Trans-Hemithean Railway
The Trans-Hemithean Railway is an international passenger and freight rail line that connects Themiclesia, Maverica, and Menghe, with termini in Kien-k'ang and Sunju, the capital cities of Themiclesia and the Republic of Menghe at the time. Built between 1949 and 1952, it is a standard gauge (4' 8½") line jointly operated by the railway authorities in all three countries. In total, it is 3,675km in length.
History
While a railway had been under active and fruitful discussion between Themiclesia and Maverica in the 1930s, the outbreak of the the Pan-Septentrion War prohibited its realization. After the war, both Themiclesia and Maverica required large quantities of goods to facilitate reconstruction and improvements to damaged areas. Themiclesia required raw materials to restart its industrial machinery, while Maverica found a massive demand for manufactured goods, and both countries exported what each other needed. Furthermore, the interior of Maverica, badly ravaged by the war, lacked a railway with which to accelerate the arrival of necessary materials and commercial integration. The shelved plans for the railway were soon tabled again before both governments; receiving vocal support from the commercial sectors, plans were quickly ratified in 1948, with construction to begin the following year.
In 1951, the newly formed Menghean government expressed an interest in an extension of the railway from Nizliuq, the original southern terminus, to its capital city in Sunju. Despite minor political difficulties in Maverica surrounding a railway that connected it to the power that devastated it, both government agreed to such an extension in 1952, and the lines to Sunju were laid with haste.
On December 5th, 1953, the final track segment was installed close to Bokju. Testing was completed in short order, and the heads of government of all three countries were present to open the railway officially. Not only was this project a major feat of engineering and a significant contribution to the transport infrastructure across the continent, it also represented the political reconciliation between the three states after the war. The highly co-operative planning and construction phases were publicized in a generally positive light internationally.
Suspension and Restoration
Due to increasing instability of the Maverican government, under active rebellion of communist factions, services were curtailed in the end of 1959 and suspended altogether by May, 1960. In November that year, the Socialist Republic of Maverica was formally declared. Due to political considerations, the Themiclesian government adopted a generally hostile policy on the new state, which was responded with vigour in military preparation for an eventual war to annex Themiclesia and bombastic propaganda for that cause. Fearing the railway might assist the new government in sending troops into Themiclesia, a whole mile of track close to the Themiclesian-Maverican border was quietly removed in early 1961, and its former route deprived of railway infrastructure to stall any effort in restoring it for military use.
Tension between Maverica and Themiclesia worsened in the middle of the 60s due to the ensuing chaos in Menghe, whose communist movement was actively supported by the Maverican government. The Trans-Hemithean Railway was damaged and restored several times by both parties in the Menghean Civil War to support their respective belligerent advantage. In 1964, when the Republic of Menghe fell, the railway was restored for use between the two socialist states. The Democratic People's Republic of Menghe telegrammed the Themiclesian government for recognition, but the latter refused to respond with either an acceptance or rejection, since Themiclesian could not afford to acquire another enemy or deviate from the anti-communist platform of the OS-led Grand Alliance; however, the existing Menghean mission to Themiclesia was not expelled from the diplomatic corps, leading to the new government to believe that Themiclesia was hostile towards it, negating any chance that the railway could have been restored.
Relations between Maverica and Themiclesia thawed slowly by the early 1970s, as trade with the FSR was far less economical, given the vast distances, than with Themiclesia. The Themiclesian government adopted a very cautious posture when negotiating with the Mavericans, whose hostility in domestic political speech towards Themiclesia may induce a collapse of confidence at home, should it become apparent that the government was progressing too rapidly with an outwardly unfriendly power. Yet Maverica would be crucial to Themiclesian businesses, which would there find a market almost free of competitors for manufactured goods. Though diplomatic relations were not restored until 1975, the Trans-Hemithean Railway was restored in 1971. However, trains were checked by the forces of both nations at the border against armed infiltration, and services only existed between Williamsburg and Kuang-tu, as the presence of foreign trains in either nation's capital city could be subject to adverse interpretation.
After the formation of the Socialist Republic of Menghe in 1988, the Themiclesian government officially allowed its envoy to be accredited, paving the way for negotiating the restoration of the railway to its state in 1954. While suspicion lingered in all three countries as to each other's true intentions, a more pragmatic leadership was present in all three countries, whose economies had all been disadvantaged by the severance of the railway that was once the centrepiece of a intracontinental commercial network. In 1991, a train departing from Menghe arrived in Themiclesia, for the first time since 1960.
Due to the impact of the air travel and high-speed railway, the THR no longer has daily international expresses, but trains chartered by travelling agencies and other private individuals still run on the THR with some frequency. However, utilization for freight transport remains strong and increasing.
Finances
Since the segment of the railway in Themiclesia only represented 1.3% of the new lines required, its government was expected to front a larger portion of the construction costs than the actual length of the railway located within its jurisdiction. Railway bonds were issued by both the Maverican and Themiclesian governments, on the revenues expected after the completion of the railway, which was considered reliable, given the increasing volume of trade in both countries. The Menghena government, after its entry into the project, used largely the same strategy when financing its obligations in construction.
Upon opening, the railway was deemed a commercial success, making a positive return in its first and every subsequent year of operation. The issued railway bonds were widely traded above their face value, until 1959, when disturbances in Maverica forced the NRC to partially suspend services over it. Then, bond values plumetted.
Route
The THR departs from Kien-k'ang Tjo-ts'jakw-men Station and has a 20-mile shared track section with the Inland Main Line, thought it bifurcates into a line (double track) parallel to the IML thereafter, which leads to Ghuads-gi and Kuang-tu; south of the latter, the line crosses into Maverica and passes over the [river]. It then follows a fairly direct path southwards to Williamston, the first major station in Maverica, and then a coastal route over a slightly incline to reach Yanarksburg, from which Hickorysburg is reached on the coast, cutting inland. Exiting the Maverican capital, it then traverses the [river] and follows its southern bank for around 120km, then the line deviates from the river's course towards Bluchweig. The line is level throughout most of the remaining journey through the Maverican interior, reaching Mohuk and Nizliuq, where it again runs parallel to the [river] and enters Menghe. Passing the junction of [river] and [river], it makes a slight detour to Pyongan, where it returns to the discharge path and runs along the coast to service Emil-si, Bokju, Altagracia, and then ending in Sunju.
Operation
As it was a freight railway in the first place, goods trains took up the bulk of the timetable, though a passenger service existed since the inauguration of the railway. Yards and depots were built along the line to organize and sort freight before they were commited to trains; such sorting, loading, and unloading facilities mostly located beyond city limits, as they would otherwise take up valuable space within them.
Billed the Trans-Hemithea Limited, a passenger train departed from Kien-k'ang each morning, with sleeper coaches. Though not explicitly required in the agreement memorandum, almost all passenger service on the line were operated by the Themiclesian National Railway Company. Regarded as a key link in the intercontinental transportation circuit (which then consisted of ships and railways in the main), the express train from Kien-k'ang to Sunju, via Hickorysburg, was given the honour of being "Train #1" in Themiclesia. Consisting of exclusively first- and second-class coaches, it became a mainstay and enabler of international business travel, covering the journey in three days flat, much speedier than travel by oceanliner, which did not depart as regularly and took ten days to reach Sunju. Not confined to the role of mere transport, it was also an object of romance and an emblem of the rapid recovery and renewed prosperity that all three states were enjoying after the devastation of the war.
Consist
Jan. 2, 1957:
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| Drawing Room | Compartments | Compartments | Compartments | Compartments | Sections | Restaurant | Sections | Sections | Sections | Baggage | C45 Express locomotive |