Russian Railway Progress.

Recent advices from Moscow tell of the complete reorganisation of the Russian railway system. The former thirteen departments in the so-called People's Commissariat for Transport have been superseded by eight new sections, political, operating, commercial, locomotive, rolling-stock, permanent-way, signalling, and new works respectively. The management has been decentralised with divisional control, and big cuts made in the headquarters staffs.

Independent eye-witnesses who have recently returned from Russia all pay tribute to the progress that is being made in main-line railway construction. At the moment work is being begun upon the building of a further 6,000 miles of additional track, while big electrification schemes are also in progress, embracing over 3,000 miles of existing steam-operated track. It is planned to increase the Russian locomotive stocks of all types from 19,500 to 24,500, and about 250,000 additional freight wagons are to be built by the close of 1937. In her railway rehabilitation programme, Russia is being aided by skilled American engineers and operating officers.