File 1569/1913 'Trans-Persian Railway' [‎248r] (506/594)

II.— Location of break of gauge.
In the first report submitted on the 8th February 1911 by this Committee,
we expressed the opinion that, from the point of view of the security of India*
the gauge of the line passing through British territory and the British zone in
Persia should be different from that of the line passing through the Russian
zone, and recommended Bandar Abbas as the most suitable place at which
this break of gauge should take place.
The Government of India have since received a letter from the Karachi
Chamber of Commerce in which they protest against this proposal, and urge,
on commercial grounds, that the break of gauge should not be allowed to occur
at any point south of the Russian sphere of influence.
The views of the Committee have been invited on this letter as also on the
question of the gauge to be adopted on the southern section of the line from
the point where the break of gauge occurs.
In reviewing the reasons which led to our former recommendation, we
have come to the conclusion that the military importance of having the break
of gauge on or near the coast line is not so great as we were at first led to
believe; neither do we feel sanguine that it would be possible to insist, as one of
the conditions of the building of the througli Persian Railway, that the break
of gauge station should be in a locality which could be seized and fortified by
our troops, though this, if possible, would be desirable. This being so, we are
of opinion that the site of the break of gauge should be situated as far from
India as possible. Our reason for advancing this view is that it will add as
great a mileage as is possible to the length of line of which the enemy must
convert the gauge to his own, and on which he must provide an adequate
supply of rolling stock before he can make full use of it.
This reason assumes that, to prevent a sudden seizure by the enemy of a ?
large amount of rolling stock, it should be clearly stipulated that the line
should be so worked that only such stock as was required for daily use would
be retained at the break of gauge station at any time.
We consider, therefore, that the site for the break of gauge should be
situated as far as possible inside Persia, sbe., not nearer than in the middle of
the neutral sphere.
III. —The gauge of the Southern Section.
We will now consider the question as to what is the most suitable gauge
for the southern section of the line.
In the first place, we may, perhaps, assume that Russia will press
for the adoption of her 5'-0" gauge throughout the whole route from
Baku to Karachi, as this would be of great commercial and strategic advantage
to her both in the peaceful introduction of her products and by enabling the
rolling stock and plant of all existing railways of Russia to be used on this
line.
It is clear, therefore, that, from a British military point of view, a break
of gauge is essentially necessary, and, to render the conyersipn of the line as
difficult as possible for an enemy in the event of war, it is important that our
gauge should be the narrowest permissible.
Turning now to the financial aspect of the question, we find that the
constructioif of the broad gauge line could not be justified on any estimate of
the probable traffic offering, and there is every reason for urging that the cost
should be kept as low as possible provided the line is capable of carrying the
traffic that it will have to deal with.
Military and financial reasons, therefore, unite in pointing to the southern
section of the line being constructed for as long a length as possible on a
narrow gauge.
The gau^e that we consider the most suitable on all grounds is the metre,
S'-S 3 -" gau^e? The adoption of this gauge, of which several thousand miles
have already been constructed in India, and which has been carried to within