African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1003 Railway System Adjustment
After the whole family reached an agreement, the next things became much easier. Ernst specifically found Siweit to inform him of this matter and prepare for the wedding. The Siweit family was also stunned by the sudden falling pancake. It was at this time that Siweit realized that his cabbage was eaten by... the crown prince.

"Your Highness, how come I didn't notice it? They had been secretly dating for several years and I didn't even know about it. They did a great job keeping it a secret." Siwei Te said a little depressed.

Ernst had the same idea. If he hadn't been urged to get married, he, as an old father, would not have known about his son's secret love affair.

But he still said, "Don't feel any psychological burden. Since the two of them are in love with each other, then let them be together. After all, the trend of free love is becoming more and more popular in society now. It's not the Middle Ages or before."

Siwei Te frowned and said, "Your Highness, I am mainly worried that this will affect the overall situation of the country. After all, a royal marriage can gain a lot of benefits for East Africa."

Ernst: "My opinion on this point is that it has little impact. Aristocratic marriage is an important part of European diplomacy, but East Africa is not Europe after all. We are isolated overseas and have not had close ties with Europe. We can say that we have our own system, so royal marriages do not have to follow European traditions."

"Besides, East Africa is a country with many immigrants. If Friedrich can marry someone with the ancestry of immigrants from the Far East Empire, it will be of great benefit to the integration of our East African people."

After hearing what Ernst said, Siweit thought it made sense. Of course, Siweit still felt a little complicated. After all, this matter was related to his family. If Friedrich's marriage partner was other East African nobles, Siweit probably wouldn't think too much about it.

In fact, Ernst had other plans in mind. That was that in the future the Rhine royal family would also need the cooperation of local political forces. The European nobles might not have this effect. Assuming that World War I was the same as in his previous life, then this period would probably be the last glory of the nobles on the European continent, and the nobles who had lost power would be nothing more than a title.

"The sooner the better. Let's wait until the end of this year, taking advantage of the New Year time, to hold a wedding for the two of them!" Ernst made the final decision.

Ernst also wanted to have a grandson as soon as possible, and Friedrich was not young anymore, so the wedding should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Naturally, Siweitt would not object to Ernst's decision. Although he had complicated feelings, he knew Crown Prince Frederick inside and out. Moreover, if other people knew this news, they would probably only envy him.

……

After confirming Friedrich's marriage, Ernst once again became a workaholic and threw himself into East African political affairs.

"Your Highness, this is the latest information from the railway system. In addition to the railway construction being implemented step by step according to the First Five-Year Plan, our domestically produced internal combustion locomotives are also being stepped up to meet the needs of our country's railway and transportation industries."

East Africa started researching diesel locomotives quite early, with samples even being produced in the 1980s. However, diesel locomotives did not achieve a real technological breakthrough until the 1990s.

Generally speaking, diesel locomotives can be divided into three categories according to the transmission form, namely mechanical transmission, hydraulic transmission, and electric transmission.

Mechanical transmission diesel locomotives use internal combustion engines as power, but such locomotives are rarely used on small-power local railways and industrial and mining locomotives, while early hydraulic transmission diesel locomotives use connecting rod drive similar to steam locomotives. As for electric transmission, which is the main application form of diesel locomotives in the past, the role of the internal combustion engine is to provide electricity to the locomotive, and then use electricity as a power source. Electric transmission is also the mainstream development direction of diesel locomotives in East Africa.

This type of diesel locomotive has been relatively mature in East Africa, especially after the East African railway and power industries achieved rapid development in the 1895s, electric transmission diesel locomotives were officially put into large-scale production in .

Of course, the old steam locomotives have not been eliminated. The main reason is that the localization of steam locomotives in East Africa has only been less than 20 years, so the production was relatively limited before. In addition, the construction of East African railways was too fast, and the gap in locomotives became larger and larger. Therefore, the East African railway system is now facing a situation of more roads and fewer vehicles.

In addition, Ernst had experienced the era of information explosion in later generations, so he knew more clearly that although the old steam locomotives could no longer meet the needs of the economy and other aspects of society over time, they were simple in structure, stable and reliable, and were important strategic materials. When the country's territory and railway system were damaged by war, or in the event of extreme natural disasters, the old steam locomotives were often needed to come out to the rescue.

In addition, the production expansion of old steam locomotives in East Africa had just been completed a few years ago, so it was impossible to start over again. Instead, production efforts had to be increased.

Moreover, the standards adopted by the East African railway system are different from those of other countries, which requires East Africa to produce more steam locomotives as future strategic reserves.

Ernst said: "Promoting the development of diesel locomotives is necessary for economic development, but steam locomotives are equally important. Currently, the railway capacity in East Africa is limited by the number of locomotives, so both diesel locomotives and steam locomotives must be vigorously developed."

In fact, steam locomotives are not considered backward and are still the main force in the railway systems of countries around the world. Although other countries also produce diesel locomotives, the number is extremely small and the technology is immature. Therefore, continuing to produce steam locomotives will not have much impact on the economy of East Africa.

"According to your Highness's request, our Ministry of Railways plans to increase the production of diesel locomotives to about 40% of the previous level during the First Five-Year Plan, while maintaining the original steam locomotive production. This will not cause too much impact on the original steam locomotive production." Andre said: "In addition to locomotive production, the current problem of the railway system lies in the lack of information exchange and material allocation. This requires the rectification of the entire system, especially the establishment of more marshaling yards, and coordination with various departments and enterprises to improve railway transportation efficiency."

After all, railways are not as flexible as roads, especially since railway routes and times are fixed. This leads to empty trains easily if information is not handled properly, thus increasing railway operating costs.

There are also changes in regional freight volumes and improper application and review procedures for railway use, which can easily lead to the inability to fully release railway capacity.

In the past, the East African railway was developed in a rough manner, so these problems were not obvious. During the First Five-Year Plan, the East African railway construction plan was not aggressive, so there was more time and energy to sort out and solve the various problems of the original East African railway system.

Ernst also supports this point. Refined railway management is an inevitable trend in the development of railway transportation. Ernst does not want the decline of the American railway system in the previous life to happen in East Africa.

A big part of the reason for the decline of American railways is actually improper management. From the mid-19th century to the mid-th century, the American railway system grew wildly. After the development of roads, aviation and other modes of transportation, it failed to make timely adjustments, which made the American railway system inevitably enter a period of decline.

It is true that the development of aviation and road transportation has put a certain amount of pressure on railways, but this problem did not occur in Europe and the Far East Empire, especially in the past, when European railways were built no later than in the United States, and other forms of transportation were not lagging behind. However, European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and other countries, continued to develop in the railway field, so the decline of railways was obviously not just caused by competition from other modes of transportation.

(End of this chapter)