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File 357/1919 Pt 2 ‘RAILWAYS IN PERSIA’ [160v] (325/1150)
The record is made up of 1 volume (573 folios). It was created in 5 Dec 1921-28 Jan 1931. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
f] t i ie impression prevailed that great waste of money was going on all round,
soutn, and “ e l Xps impertinence in a layman even to record m an official despatch
n 18 P V tie .-natter of railway construction, but I could not help feeling
any impressions m toe matter ot .a aboye the valley of the Diz, the presem
when flying over te moU e that the cost of building the line through a
Sno o-oK limestoi for more than 60 miles in length could never repay i !f
In' a vas! an^thmly-populated country like Persiawith little, if any, agncuh
tural export to theiSouW is de^CeO^ ^ . disposal to visit Khornnisa but
I discussed the question with members of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company who had
been there. nd ^ ^ site sllggested for the terminus of the railway is at a
noint some 10-15 miles from the sea up the estuary of the khormusa River. The
advantage claimed for this site is that there is deep water at all seasons ana little, if
!nv necessity for dredP'ing. Against this must be set the fact that all the country
lying on the east bank ^submerged at high tide to a depth of 3 to 4 feet while, owing
to the marshland on the west bank, the railway would have to be built along a high
embankment. Moreover, the lower reaches of the river are exposed to the full force
of the south winds, which are prevalent from JNovembei 10 Maich. finally, a town
would have to be built and merchants induced to come and live there.
10. I gathered that in the view of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company the con
struction of a railway terminus at this point was a feasible but \ei\ costly proposition.
At present the company had little interest in the matter. Abadan port, with the
additions and improvements made in the last few years, provided all the accommoda
tion they required, while, even if a general shipping port was built at Khormusa, this
could not be used for the shipment of crude oil, which, owing to its inflammable
nature, would have to be shipped from a separate and detached port.
H l conclude, therefore, that the Anglo-Persian Oil Company would not be
disposed to finance the construction of a port at Khormusa, except possibly for a
definite and adequate quid fro quo. In these circumstances it wmuld appear to be the
height of extravagance for the Persian Government to engage in this costly under
taking until they are satisfied that no reasonable arrangement is possible with the
Government of Iraq regarding the frontier line of the Shatt-el-Arab in so far as it
affects the Port of Mohammerah.
Copies of this despatch are being sent to the Government of India and His
Majesty’s Acting High Commissioner for Iraq, Bagdad.
I have, &c.
T? TT PT TVF
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum of Mr. Warner’s Conversation with Mr. Poland.
I AKKED Mr. Poland about the railway last night, as you instructed. He was
not very communicative on the general progress.
As regards northern terminus, he said :—
The Shah wants it to be in Astrabad Bay, so, if he sticks to that, it will
have to be there.
The Caspian is apparently gradually drying up and receding, but that is
a ui Ithe bay is, however, silting up, and that is more speedy. I ha^ e
told them that if they want the terminus of the railwav to be there they will have
to do some preliminary dredging—not very heavy—and will have to be prepared
o dredge at regular intervals, perhaps every other year.”
i
1 : e " aras tne crossing of the Elburz, he said it depended on the reported
TT! “ TT n commercial quantities in Semnan. He did not believe in it him
and thought it was some ramp of the German mineralogists. He knew a little a
A ^ ® 1C J no ^ believe that they could justifiably report as optimistical
if thfq rArT 1 f 0U ests an d experiments, which they had not so far made. How<
bv Spi-nntFn 1 at lts face value ’ the railway would either have to go r<
Eini/h h A lc WC A terri kly difficult and expensive, or, if it was taken ov<
, ere won d have to be a branch to Semnan. The Eiruzkuh way w
About this item
- Content
This volume contains papers relating to the construction of the Trans-Persian Railway. It contains material relating to:
- The Persian Railway Syndicate’s attempt to enlist the aid of Rabbi Joseph Saul Kornfeld, the United States Envoy to Persia [Iran], and the British Foreign Office’s subsequent unfavourable attitude towards the Syndicate
- The Persian Railway Syndicate’s proposal to invite American companies for the construction of railways in Persia
- The concessions for the Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]-Khanakin [Khanaqin] and Khanakin-Tehran railways
- The proposed railway from Khanakin to Tehran and the estimated cost for the three principal divisions of the railway
- The restrictions of the British Government on the Persian Railway Syndicate’s grant of a loan to the Persian Government
- The possibility of a ‘fusion of interests’ between the Persian Railway Syndicate and the Stronach Dutton System of Road Rails Limited
- The possible extension of the American Chester Group’s railway concession from Turkey into Persia
- The plans of the Prime Minister of Persia [Rezā Khān Sardār Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Sepah] for a railway line extending from Ahwaz [Ahvaz] to Khorramabad, Dizful [Dezful], and Sultanabad [Arak] to Tehran
- The endeavour of an American group to obtain a concession for a line from Mohammerah to Khorramabad and Tehran
- The expenditures of the Persian Railway Syndicate for the Khanakin-Tehran and the Mohamerah-Khoramabad surveys
- The possibility of forming a Railway Syndicate with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Standard Oil Company
- The Persian Government’s decision to carry out a survey of the Mohammerah-Tehran-Bandar-i Gez [Bandar-i Gaz] railway line with the assistance of a German engineer
- The Consortium industriel pour l’Orient’s proposal to build a railway connecting Meshed [Mashhad] to the Tripoli-Homs Line
- The preference of the British Army Council and the Air Council for an East-West rather than a North-South railway in Persia for strategic reasons
- The exploitation of coal and iron deposits in Mazanderan [Mazandaran] for the construction of railways in Persia, and the concerns of Russia about a Trans-Persian Railway connecting the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the Caspian Sea
- The Act of the Persian Majlis [Parliament] for the construction of the Persian Trunk Railway
- The Persian Majlis’s Passage of the Bill for Railway Survey and Construction
- The Persian Majlis’s passage of the Railway Construction Bill, from Mohammerah and Bandar-i Gez to Tehran
- The Persian Majlis’s passage of a law for constructing a railway between Khor Musa-Mohammerah-Bandar-i Gez;
- The Persian Majlis’s authorisation of the Minister of Public Work to employ foreign experts for the construction of the Railway;
- The inauguration of the Bandar-i Gaz-Tehran-Ahwaz Railway in the presence of the Shah of Persia [Rezā Shāh Pahlavi]
- The British concerns and preference for a British rather than an American firm to build the Southern Section of the Railway
- The passage of the Railway Survey Law by the Persian Majlis and the contract between the Persian Government and the American company Ulen, and two German companies, Philipp Holzmann and Julius Berger-Siemens Union [sic., Siemens Bauunion] to carry out a complete survey of the Railway
- The contract between the Persian Government, represented by Minister of Public Works [General Ḥabib Allāh Khān Shaybānī], and the Persian Railway Syndicate, represented by MD Carrel and MNS Mavrogordato
- The contracts between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate for the constructions of ports at Bandar-i Qays and Khor Musa (Bandar-i Shahpur) and a dam over the Karun River at Ahwaz
- The plans for building the line from Bandar Shapur north of Ahwaz, and revival of the line from Hamadan to Tehran
- The construction of the railway lines from Bandar Shah and Khor Musa, the diversion of German resources to the construction of electrical and cement works, and the postponement of building a port at Khor Musa
- The reservations of the British Minister in Persia [Robert Henry Clive] about the construction of the Railway as opposed to motor roads in Persia, and the subsidisation of the enterprise through the tea and sugar monopolies
- The increase in the cost of the Southern Section of the Railway and predicted opposition of the Persian Government
- The visit by the Shah of Persia to the Southern Section of the Railway, his unfavourable impression of the state of the railway, and the American Minister in Persia’s advice to Ulen and Company to stop working on the railway in case of difficulties with the Persian Government
- The cancellation of the contract between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate over delayed payments, and the agreement between the German and Ulen groups within the Syndicate to work on the Northern and Southern sections of the Trans-Persian Railway respectively
- The Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s concerns about the Railway providing greater access and mobility to the Russians
- The dispute between the Persian Government and the German-American syndicate for the construction of the Railway
- The negotiations between the Persian Government and the German companies Julius Berger Konsortium, Philipp Holzmann, and Siemens Bauunion for the construction of the Northern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway
- The possible takeover by the Batignolles Construction Company of the building of the Southern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway from the American and British companies Ulen and Company and Stewart and McDonnell
- The Persian Government’s appointment of Suzuki Hajime from the Japanese Railway Department’s Engineering Bureau
- The breakdown of negotiations between the Batignolles Construction Company and the Government of Persia, and the latter’s decision to proceed with the construction of the remaining sections of the railway
- The proposals of the Batignolles Construction Company to the Government of Persia in the absence of a contract
- The extension of the Southern Section of the Railway from Khor Musa to Dizful, Hamadan and Kazvin [Qazvin], and the Northern Section from Tehran to Sari and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
The volume also includes the following sketch maps:
- A sketch map of the Trans-Persian Railway, from Khor Musa to Sari and the coast of the Caspian Sea, showing the ‘Line Completed’, ‘Line Surveyed’, and ‘Division between the Northern and Southern Sections’ (f 14)
- A sketch map of the Northern Section of the Railway, showing the routes to Pahlavi, Semnan, and Balfurush [Barfurush], with a second map of the Southern Section, showing alternative routes and termini, running either from Mohammerah or Khor Musa to Dizful and Hamadan (f 156)
- A sketch map showing the existing and projected railways in Persia (f 204).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (573 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 357 (Persia: Railways) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/793-794. The volumes are divided into two parts, with each part comprising one volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 573; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/794
- Title
- File 357/1919 Pt 2 ‘RAILWAYS IN PERSIA’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:13v, 15r:18v, 19v:23v, 24v:31v, 35v:38v, 39v:42v, 45v:48v, 56v:57v, 58v:62v, 64r:98v, 99v:106v, 110r:117v, 118v:122v, 123v, 125r:126v, 128r:148v, 150v:155v, 157r:163v, 165r:169v, 171r:173v, 175r:181v, 182v:188v, 190r:203v, 205r:206v, 208r:226r, 227v:266v, 268r:489v, 490v, 494v, 498v, 502v, 507v:523v, 524v:526v, 534v:544v, 545v:546v, 547v, 548v:552v, 553v:555v, 557v:572v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence