The Development History of Sun Ning Railway

In the 30th year of Guangxu (1904), Chen, who had been engaged in railway work in the United States for more than 40 years, returned to China. In order to prosper the economy of his hometown and solve the employment problem of local people, he put forward a plan to build the Sunning Railway. With the strong support of hometown people and overseas Chinese, Sun Ning Railway Preparation Office was established in June of that year, with general manager Chen Ren and assistant manager Yu Zhuo, and the articles of association of Sun Ning Railway Co., Ltd. were negotiated, and the principle of "no foreign shares, no foreign loans and no foreign workers" was put forward, and the project was run by the people of the county. In September, Chen went to Hong Kong for the first time to collect stocks. In February the following year, he went to San Francisco and Seattle at his own expense; Vancouver, Canada and other places carried out animal husbandry propaganda, and he put forward the slogan of "encouraging public welfare and revitalizing road rights". This call has greatly aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of overseas Chinese and won the support of local organizations. By the time I returned to China in August, I had raised 6.5438+500,000 silver dollars. In addition, Yu Zhuo and others also raised hundreds of thousands of silver dollars in Xinning and other provinces, Hong Kong and Nanyang. By the end of the year, a total of 2,758,465,438+02 silver dollars had been raised, more than four times. At that time, Chinese newspapers in various provinces, Hong Kong and the United States praised the gentry and businessmen in Xinning for "being able to get along with others, seeking public welfare and saving the rights and interests of a city."

1March, 905, Yu Zhuohui and others reported the railway preparation to Chen Yi, the magistrate of Xinning County, and asked him to file a case with the Ministry of Commerce. However, Chen Yi wanted to take the railway as his own, and drew up a charter for Cen Chunxuan, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, which was not approved because it was too simple. Four months later, Yueshang Diaoyu drafted Article 22 of the Detailed Articles of Association of Ningyang Railway Co., Ltd., which was first filed with the Ministry of Commerce. In order to seek countermeasures, Chen went to Hong Kong again. I happened to meet Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi sent Wang from the Ministry of Commerce to Hong Kong to inspect the business and asked for his support.

In October of the 30th year of Guangxu, sunning railway Company was formally established with Chen as the prime minister and chief engineer and Yu Zhuo as the deputy prime minister. And draft the articles of association. It is stipulated that foreign stocks are not accepted, foreign funds are not borrowed, foreigners are not employed, and stocks and shares are not allowed to be resold or mortgaged to foreigners; In case of dispute, foreigners shall not be invited to intervene. In case of violation, the shares will be deducted and cancelled and sent to the official investigation. Subsequently, Chen filed a case against Cen Chunxuan with the Ministry of Commerce in 2005. However, Cen Chunxuan was not approved, on the grounds that "roads can only be built if the pastoral tombs are barrier-free". Chen had to go to Beijing to ask the Ministry of Commerce for help. When he passed by Shanghai, he learned that business deployment You Cheng and Wang were here and immediately asked for an introduction. At that time, China people in the United States also got the Qing ambassador to the United States to call the Ministry of Commerce, urging Chen to "do it, and should instruct him to do it specially and not listen to obstruction", which was only played by the Ministry of Commerce to the Qing court.

In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), on the 21st day of the first month, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu gave instructions for the last performance: "I respect this." Sunning railway was allowed to file a case first. In order to successfully complete the project, the Qing court gave Chen Yi a sword, and those who violate the construction can go first. On the second day of April, the Ministry of Commerce approved the "Regulations of Suning Railway", in which the route was changed according to Chen, and the trunk line was Xinchang via the Ministry of Water to Doosan; Branch line from water to public welfare. Phase I project: Doosan becomes public welfare.

On May 1 May1day of 906, the locomotive on the turntable of  Jiangdou Shanwei Railway rotated 180 degrees, and the official construction of Suning Railway was announced. According to the original plan, the first phase of the project was from Doushan to Xinchang (now Kaiping). However, since Xinchang to the Ministry of Water Resources are mostly Zhen Shi industries in Xinchang, the villagers surnamed Zhen thought that "the front of the track will hinder the tomb of the water conservancy shrine, which has a good future for the county, so please move it." In an attempt to extort a huge amount of compensation, the railway company refused to give in, shelved this section of the project and changed the terminal to a public welfare nature. Other villagers thought that the passage of the railway would be detrimental to Long Mai, but they demanded that the railway bypass. What's more, I don't think the grain will grow when the train passes. Without the support of the county government, they had to make concessions, resulting in as many as 39 unnecessary bends, which increased the project cost and affected traffic safety.

Relying on local technology and labor force, after three years of construction, the railway with a total length of 59.3 kilometers was completed on March 2 1, 1909, and the public welfare machinery factory was also completed and put into operation. The total cost is 2.59 million silver dollars. After the completion, in the second year of Xuantong (19 10), the Qing court appointed Hu Chaodong, inspector of the Ministry of Commerce, to inspect the railway. The inspection report pointed out that "the railway station is perfectly decorated, clean and tidy, and the water tower, garage and other equipment are ideal, especially the coal bunker construction and the train loading and unloading methods are advanced, and no manpower is needed; Culverts, pipes and bridges are also well erected. " After the railway was opened to traffic, it caused strong repercussions overseas. The Seattle Sunday Times published a full-page poster titled "Chen and james hill in China". In the explanation, FrankCarpenter said, "An epoch-making railway is being built in the southwest of Guangzhou. It makes use of the capital of China people and the labor and wisdom of China people. This is sunning railway. " Therefore, the Qing court hired Chen as the fourth-level consultant of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, and was honored as a senior minister. His rank was promoted from third class to second class, and Chen gained the highest political and social status in the national railway industry at that time.

Phase II Project: Gongyizhi North Street

When the first phase of the project started, the railway company began to plan the second phase of the project, and planned to extend the railway to Xinhui, Heshan, Nanhai and other places to connect with the railways in Foshan, and changed its name to Ningfo Railway Company. However, the plan was resolutely opposed by the Guangdong-Han Railway Company and was not supported by the Qing court, so it had to find another way. 1908On February 9, 2009/kloc-0, Sun Yat-sen came to Niuwan, Xinhui to meet Chen, who expressed his support for Sun Yat-sen's anti-Qing revolution. On March 8, 1908, Chen and Yu Zhuo wrote to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce again, asking for permission to build the railway to Xinhui, and insisting that the railway must be connected to Foshan in the future. However, this plan not only continued to be opposed by the Guangdong-Han Railway Company, but also resisted by some squires in Xinhui and Kaiping. Therefore, the Ministry of Posts and Communications only approved the railway company to build a section of public welfare to Xinhui section, and the company immediately carried out line survey.

The railway company built this road to connect Jiangmen, a traffic town where rivers and seas meet. According to the original plan, the railway will cross the Tanjiang River from Gongyi to Kaiping Shuikou and cross the Shibu River into Xinhui. When Chen was surveying the route in Hecun market, he was stopped by Hecun squires Tang and Tan Yaguan, who thought that the train passing through Hecun market would bring disaster to the villagers. The railway company had to change the railway route, from Maixiang in the east to Niuwan, to Tanjiang, and then to Huicheng in the north via Si Qian. Results The project has been dragged to19101021. In order to make the train cross the Tanjiang River, Chen customized an iron boat with a length of105.57m from Hongkong, laying three tracks, which can carry five trains at a time, making it the first railway in China to use train ferry. 19 10 In June, the subgrade of Gongyi-Huicheng section was about to be completed, and Chen wrote to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications again to apply for building a case to North Street. Approved by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in July, construction started in June 19 12 1. In the third year of Xuantong, on September 1 day (19 1 1), the section from commonweal to Huicheng was completed and opened to traffic. However, the section from Huicheng to Beijie was not completed and opened to traffic until the sixth day of March in the second year of the Republic of China (19 13). As the actual IPO in the second phase of the project is only 562 370 yuan, the funds can't make ends meet, and the loan debt is as high as 65,438+003,565,438+044.8 yuan, so the company is heavily in debt.

Phase III Project: Taicheng to Baisha

After two years of operation, the railway company gradually paid off the debt of Gongyi to North Street. 19 15, 15 February, the Taicheng-Yangjiang Railway was drawn up, the prospectus was drawn up, and advertisements were published in domestic and foreign newspapers. On June 5438+0917 65438+10 15, the railway company formally filed a case with the Ministry of Communications to repair the Taicheng-Baisha section first. After the approval of the Ministry of Communications, the estimated capital is 709,000 yuan. In view of the difficulties of overseas IPO, Chen adopted two ways to conduct IPO. One is to convert the land occupied along the railway into the current land price; The second is to mobilize the township residents along the line to collect shares according to their surnames. We raised 500,000 yuan in a short time. Although the stock assembly method has solved the problem of financial difficulties, it has stimulated the contradiction between the clans in each village. On behalf of Chaoshan Huang, he wrote to the Ministry of Communications, claiming that Chen signed a contract with Baishama for personal gain, canceled the original route through Chaoshan and went directly to Baisha via Sanhe. After many mediations and repeated consultations,1965438+In March 2009, the two sides agreed to build a four-kilometer branch line from the Yangtze River Station to the intertidal zone, but later they had to give it up because of insufficient funds.

On March 20th, 1920, the third phase of the project with a total length of 28.6 kilometers was completed. The railway board cast a bronze statue of Chen and stood beside Ningcheng Station. On May 12, the entire line of Suning Railway was opened to traffic, with a total share capital of 3,658,595 silver dollars and 30,654 mu of land, with a total length of 133 km, 47 stations, 265,438 bridges and 236 culverts. In addition, projects such as commonweal, North Street Wharf, commonweal machinery factory and Niuwan Ferry have been built. According to the statistics of 19 18 Suning Railway Industrial Appraisal Statistics, the real estate value of the whole line is 3,859,808.54 yuan; The value of movable property is 65,438+05,952.07 yuan, and the total value is 50,438+0 yuan 50080.000 100000005. When the entire line of Suning Railway is completed, its value is about 8 million yuan.

The train on the ferry

The railway company built this road to connect Jiangmen, a traffic town where rivers and seas meet. According to the original plan, the railway will cross the Tanjiang River from Gongyi to Kaiping Shuikou and cross the Shibu River into Xinhui. When Chen was surveying the route in Hecun market, he was stopped by Hecun squires Tang and Tan Yaguan, who thought that the train passing through Hecun market would bring disaster to the villagers. The railway company had to change the railway route, from Maixiang in the east to Niuwan, to Tanjiang, and then to Huicheng in the north via Si Qian. Results The project has been dragged to19101021. In order to make the train cross the Tanjiang River, Chen customized an iron boat with a length of105.57m from Hongkong, laying three tracks, which can carry five trains at a time, making it the first railway in China to use train ferry. 19 10 In June, the subgrade of Gongyi-Huicheng section was about to be completed, and Chen wrote to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications again to apply for building a case to North Street. Approved by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in July, construction started in June 19 12 1. In the third year of Xuantong, on September 1 day (19 1 1), the section from commonweal to Huicheng was completed and opened to traffic. However, the section from Huicheng to Beijie was not completed and opened to traffic until the sixth day of March in the second year of the Republic of China (19 13). As the actual IPO in the second phase of the project is only 562 370 yuan, the funds can't make ends meet, and the loan debt is as high as 65,438+003,565,438+044.8 yuan, so the company is heavily in debt. Suning Railway started operation on 1909. The main income comes from passenger transport. There are eight long-distance trains and four short-distance trains every day. Each train has six or seven carriages, mixed with passengers and goods. Passenger seats are divided into first class, second class and third class. However, the passenger traffic is not large, the utilization rate is low, and the management cost is high, so the railway company's finance is very difficult. All locomotives, equipment, fuel and other things needed by the railway are supplied by the western market. Railway companies often suffer huge losses due to excessive dependence on western markets. 19 14 10 "The train stopped for two stops." During the period from 19 16 to 19 18, due to the increase in international coal prices, the coal cost paid by the company was more than three times higher than originally expected.

The extortion of sunning railway Company by local warlords made its financial situation worse. It turned out that the railway company lent 6.5438+0.2 million yuan to support Sun Yat-sen's protector military government, and the loan was deducted according to the way of charging 20% of the fare. At that time, Sun Yat-sen strictly forbade the army to ride in the overlord car. However, warlords, large and small, ignored Sun Yat-sen's decrees, which led to intensified extortion. 1925, Xu Chongzhi, commander-in-chief of the Guangdong army "borrowed" 1 10,000 yuan from the railway company every month; The first army stationed in Jiangmen received 5,000 to 7,000 yuan, which made the railway company unable to make ends meet and was heavily in debt. By 1926, the accumulated arrears of the company reached1400,000.

Due to the poor management of Suning Railway Company, there was a strike, and the debtor demanded to pay his debts in advance. 1926165438+1October1day, the Guangdong provincial government sent three officials, Chen Yanlang, Zhong Qixiang and Liu Juke, together with two directors elected by the company, to form the Suning Railway Reorganization Committee to take over all railway rights in the sixth phase. This matter immediately aroused the opposition of shareholders, and called the Guangdong provincial government to ask for it back. However, the government ignored public opinion and still sent people to take over the road administration. Shareholders object to Chen Yanlian and others taking over the power and only agree to them as consultants. Chen even refused to hand over the power of the prime minister. On February 2 1 and 1927, Chen Yanlian sent a company to garrison headquarters, Jiangmen to forcibly take over the railway company, forcing the company to pay 3,000 yuan per month as a reward. On April 20, Chen was forced to return to his hometown to escape from life and died two years later.

The Guangdong provincial government originally decided to hand over the power after the reorganization Committee managed the railway for half a year, but the reorganization Committee tried every means to delay the reorganization period for two years. 1927 After Jiang Zhongzheng purged the Communist Party of China, Chen Yanlian and others also began to purge, sent troops and road police, sealed up the railway workers' union with the background of the Communist Party of China, and fired more than 100 workers within a few months on charges of "poor work on weekdays and sexual negligence". The number of railway employees has decreased from 1.600 to 1.302, and the per capita monthly salary has decreased from 30.5 yuan to 22 yuan, while the salaries of Chen Yanlian and others have increased substantially. Under the constant opposition of employees and shareholders of the company, the act of enriching oneself in the reorganization Committee was forced to agree to hold the shareholders' meeting in June of 1 1. 1929 1 month, the National Committee ended and Suning Railway resumed as a commercial office.

After sunning railway was restored as a commercial office, the new management immediately carried out a series of reforms. 1929, reconstruction of Ningcheng and Beijie stations. 1930 in order to meet the needs of passengers, the company added trains from Beijie to Huicheng on May 1927, and added trains from Ningcheng to Gongyi and Ningcheng to Baisha. "The income of passengers is more than 120 yuan, while the consumption of gasoline is only about 10 yuan." From June 1932 to June 1933, the passenger traffic of Suning Railway was 3,039,327, and the freight volume128,704 tons. From 1929 to 1932, the company's average annual profit reached 200,000-400,000.

Due to the great depression of the world economy, highways have gradually developed, and the fierce competition between cars and trains has led to a sharp decline in railway passenger and freight volume. After 1933, the company turned losses into profits. Due to the company's financial difficulties, some construction projects have to be stopped, the largest of which is the public welfare railway bridge. 193 1 year loan of 27 1 10,000, which was built by American mark town company. It was originally planned to be completed within two years, but it was stopped after only two docks were built. In an attempt to tide over the difficulties through salary reduction and layoffs, 1933 fired 28 people, and all the rest announced salary reductions. The following year, more than 200 people were fired. By 1935, there were only 959 railway employees, but the income was still declining, and Suning Railway Company was facing the crisis of bankruptcy. Remarks on the location of Station No.1 1 Ningcheng Station 0 km Taishan Town -2 Jinkeng Station 4.006 km Taishan Town Jinkeng -3 Shuinan Station 7. 177 km Taishan Town Shuinan Market -4 Guanbu Station 10.468 km Taishan Town Paobu Township Guanbuli -5 Sanhe Station13. 86km Taishan sanhe town sanhe city Chang -6 Lidong Station 65433 Station 2 1.904 km Taishan Baisha Town Langbei Township Dongxinkeng -9 Changjiang Station 23.77 km Taishan Baisha Town Changjiang Market-10 Tiankeng Station 26.347 km Taishan Baisha Town Gongbian Township Tiankeng-1Baisha Station 28.