Chapter 955 Rhine Palace Subway Station

Although the Rhine Metro was completed a long time ago, it will take some time before it can be put into normal operation, because the current Rhine City is very empty and does not need a means of transportation such as the subway to dredge.

This led to the construction of the Rhine Metro earlier than the Hungarian Metro, but the official use time was much later. In fact, the Rhine Metro was completed as early as 1896. As for the completion time of the Rhine Palace Underground Metro mentioned by Ernst, it was actually the Line 2 of the Rhine Metro.

After all, it involves the royal palace, so the design of Line 2 is more complex and the standards are higher. In addition, the government and Rhine Palace sections of Line 2 also have supporting shelters, temporary command centers and other places, and the amount of work is larger.

This means that the only two subway lines in Rhine City are currently suspended. Line 1 is a completely civilian line that crosses the city center and the southwestern industrial and residential areas, while Line 2 is divided into two parts, one is a civilian line, and the other is for the East African government and royal family. There is a certain difference between the royal family dedicated line and the East African government line.

The two subway lines in Rhine City are the current subway construction situation in East Africa. Dar es Salaam, the most economically developed city in East Africa, has not built any subway lines.

After all, Dar es Salaam has only about 700,000 people, while London had more than 2 million people when it built the subway in 1863, and now it has exceeded 4 million. Therefore, Ernst believes that the standard for subway construction should be based on a population of 2 million in the urban area. No city in East Africa can meet this standard.

As for the Hungarian subway, it was a political project for Hungary to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of its founding. In addition, the population of Budapest had reached 2 million in 1896, and it met the standards for building subways in terms of economic and population needs.

As for why Budapest has such a large population, it is mainly because of its good foundation. It was originally two cities, Buda and Pest, which merged into Budapest after 1873 and became the capital of Hungary. At that time, Budapest had a population of more than one million.

With the industrial development of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in recent years, Hungary is a plain area, so it is easier for industry and population to concentrate in Budapest.

In comparison, the Rhine Metro is a complete political product. According to the current population size of Rhine, the opening and operation of the metro is a complete waste of resources.

Of course, Ernst believes that the construction of the Rhine Metro is completely reasonable. After all, the planes in East Africa have already taken off. In the future, when cities deal with bombing in a state of war, the subway is a natural refuge. As the political center of East Africa, Rhine City must prepare early.

Of course, it is not easy for foreign forces to launch an air strike on Rhine City. After all, Rhine City is located in the inland center of East Africa, and it takes a lot of time to fly here from the coast.

…

In the evening, after Ernst and Constantine returned to the Rhine Palace, Ernst and his family began to familiarize themselves with the structure of the Rhine Palace.

Of course, Ernst was also a newcomer, so Butler Thomas introduced them.

"This is the entrance to the Rhine Palace subway. It is located in the room at the center of the Rhine Palace. Turn the mechanism behind the bookcase, and then a passage will appear. Go down the stairs at the entrance of the passage. There is a gate here. Pull it up, and the power system will start to supply power to the lights."

As Thomas closed the gate, the lights in the passage lit up instantly, and then everyone went down the stairs.

"In fact, there are other passages in the Rhine Palace, and even equipped with elevators, but elevators are not very reliable after all, so it is best to choose this traditional staircase when escaping." Thomas said seriously.

Ernst did not comment on this point. The reliability of stairs is definitely higher than that of elevators, but it is not as easy to cause accidents as Thomas said.

After all, the elevators in the Rhine Palace are well maintained. Under regular inspections, it is almost impossible to encounter failures. Of course, everything cannot be said too absolutely.

The Svet Palace in the first town is equipped with elevators, and the Rhine Palace is even worse, so the maintenance workload of the elevators in the Rhine Palace is much greater than that of the Svet Palace.

After walking for a while, I came to a flat ground, but there were still stairs going down.

"The Rhine Palace subway is more than 170 meters underground, so the stairs extend downward in stages." Thomas said.

Finally, they were almost at the bottom, and an iron gate appeared in front of everyone.

"This metal gate is used to separate the first barrier between the Rhine Palace subway and the Rhine Palace. There are two in total. It took a lot of effort to build this metal door alone, and it needs to be opened and closed mechanically."

Thomas also demonstrated it. In fact, it is to use the rocker to drive the complex mechanical structure to open and close.

Thomas just demonstrated it briefly, and moved the door more than ten centimeters. After all, it was still going down, and it was impossible to close the door first.

After a while, they finally arrived at the location of the Rhine Palace subway. The subway station under the Rhine Palace is a palace-style building, which is magnificently built.

In fact, according to Ernst, this subway station is very similar to the subway station built in the Soviet period in Moscow in his previous life, so he was very receptive to the scene in front of him.

But it was different for Constantine, Karina and the princes and princesses of the Hechingen royal family. They were greatly shocked. This was equivalent to building an underground palace under the Rhine Palace.

"This subway station and a few other subway stations will not appear on the Rhine City subway diagram. The Rhine Metro has many hidden lines and shelters. These areas are generally not open to the public. For example, the Rhine Palace subway station will not be activated unless the royal family encounters a major threat. However, the subway station will also be on standby at any time to deal with any possible emergencies."

This situation is estimated to not occur in another hundred years. After all, with Ernst's arrangement, almost no foreign enemy can enter the Rhine Palace area in the future. Of course, nuclear war is an exception. However, Ernst is confident that East Africa will become the first nuclear-armed country in the world in this time and space. Therefore, unless there is a madman who really wants to fight to the death with East Africa, the safety attribute of Rhine City is full.

"By the way, I have never taken the subway in my old age. Can I try it?" Constantine said on the side.

"Dad, we want it too!" Several little guys are also interested in the subway like their grandfather.

After all, apart from East Africa, the only countries in the world that have built subways are the United Kingdom, Hungary and the United States.

The first subway in the United States was built a year later than Hungary and East Africa, that is, the Boston subway, which was built and opened in 1897.

Ernst naturally agreed to the request of his father and children, after all, he also wanted to see and experience the subway in the 19th century.

Then, under Ernst's instructions, the staff started the Rhine subway, from the Rhine Palace Station to the platform of the Central Government Building, which is only a dozen kilometers away.

As for the experience, it can't be said to be very good. This thing is actually not much different from a train. It is more like a tram. After all, it is also driven by electricity, but its electricity is supplied by the track, while the tram relies on the antenna above its head to contact the power grid. The speed is not fast, and the staff dare not drive at high speed.