I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 274 Stolypin

Steel rails have higher strength and wear resistance and are more suitable for high-speed railways and heavy-haul railways.

Because of its soft material, the rails can be used on low-speed railways, but if they are used on high-speed railways, they will become twisted like twists in a few years.

Today's trains are not very fast, and the rails are barely usable.

But as technology improves, trains will travel faster and faster, and these rails will need to be demolished and rebuilt.

Different from Amur's high standards and strict requirements, Chelyabinsk's standard is: it can be used.

"If possible, steel rails are definitely better, but the output of Imperial Steel is limited, so it would be nice to have rails for use."

Werther also knew that steel rails were better, but as George often said, solve the existing problems first, and then decide whether it is good or not.

The empire has its own national conditions here, and it is impossible to get it right in one step. If George is picky, he will not be able to do his job.

George's mood was the same as that of Nicholas's former palace teacher.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is like Nikolai's study. It's okay here and make do there. There is nothing to praise, but after all, it has solved some problems, and this can be explained.

Although he has the ability to do better, it always turns into a special project of the Russian Empire for some mysterious reasons. Even George feels helpless and helpless.

There is no way to solve it unless we start over.

Of course, there has been progress. At least now no one dares to ignore the security work of technicians. The food for workers has also improved significantly. They can eat enough every day and eat meat every now and then. This has already made many workers feel satisfied.

Work was at a standstill throughout the winter and would not resume until late April or early May.

The snow in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok almost melts in early April every year.

The snow cover period in Siberia is about a month longer than that in coastal areas.

Soon after the ice and snow melt, it will be the flood season again. Calculating the time for normal construction, it will definitely be less than half a year.

Compared with Chelyabinsk, Amur provides workers with better treatment and greater protection. Therefore, after the winter started last year, some workers from Chelyabinsk went to work in Amur, resulting in a situation in Chelyabinsk. construction was affected.

Anyway, they are building railways, so whoever pays more will definitely work for him.

In order to ensure that the construction in Chelyabinsk would not be affected, George transferred a group of workers from Amur to Chelyabinsk.

Such repetitive and inefficient work was common during the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

George tried his best not to talk about it. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. As long as it is not too much, for the sake of the early opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway, George will tolerate it.

But if George's bottom line is exceeded, George will be fine if he doesn't take action. Once he takes action, it will be earth-shattering.

For some people who lose money if they don’t pick it up when they go out, the Trans-Siberian Railway is an extremely fat piece of fat. Even if you can’t eat it, you can still get a lot of oil and water if you pass it.

George had nothing to say about these people. No matter whose relative he was, he found one and ransacked the house of another. Nicholas jokingly called George's behavior of collecting odd amounts and fishing for law enforcement.

Werther did not dare to ridicule. He was probably the person in the entire Russian Empire, other than George, who most hoped that the Trans-Siberian Railway would be completed as soon as possible.

Just after Christmas, Werther came to Chelyabinsk and did not return home for four months.

The winter before last, Witte's wife died of a heart attack. Last year he married Mrs. Lisanievich.

Mrs. Lisanievich married Werther after divorcing her husband. This marriage was undoubtedly unseemly for an important imperial minister, and even the Tsar considered it inappropriate.

Witte loved his wife very much and would rather resign as Minister of Transport to marry Mrs. Lisanievich.

The Tsar had to compromise, but the Empress never invited Werther's wife to court balls. George had no problem with Werther's re-engagement. This was Werther's private matter and George had nothing to do with it.

However, Werther's wife was a Hebrew, which made George worry about whether Werther would follow his wife and break away from the Orthodox Church.

In Chelyabinsk, George also met Pyotr Stolypin from the Reich Ministry of State Property.

Stolypin was born in 1862 and graduated from St. Petersburg University.

When Stolypin graduated, with his grades, he could enter the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences for further study.

Stolypin chose to work and entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As a minister under Nicholas II, apart from the evil monk, George only had an impression of Stolypin and Werther.

In George's impression, Stolypin seemed to have become one of the greatest Russians in the history of the Russian Empire because of the land reform.

Stolypin has not yet emerged, and his task is to assist Witte to ensure the smooth construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The private railways of the Russian Empire are gradually being nationalized. After the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed, it will become the most important state-owned asset of the empire, which is why Stolypin appeared in Chelyabinsk.

The acquaintance of George and Stolypin was not pleasant.

There is also controversy over the ownership of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Long before the official start of the Trans-Siberian Railway, railway construction had already begun in the Amur Governorate, and the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk had even been completed.

The section between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk is an important part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the ownership of this section of the railway does belong to George.

The Russian Empire was nationalizing private railways.

Therefore, in Stolypin's view, the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk should also be managed by personnel from the Imperial Ministry of State-owned Assets.

"Yes, as long as the Ministry of Empire's State-owned Assets pays me back the cost of repairing the railway, I will hand over the railway to the Ministry of Empire's Land-owned Assets."

George secretly dug a hole for Stolypin.

"How many?"

Stolypin realized something was wrong.

"It's not much, just 2500 million rubles."

George calculated the cost of the Trans-Siberian Railway according to imperial accounting.

Stolypin frowned. The Imperial Land and Assets Department couldn't afford 2500 million, let alone 250 million.

Werther sat next to him and engrossed himself in reading the documents, paying no attention to it.

Regarding this issue, Werther and George had already discussed it in front of the Tsar, but in the end it came to nothing.

After all, George's identity was different from that of the Hebrews who ran the railway company. Witte knew the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. Although it did not cost much, the standard was very high.

If calculated according to the standards of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 50,000 rubles per kilometer is not enough for the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.

(End of this chapter)