African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1166 Experience
Ernst was just an introduction. As for whether the Ottoman Empire would accept it, that was none of their business. If it could succeed, that would be the best. If not, there was always the Beibu Gulf as a backup. Judging from the oil producing areas currently controlled and infiltrated in East Africa, East Africa's energy security was no longer a big problem.

Currently, most of East Africa's refined oil is produced by the country itself, and Venezuela is opening up new oil producing areas. Unless there are major changes in Venezuela, such as war, there will be little impact on East Africa.

As for the original important sources of East African oil, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Romania and the United States, they all stopped exporting to East Africa because of the European war. This is also the main reason why East Africa has been vigorously developing Venezuelan oil.

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After concluding the negotiations, Franz IV did not return to Germany, but stayed in East Africa. Although he was the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he could only be considered a figurehead.

After all, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is located in northern Germany and was incorporated into Prussia early, so it is impossible for it to play a big role in the imperial government like the southern states led by Bavaria.

Francis IV had a deep curiosity about the development of East Africa. He had always stayed in Europe in the past, but now that he was in East Africa, he had to take a good look around.

With the full opening up of East Africa to the outside world, many foreigners can visit and travel to East Africa. However, due to historical inertia, there are not many tourists who specifically go to East Africa except for business and government personnel from various countries.

The East African government arranged professional service personnel for Franz IV to take him around East Africa.

After leaving the Rhine City, Francis IV's first stop was New Frankfurt.

The tour guide, Kobel, said: "New Frankfurt is one of the new cities of the empire, but its construction history is many years earlier than the capital Rhine City. Now it has become one of the major cities in East Africa. In the entire Central Africa, only Rhine City, Mbeya City and Harare City can be compared with it."

As the train pulled into the new Frankfurt Central Station, Franz IV's eyes lit up. Railroad tracks seemed to be converging from all directions. The closer he got to the train station, the more he could feel the development of the city's railways.

He said to the railway bridge flashing by outside the window and the train slowly entering the city center: "The railway system here seems to be larger than any city I have ever seen. Although the railway in Rhine City is also relatively developed, the traffic volume is not as prominent as here, and the buildings on both sides of the railway are not as large as those in New Frankfurt."

Kobel answered, "Because New Frankfurt is a city built by railways, its city center is built next to the railway, while Rhein City is the capital, and in order to reduce noise and other problems, the railway is built in the suburbs, so there is a fundamental difference between the two."

Franz IV: "Which railway is more developed, the one in Rhineland or the one in New Frankfurt?"

Kobol: "The largest comprehensive railway hub in the empire is New Frankfurt, because it undertakes economic and transportation functions in all directions. As for the railway in Rhine City, although the scale is not inferior to that of New Frankfurt, the number of trains is much less than that of New Frankfurt, especially for the transportation of bulk commodities, which cannot be compared with New Frankfurt."

Following Kobel's words, Franz IV also noticed that there were many freight cars on the railway in New Frankfurt, carrying coal, wood and other various raw materials.

"The timber and grain from the north, the coal and steel from the south, the industrial products from the east and the agricultural and pastoral products from the west all circulate through the city of New Frankfurt and are then transported to various parts of the country. Moreover, New Frankfurt itself is a city with very developed industry and commerce in East Africa," said Cobol.

Franz IV nodded. "Indeed, the railway transportation volume in New Frankfurt is significantly different from other East African cities I have passed through before. Cities like Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, and your capital Rhine are not so busy."

Cobol: "East Africa's railways are distributed in three vertical and three horizontal lines. The national railway mileage is as high as 250,000 kilometers, which is only slightly less than that of Europe and the United States. The city of New Frankfurt is located at the core of the national railway network, so this scale of passenger and freight volume is not surprising at all." Although he is an East African citizen, Cobol still greatly underestimated the scale of East African railways. His data has long been outdated within the East African government.

Of course, even outdated data still gave Franz IV a considerable shock. As a German duke, Franz IV was quite proud of Germany's railway construction, but there was still a gap compared with super-large countries like East Africa.

At present, Germany's railway has developed to more than 60,000 kilometers, ranking second in Europe. As for Russia, which ranks first, it has only more than 70,000 kilometers, only nearly 10,000 kilometers more than Germany. However, Russia's territory is much larger than Germany. If the Siberian Railway connecting the Far East is removed, Russia's national railway mileage is just equivalent to that of Germany.

The land area of ​​East Africa is only about 60% of Russia's, but its railway mileage is more than twice that of Russia. Doesn't this indirectly prove that East Africa's industrial capacity is far stronger than that of Russia?
Francis IV made a bold assumption in his mind: if Russia was replaced by East Africa, the situation on the European battlefield would probably be very different now.

After all, from Franz IV's personal experience of the East African Railway, the efficiency of the East African Railway is no worse than that of Germany. For example, he noticed that the East African Railway applied many cutting-edge technologies.

For example, electric signal lights, signal towers, mysterious mechanical devices beside the railway tracks, etc., although they are just small details, they reflect East Africa's comprehensive application of new technologies in railway construction.

Franz IV also noticed that a new type of railway was being built in East Africa. However, many East Africans themselves were not clear about the purpose of that railway. However, judging from the elevated railways and complex lines built on both sides, it was definitely not aimless. Its construction cost was higher than that of ordinary railways, so it could definitely meet certain needs.

In fact, that is the electrified railway that is being promoted in East Africa. However, due to the rapid development of science and technology in East Africa in recent years, the technology has been updated and promoted too quickly, so that ordinary people do not know much about these new technologies.

Without discussing electrified railways, Franz IV's current experience with East Africa's ordinary railways alone has fully demonstrated the efficiency of East Africa's railway scheduling, and the delay rate is also controlled within a reasonable range.

In sharp contrast to this, we have to talk about the Russian railway system, which Franz IV also experienced personally.

After all, Nicholas II was the uncle of Franz IV, so Franz IV often went to Russia. The efficiency of Russian railways was the lowest in Europe.

Of course, this was the result Franz IV came to after comparing the railway experience in Germany and other Western European countries. The East African railway was slightly better than the German railway. Franz IV did not understand the key to this.

This is actually the difference between the East African railway system and that of European countries such as Germany. The East African railway department is more stringent in management than Europe and the United States, and is not as complicated as Europe and the United States. Most railways are managed by the Ministry of Railways, so they can better coordinate the national lines.

And with the development of information technology, East African railway departments can also respond to various emergencies in a timely manner, such as mountain torrents, heavy rains and other extreme natural disasters, thereby improving railway operation efficiency.

At present, it can be said that the East African Railway ranks first in the world in terms of management level, and is also in the first echelon in terms of technology. Of course, leaving aside some vehicle models, especially the research and development of trains with steam locomotives as the main power, the East African Railway is actually at the forefront of the world in terms of technology.

Apart from the total railway mileage, East Africa’s railways currently have no obvious shortcomings. However, excessive mileage is obviously not a good thing, especially for East Africa where road and water transportation have already developed to a certain extent.

(End of this chapter)