IOR/L/PS/10/794

This volume contains papers relating to the construction of the Trans-Persian Railway. It contains material relating to:

• The Persian Railway Syndicate’s attempt to enlist the aid of Rabbi Joseph Saul Kornfeld, the United States Envoy to Persia [Iran], and the British Foreign Office’s subsequent unfavourable attitude towards the Syndicate
• The Persian Railway Syndicate’s proposal to invite American companies for the construction of railways in Persia
• The concessions for the Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]-Khanakin [Khanaqin] and Khanakin-Tehran railways
• The proposed railway from Khanakin to Tehran and the estimated cost for the three principal divisions of the railway
• The restrictions of the British Government on the Persian Railway Syndicate’s grant of a loan to the Persian Government
• The possibility of a ‘fusion of interests’ between the Persian Railway Syndicate and the Stronach Dutton System of Road Rails Limited
• The possible extension of the American Chester Group’s railway concession from Turkey into Persia
• The plans of the Prime Minister of Persia [Rezā Khān Sardār Sepah] for a railway line extending from Ahwaz [Ahvaz] to Khorramabad, Dizful [Dezful], and Sultanabad [Arak] to Tehran
• The endeavour of an American group to obtain a concession for a line from Mohammerah to Khorramabad and Tehran
• The expenditures of the Persian Railway Syndicate for the Khanakin-Tehran and the Mohamerah-Khoramabad surveys
• The possibility of forming a Railway Syndicate with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Standard Oil Company
• The Persian Government’s decision to carry out a survey of the Mohammerah-Tehran-Bandar-i Gez [Bandar-i Gaz] railway line with the assistance of a German engineer
• The Consortium industriel pour l’Orient’s proposal to build a railway connecting Meshed [Mashhad] to the Tripoli-Homs Line
• The preference of the British Army Council and the Air Council for an East-West rather than a North-South railway in Persia for strategic reasons
• The exploitation of coal and iron deposits in Mazanderan [Mazandaran] for the construction of railways in Persia, and the concerns of Russia about a Trans-Persian Railway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea
• The Act of the Persian Majlis [Parliament] for the construction of the Persian Trunk Railway
• The Persian Majlis’s Passage of the Bill for Railway Survey and Construction
• The Persian Majlis’s passage of the Railway Construction Bill, from Mohammerah and Bandar-i Gez to Tehran
• The Persian Majlis’s passage of a law for constructing a railway between Khor Musa-Mohammerah-Bandar-i Gez;
• The Persian Majlis’s authorisation of the Minister of Public Work to employ foreign experts for the construction of the Railway;
• The inauguration of the Bandar-i Gaz-Tehran-Ahwaz Railway in the presence of the Shah of Persia [Rezā Shāh Pahlavi]
• The British concerns and preference for a British rather than an American firm to build the Southern Section of the Railway
• The passage of the Railway Survey Law by the Persian Majlis and the contract between the Persian Government and the American company Ulen, and two German companies, Philipp Holzmann and Julius Berger-Siemens Union [sic., Siemens Bauunion] to carry out a complete survey of the Railway
• The contract between the Persian Government, represented by Minister of Public Works [General Ḥabib Allāh Khān Shaybānī], and the Persian Railway Syndicate, represented by MD Carrel and MNS Mavrogordato
• The contracts between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate for the constructions of ports at Bandar-i Qays and Khor Musa (Bandar-i Shahpur) and a dam over the Karun River at Ahwaz
• The plans for building the line from Bandar Shapur north of Ahwaz, and revival of the line from Hamadan to Tehran
• The construction of the railway lines from Bandar Shah and Khor Musa, the diversion of German resources to the construction of electrical and cement works, and the postponement of building a port at Khor Musa
• The reservations of the British Minister in Persia [Robert Henry Clive] about the construction of the Railway as opposed to motor roads in Persia, and the subsidisation of the enterprise through the tea and sugar monopolies
• The increase in the cost of the Southern Section of the Railway and predicted opposition of the Persian Government
• The visit by the Shah of Persia to the Southern Section of the Railway, his unfavourable impression of the state of the railway, and the American Minister in Persia’s advice to Ulen and Company to stop working on the railway in case of difficulties with the Persian Government
• The cancellation of the contract between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate over delayed payments, and the agreement between the German and Ulen groups within the Syndicate to work on the Northern and Southern sections of the Trans-Persian Railway respectively
• The Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s concerns about the Railway providing greater access and mobility to the Russians
• The dispute between the Persian Government and the German-American syndicate for the construction of the Railway
• The negotiations between the Persian Government and the German companies Julius Berger Konsortium, Philipp Holzmann, and Siemens Bauunion for the construction of the Northern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway
• The possible takeover by the Batignolles Construction Company of the building of the Southern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway from the American and British companies Ulen and Company and Stewart and McDonnell
• The Persian Government’s appointment of Suzuki Hajime from the Japanese Railway Department’s Engineering Bureau
• The breakdown of negotiations between the Batignolles Construction Company and the Government of Persia, and the latter’s decision to proceed with the construction of the remaining sections of the railway
• The proposals of the Batignolles Construction Company to the Government of Persia in the absence of a contract
• The extension of the Southern Section of the Railway from Khor Musa to Dizful, Hamadan and Kazvin [Qazvin], and the Northern Section from Tehran to Sari and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.

The volume also includes the following sketch maps:

• A sketch map of the Trans-Persian Railway, from Khor Musa to Sari and the coast of the Caspian Sea, showing the ‘Line Completed’, ‘Line Surveyed’, and ‘Division between the Northern and Southern Sections’ (f 14)
• A sketch map of the Northern Section of the Railway, showing the routes to Pahlavi, Semnan, and Balfurush [Barfurush], with a second map of the Southern Section, showing alternative routes and termini, running either from Mohammerah or Khor Musa to Dizful and Hamadan (f 156)
• A sketch map showing the existing and projected railways in Persia (f 204).