Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 306: The Dispute over Motorcycle Routes and Capital

In Ren Zhong's plan, there was naturally no place for steam locomotives.

Steam locomotives, which are basically extinct in the main world, have limited future prospects from a technical point of view. After all, the upper limit of steam locomotives is too low. Even on the current railways in the world of Bright Sword, almost all of the locomotives running on them are steam locomotives emitting white gas and spewing black smoke.

According to statistics, there are 4069 running locomotives in the country, with as many as 198 locomotive models. It can be called an international locomotive museum!

Such a large and complex range of locomotive models is a nightmare for maintenance and operation.

Therefore, according to Ren Zhong's plan, a new diesel locomotive will be developed to gradually replace these backward steam locomotives.

Unexpectedly, due to the rapid development of railways, the diesel locomotive plan originally planned to be completed in three years could not keep up with the speed of railway development. After the railways were built, many places still had to wait for the arrangement of locomotives!
Under these conditions, some experts began to propose that the development of steam locomotives should first solve the problem of whether there are enough resources.

From their point of view, this idea is very logical. The current railway mileage has increased so much and so quickly, and it is difficult to import more locomotives, so it is logical to develop a steam locomotive ourselves. What's more, our country has already accumulated the technology to manufacture two types of steam locomotives, the new Jingfeng Railway locomotive and the "Dragon" locomotive.

Then we can select one of the world's main steam locomotives for rapid replication and directly use their technology to realize production in China. Basically, we can produce a batch of them within a year, and this can be achieved synchronously with the development of railways!
Now there is a lot of work to be done and various construction projects are in full swing. As the main force of bulk transportation, the railway capacity is quite tight. If there are more locomotives, there will be a lot of extra capacity, and there is no need to wait three years to use new locomotives.

Ren Zhong picked up the pile of newspapers brought by Staff Officer Ye and glanced through the articles with a serious expression.

"What are these people thinking? Whether it is development or introduction, the investment in making a locomotive is not a small amount. Do they have the ability to do it?" Ren Zhong had not paid much attention to this issue before. In his opinion, private capital should not randomly participate in such a technology-intensive and capital-intensive project.

Although there are no prohibitive policies regarding what projects private capital can research, the access to important equipment in special industries such as railways is presided over by the Liming Research Institute.

Why is he suddenly so enthusiastic about projects like railway locomotives? The production capacity of so many industries across the country is far from being met. Wouldn't it be better for him to invest in projects that have quick results and require little investment?
"Brother Ren, to be honest, we never expected this matter. The newspapers and media have suddenly become so noisy. Several powerful families in the country have joined together. They claim to have raised tens of millions of dollars in the hope of entering this industry." Staff Officer Ye shook his head, indicating that he really didn't understand what these people were thinking.

"I was used as a mouthpiece by someone to lobby. They are quite powerful and have already approached our superiors to lobby. Some of them are quite interested. After all, they said they are willing to invest their own money in research and have even chosen the locomotive models to copy, which are these two models, the Scotsman and Big Boy steam locomotives. They claim that the country will not need to spend a penny to complete the copying of these two steam locomotives, as long as they can get a railway access permit or a railway operating license."

Staff Officer Ye continued, "I know nothing about this, but they have people working on this matter, and there are a lot of public opinions in the newspapers, so it's hard to pretend not to see it. We all know that you are far-sighted, Brother Ren, and you are unwavering in your plans. But this problem is indeed a problem at the moment. Brother Ren, see if there is anything you can teach me."

Tens of millions of dollars? When Ren Zhong heard this, he felt that something was wrong. This matter didn't seem to be that simple.

Ren Zhong picked up the brief introduction of the two locomotives brought by Staff Officer Ye.

One of them is called the Flying Scotsman. The design of this locomotive started in 1922, and it was manufactured by Doncaster Railway Works and officially rolled off the assembly line on February 2 of the following year. The locomotive is an A24-class locomotive, 1 meters long, 21.6 meters high, weighing 4.0 tons, and running on a 97mm standard track. After many technical iterations, in 1435, the Flying Scotsman ran at a speed of 1934mph (about 100km/h, the speed of a quasi-high-speed railway) in a special test run. This was the first locomotive in the history of John Bull to reach this speed. It was also a very advanced model in the world at that time.

This is the best locomotive in the country now. If it can be successfully replicated, the railway will indeed have a relatively ideal steam locomotive head for passenger trains. At least in the speed range of 60 to 80 kilometers per hour, this steam locomotive head is still very suitable.

As for the second model, it is also quite impressive. It was designed in 1941 and produced by the Elk Locomotive Company (ALCO). It is a "4000" series 4-8-8-4 wheeled Marlett articulated bogie steam locomotive used by the Union Pacific Railway. The "Big Boy" has a power of 6000 horsepower, a traction train weight of 3600 tons, and a maximum speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. Of course, the economic operating speed is 60 kilometers per hour.

For the locomotive of heavy-duty trains, this steam locomotive seems to be enough at this stage. Compared with the various locomotives nowadays, this is already a very good locomotive. These private investors seem to have chosen a good start.

It can be seen that these civilians have also put a lot of thought into the selection of two steam locomotives that are considered practical and not too complicated in technology. One is for carrying passengers and the other is for transporting goods. They have arranged things very clearly. But Ren Zhong always feels that things are not that simple.

"This is a big deal. For railway development, our current decision will have to be made 20 to 30 years later. In principle, we should be cautious," Ren Zhong said after a moment of silence. "We need to have a plan and access for investment in this field. If all fields are opened up, it will easily lead to the loss of control of the industry. Railways are related to the national economy and people's livelihood. They should benefit the people and other industries. Pricing needs to be very cautious. It is difficult to make money. To be honest, private capital is not suitable for entering this field."

"I know that capital is profit-seeking and will rush in when it sees an opportunity to make money, but we do not advocate the entry of technology-intensive and capital-intensive fields such as railways into the market to disrupt the situation."

"The locomotive of a steam locomotive costs nearly 200 million (equivalent to the US dollars), and the cost of purchasing patents and building a locomotive factory is far from enough with only million."

“What’s more, they want to operate the railway, which will require even greater investment.

Railway construction is expensive. The government is now in charge of the construction. With almost free land, the government mobilizes the people to participate in the construction for free. It only pays for the material costs and the food money of the people's labor. The low-priced rail steel used is still allocated. The cost is now more than 6 yuan (equivalent to the ocean) per kilometer. If the land cost and labor cost are included, it will be at least 10 yuan per kilometer. If private capital wants to participate in railway operations, even a 200-kilometer branch line, the capital mobilized must be more than 2000 million. We do not have a perfect private stock system now. If a company has not proved that it can make a profit, it is not allowed to issue stocks for fundraising. How can these capitals continue to operate?"

Ren Zhong went on to say, "I suspect that behind the scenes, international capital has been active in these private capitals."

Staff Officer Ye's eyes narrowed, "Are they going to adopt the comprador model?"

"I'm afraid that's it." Ren nodded, "Perhaps these two steam locomotive companies want to open up our domestic market. After all, if we build 5000 kilometers of railway, according to the current ratio of railway mileage to railway locomotives, that's a scale of 1000 units. In addition to the elimination of the outdated locomotives in the early stage, at least a quarter of the old and faulty locomotives will be eliminated in the next five years, which is about another 1000 units."

"According to the current price of 200 million for a steam locomotive head, this is an 80 billion yuan market! I think this is what they are eyeing. What's more, there is also the post-production technical service market. The overall scale is no less than that of the locomotive head purchase. There is a market space of tens of billions. Money is attractive!"

"So that's how it is. I was wondering why this matter has caused so much public opinion all of a sudden, with expert analyses popping up in various newspapers. It seems like they are concerned about national development, but in fact, it's all business behind it?" Staff Officer Ye shuddered when he heard this.

"Capital is like this." Ren Zhong did not have too many feelings about this. He knew very well what capital was like, and continued.

“But no one will listen to reason. Let’s put it this way. We will provide them with a window. The railway department will be open to replacing the existing old steam locomotives. If they can gain benefits through replacement, then they can develop steam locomotives.

If they want to build a railway and participate in its operation, that’s fine. We can take out the local branch lines in the plan, clarify the land price, and let them bid for the construction.

However, the passenger and freight fares of railways are controlled by the government and are calculated annually by the Planning Department. No company is allowed to change these prices. If they are able to calculate the accounts within this framework, they should make their own decisions. Don’t say that they were not given the opportunity.”

"From a long-term perspective, the new locomotives for the railway must be diesel locomotives. We will not waver on this."

"Is that all?" Staff Officer Ye was still a little hesitant. After all, it was a long time before he could unravel the mystery. What was hidden behind private capital became clear.

"Of course, this time we can teach capital a good lesson." Ren Zhong walked around Staff Officer Ye, looked into the distance, and said slowly.

If capital doesn't obey, then give it a good beating!

First update, strongly requesting the guaranteed monthly ticket!
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(End of this chapter)