Coll 28/12 ’Persia; Railways; Trans-Persian Railway’ [‎40r] (79/143)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OP HIS BRITANNIC MAJEST^S ^JHSfttJJ^ENT ’
PERSIA.
I Q ^ 4
AprU. 14-, ■
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 2.
[E 2242/698/34] No. 1.
Sir R. TIoare to Sir John Simon.—(Received April 11.)
(No. 134.)
Sir, Tehran, March 21, 1934.
WITH reference to my despatch No . 17 of the 12th January, respecting the
Trans-Persian Railway, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a
memorandum by Mr. Gray showing the progress made in the allocation of
sub-contracts by the Kampsax Consortium at beginning the Persian year 1313,
which begins to-day.
2. The only foreign firms who have shown much interest in these
sub-contracts have been Italian, but, as Mr. Gray explains, the number of miles
for which the Italian firms have secured contracts is not very large. A list
of firms who tendered for some recent railway contracts was contained in
Mr. Simmonds’s despatch No. O.T. (B) 19 of the 19th February, and illustrates
the cosmopolitan character of the interests centring around the construction
of the railway. Some firms, for instance Julius Berger, regularly submit
tenders, but decline to accept the conditions of the standard contract offered
by the consortium on behalf of the Persian Government (see Mr. Simmonds’s
despatch No. O.T. (B) 138 of the 14th July, 1933). One British firm,
Sir Lindsay Parkinson and Co., has shown an intermittent interest in the
subject, but they are not represented locally and have not so far obtained any
contracts. An Italian subject, whose name, I think, is Baducci, arrived in
Tehran in February as the representative of a Belgian railway constructional
firm, and will presumably submit tenders on behalf of his firm in connexion with
any lots which may be adjudicated in the near future.
3. Mr. Gray’s memorandum also deals with the alignment of the railway
between Burujird and Tehran, which has been changed several times.
4. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Department of Overseas
Trade (No. O.T. (B) 45), to the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India,
and to His Majesty’s consul at Ahwez (No. 27).
I have, &c.
R. H. HOARE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Railway Construction.
I WENT and saw Christensen, secretary to Kampsax, recently, to try and
obtain up-to-date news as to the position. I have also seen Hocklin, one of the
non-Kampsax Swedes employed in the Railway Department. Christensen kindly
gave me a recent map, dated the 26th December, 1933, showing the whole
alignment from Bander Shah to Bander Shahpur. Both the northern and
southern sections show changes since details were last furnished.
2. The distance from Bander Shah to Tehran is now shown as being
487 kilom. instead of 458, but the real distance is, nevertheless, still
about 460 kilom. This is because the kilometrage has been taken from the
previous measurements by the German consortium; the Germans, however, were
working on a maximum gradient of 20 per 1,000, whereas Kampsax are working
on a maximum of 28 per 1,000. Hence, the alignment has been shortened
by 27 kilom.; but, for convenience, the kilometrage over large sections has been
left unaltered, at any rate for the present, the missing 27 kilom. being cut out
at kilometre 261, where the stone has 261 on one side and 288 on the other. On
the map of the 26th December, 1933, however, the missing kilometres are shown
as cut out between kilometres 249 and 276, that is, between lots 11 and 12
[90 1—2]