and continued his activities in the railway situation up to his dismissal in 1911. During the time these surveys were being made and negotiations were in progress, a Belgian syndicate named the Société Financière et Industrielle Belge en Chine entered the field without attracting serious attention and concluded the preliminary agreements of 1897, as shown by the documents in appendix 3. This syndicate, as developments have since clearly shown, was a Franco-Belgian combination operating with Russian assistance and interest. As quickly developed, the financiers of these interested nations could not obtain the necessary funds under the terms of the preliminary contract, with the result that resort was had to a series of concessions secured through extended negotiations (supported by diplomatic pressure from Russia, France, and Belgium) and resulting in the final agreement under which the line was constructed by La Société d'Etude des Chemins de Fer en Chine. The concluding of these negotiations was the particular event that precipitated one of the acute periods of the "Battle for Concessions." The supplementary loan of 1905, as shown by appendix 3, provided the necessary funds for the final completion of the railway.

In 1907 the net profits amounted to approximately $2,000,000 Mexican, and the Chinese concluded that the line was going to be very profitable, as it has since proved to be; but as the Belgian syndicate was entitled to 20 per cent of the annual profits, it was decided to pay the 5 per cent premium and redeem the original loan. This' was successfully accomplished in 1908 by the flotation of the present Anglo-French loan for £5,000,000. The line was taken over by the Chinese Government on January 1, 1909, and has since been operated by the Ministry of Communications under the terms of this loan agreement.

SOURCE OF CAPITAL.

The original loan, finally aggregating about £4,500,000, is said to have been distributed about three-fifths to French subscribers and two-fifths to Belgian. The writer was able to obtain no reliable information as to the division between British and French subscribers of the present Anglo-French loan of £5,000,000. Special attention is called to the table on page 54 as showing that the Chinese Government, through the ownership of the permanent investments and the additions from surplus, now actually owns about 50 per cent of the capital cost of this system.

PRESENT CONTROL.

Notwithstanding the fact that the present loan has eliminated the concession features, a considerable French technical staff is retained in the maintenance and operation of the property and all statistical and technical information is printed in French or Chinese.

This French staff appears to have a very considerable authority in the administration of the property.

CLASS OF TRAFFIC.

The traffic on this line may be roughly divided into 30 per cent passenger and 70 per cent freight. Mineral products, of which a large part is coal, represent more than 40 per cent of this traffic, agricultural products more than 15 per cent and manufactured products less than 15 per cent. The Cheng-Tai and Taokow-Chinghua lines both turn over to this line a considerable amount of coal, and this will probably increase from year to year. This line and the Canton-Hankow Railway (when the latter is completed) will constitute the principal north-and-south trunk line from the populous center of Canton through a densely settled country to the coming industrial center of Hankow and then to the city of Peking.

PRESENT PROFITS.

In 1912 this line earned $5,246,300 net; in 1913 it earned $7,548,600 net; in 1915, after all fixed charges and taxes, net earnings were $6,069,572; and for 1916 they rose to $8,751,912. The net earnings for 1917, however, were adversely affected by the very disastrous floods over the greater part of this territory, which destroyed considerable stretches of railway and a number of expensive bridges. This, however, will be only a temporary effect, and there is no doubt that this line will continue to be profitable and will in time liquidate its entire indebtedness out of earnings.

At present no extensions are contemplated other than those in connection with the development of mines (generally coal) in the territory along the line.

ROADWAY AND TRACK MATERIALS.

Practically all of the rail and fastenings come from the Han-YehPing works. The rail weighs 76 pounds per yard and is a Belgian section. All switches, frogs, signals, and other similar materials were furnished from Belgium or France, except in a very limited number of instances when these could be purchased from Chinese manufacturers. There is a very considerable number of bridges on this line, the longest being the one over the Yellow River, which is 9,875 feet in length, about 11 feet above high water, partly through trusses and partly deck girder construction, all supported on very elaborately placed screw piling. One-half of the superstructure was fabricated in Belgium and the other half in France, and the floor system is all of the stringer type, with the openings filled in with metal plates, as already mentioned. This structure and all the other bridges on this line have been much criticized as not being of sufficient strength to carry properly the motive power that is being used. It was stated that the permissible loading is very little, if any, in excess of Cooper E-35, and the appearance of the structures would seem to warrant this statement. The advertisement reproduced on page 67 was for tenders to replace some of the bridges lost during the destructive floods along a considerable length of this line in 1917. It is reported that most of this business was awarded to an American concern.

ROLLING STOCK.

The rolling stock is all of Belgian or French manufacture. It is illustrated in figures 22 and 23. This line, as is the case with the other Chinese Government Railways, is short of freight-car equipment for handling all the business offered.

WORKSHOPS.

There are three workshops on this line, the largest and most important being at Changhsintien, about 32 miles from Peking. The Chingchow shops are district repair shops about 430 miles from Peking, and the Hankow district repair shops are only a few miles from that end of the line. None of these shops are laid out on the lines of the Tongshan or Tsinanfu shops, and in the course of time they will no doubt need considerable additional shop machinery.' The present shop equipment is quite varied, and a considerable number of the machine tools are of American manufacture.

ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL.

The organization for this line is very similar to that shown for the Peking-Mukden and was promulgated the same date, October 20, 1916. In the directory given on page 263 the writer was not entirely able to reconcile the titles with the requirements of the promulgated organization.

PURCHASE OF STORES.

The administration and purchase of stores come under a subdepartment of the general department, but the present managing director, Mr. C. C. Wang (Chinese), gives all important purchases his personal attention. In purchasing all supplies by public tender, this railway has probably taken steps in advance of any of the other Chinese Government Railways. The Peking-Hankow is the only line that has so far made any move toward the purchase of miscel laneous merchandise requirements by the arrangement of annual contracts.

CHENG-TAI (SHANSI) RAILWAY.

LOCATION AND EXTENT.

This is the only meter-gauge line of the Chinese Government Railways and connects with the Peking-Hankow at Shihchiachuang, about 172 miles south of Peking. The line extends westward 151 miles through a very rough country to Taiyuanfu, the capital of the Province of Shansi, which is about 2,600 feet above sea level. The highest point on the line is about 3,500 feet in altitude. There are 21 tunnels on the line, but the longest is only about 960 feet in length. There is also a large number of bridges and viaducts, some of them of very considerable size.

HISTORICAL SURVEY.

The first reconnoissance and estimates for this loan were made by a French engineer for the Russo-Chinese Bank and the Comptoir d'Escompte in 1897. In May, 1898, the Russo-Chinese Bank made. a preliminary agreement with the Chinese Government to furnish 25,000,000 francs for the construction of this line, but after resurvey

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