'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎618] (687/714)

618
PERSIA
The cost of tickets for the single journey is two krans, one kran
and one half-A-raw, according to the class, and the receipts, which
on festival days in summer have risen as high as from 200 to 500
tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (3^ tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. equal 1Z.), sink on ordinary days in summer
to from ten to thirty tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , and in winter as low as from three
to five tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , and even less, in the day. The company pos
sesses four locomotives and twenty-one wagons, and employs five
European officials and sixty Persian workmen. The engines are
entirely driven by the latter. It is to be hoped that this company,
which must be applauded for its enterprise and for the excellent
character of its establishment, may ultimately procure a concession
for an extension southwards, or be able to part with its plant and
premises on favourable terms to some other company more lucky
in its fortunes. 1 In any case the ' Gare du Sud ' is ready built at
Teheran, from which passengers in the twentieth century may be
able to book their seats for the Gulf.
Anxious to recoup itself for the losses thus incurred, the same
company in 1889 bought a tramway concession from the same
Teheran
M. Boital, the lines of which, extending at present for a
tramway distance of about five miles through the streets of the
capital, were opened to traffic during my stay in Teheran. The
company already possessed 12 tramcars, and had ordered 36 more;
a stable of 150 horses, mainly from Kussia; and a staff of 40 work
men. Unfortunately, the line had been badly laid, transverse
sleepers being employed, and the rails projecting considerably
instead of being laid flush with the street. It was contemplated
later on to continue the existing lines through the city to the
north, and possibly to extend them towards the mountain suburb
of Gulahek. 1 have since heard that the Teheran tramway service,
at which the Persians looked somewhat askance in its early days,
has proved a great success, and that it has been continued towards
the northern outskirts of the capital.
In the spring of last year, 1891, this company, which
now calls itself the ' Societe des Chemins-de-fer et Tramways de
New lines ^ erse ? an( l is understood to be financed from Moscow,
has procured permission from the Shah to extend the
fehah Abdul Azim line in a south-easterly direction towards some
quarries of gypsum, limestone, slate, marble, and building stone,
A concession for the extension to Kutn was actually granted in 1888, but
had no results.
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