Chapter 1166 Experience

Ernst was just an introduction. As for whether the Ottoman Empire would accept it, it was none of their business. If it could work out, it would be the best. If not, there was the Beibu Gulf as a backup. Judging from the oil producing areas currently controlled and infiltrated by East Africa, East Africa’s energy security is no longer a big problem.

At present, most of East Africa’s refined oil is mainly produced by its own country, and Venezuela is opening up new oil producing areas. Unless there are major changes in Venezuela, such as war, it will have 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.

…

After the negotiation, 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 regarded as a nominal monarch.

After all, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was in the northern German region and was incorporated by Prussia early, and it was impossible for it to play a big role in the imperial government like the southern states headed by Bavaria.

Franz IV was deeply curious about the development of East Africa. He had always stayed in Europe, but now that he was in East Africa, he had to take a good look.

With the full opening up of East Africa, many foreigners can visit and travel to East Africa. However, due to historical inertia, there are still not many tourists who 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 to visit East Africa.

After leaving Rhine City, the first stop Franz IV arrived at was New Frankfurt City.

The tour guide Kobol introduced: "New Frankfurt City is one of the emerging cities in 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 region, only Rhine City, Mbeya City and Harare City can be compared."

As the train entered the New Frankfurt Central Railway Station, Franz IV's eyes lit up. One after another, the rails seemed to converge from all directions. The closer to the railway station, the more you can feel the development of the city's railways.

He said to the railway bridge flashing 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."

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

Franz IV Shi: "Which railway is more developed, the one in Rhine or 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 scale of the railway in Rhine, although it is not inferior to New Frankfurt, the number of trains is much less than that in New Frankfurt, especially for the transportation of bulk commodities, which cannot be compared with New Frankfurt."

Following Kobol's words, Franz IV also noticed that there were many freight cars on the railway in New Frankfurt, carrying a variety of raw materials such as coal and wood.

"Wood and grain in the north, coal and steel in the south, industrial products in the east and agricultural and animal husbandry products in the west, etc., all circulate through New Frankfurt and then are transported to various regions across the country. Moreover, New Frankfurt itself is a city with very developed industry and commerce in East Africa." Kobol said.

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

Cobol: "The railways in East Africa are distributed in three vertical and three horizontal directions. The national railway mileage is as high as 250,000 kilometers, which is only slightly worse than Europe and the United States. 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 underestimates the scale of East African railways. His data has long been outdated within the East African government.

Of course, even the outdated data still gave Franz IV a great shock. As a German duke, Franz IV is quite proud of Germany's railway construction, but there is 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 equal to Germany.

East Africa's land area is only about 60% of Russia's, but its railway mileage is more than twice that of Russia. Does this prove from the side that East Africa's industrial capacity is much stronger than Russia's now!

Franz IV made a bold assumption in his mind. If Russia was replaced by East Africa, the situation on the European battlefield would probably be different now.

After all, from Franz IV's personal experience with 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, mechanical devices that look mysterious on the side of the railway tracks, etc., although they are just some small details, they reflect the comprehensive application of new technologies in East Africa's railway construction.

Moreover, Franz IV also noticed that a new type of railway was being built in East Africa, but many East Africans themselves did not know what the railway was used for. However, judging from the elevated and complex lines built on both sides, it is definitely not aimless. Its construction cost is higher than that of ordinary railways, and it can definitely meet certain needs.

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

Let's not discuss the electrified railway first. Franz IV's current experience with ordinary railways in East Africa fully demonstrates the efficiency of East African railway scheduling, and the delay rate is also controlled within a reasonable range.

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

After all, Nicholas II was the uncle of Franz IV, so Franz IV often went to Russia. The inefficiency of Russian railways can be said to be the worst in Europe.

Of course, this is the result of Franz IV's experience with the railways of Western European countries such as Germany, while the East African Railway is 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 strict 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 national lines.

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

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 models, especially the 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.