Sharing the Burden

Hesse Province's railways were divided into two parts: the northern section of the Central Railway and the central-western section of the Northern Railway. The latter had always been a project personally overseen by Prince Karl.

Now that the Ministry of Railways had given definite word that construction on the central-western section of the Northern Railway could begin, Prince Karl was naturally the most excited. After all, this railway concerned the development of the Sigmaringen Royal Territory.

So early that morning, Prince Karl hurried over to Constantin to ask about the details. As for Ernst, he was still in Europe and naturally could offer no experience on the matter.

"Brother, once this railway starts construction, how long do you expect it to take?" Prince Karl asked bluntly.

Constantin said, "Based on past experience, if we go all out, it could be completed in two or three years. But this railway is vastly different from those East Africa built before. The scale of the project is enormous, and so many other projects need workers right now. So I can't give you an exact answer. The Ministry of Railways has estimated four or five years."

"Four or five years? Isn't that too long?"

"The Ministry of Railways said the engineering issues are manageable. The main problem is that the railway must undergo extensive testing before it opens. The areas it passes through are highly dangerous, with the constant risk of floods, mudslides, and landslides. Before the railway begins operating, they need to eliminate those safety hazards, which means altering some sections of the route, perhaps even making major revisions."

Building railways in the tropics, especially through tropical rainforests, was simply that troublesome. East Africa's conditions were already relatively favorable. In places like the Amazon rainforest, railways could not be built at all; traveling