In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway developments in interwar Europe

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In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway

developments in interwar Europe

Citation for published version (APA):

Anastasiadou, E. (2009). In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway developments in interwar Europe. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. https://doi.org/10.6100/IR658478

DOI:

10.6100/IR658478

Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2009 Document Version:

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In Search of a Railway Europe

Transnational Railway Developments in Interwar

Europe

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In Search of a Railway Europe

Transnational Railway Developments in Interwar Europe

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de

Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een

commissie aangewezen door het College voor

Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen

op maandag 12 januari 2009 om 16.00 uur

door

Irene Anastasiadou

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Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor:

prof.dr. J.W. Schot

Copromotor:

dr.ing. G.P.A. Mom

This research has been made possible by:

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

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To my parents

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those who helped me to write and publish this thesis, in particular my supervisors Johan Schot and Gijs Mom who patiently followed my progress and with whom I shared many ideas. Aristotle Tympas, under whose supervision I made my first steps into the field of history of technology. Together with him I developed many of the ideas on the Greek case discussed in the last chapter of this thesis. The other PhD students of the TIE group (Sorinela Ciobica, Vincent Lagendijk, Suzanna Lommers, Frank Schipper), with whom I shared many moments of anxiety and hard work as well as pleasant moments of laughs. The two post doc researchers that worked on the project Transnational Infrastructures and the Rise of Contemporary Europe, Erik van der Vleuten and Alec Badenoch for their useful commentaries on many of my chapters. A special thanks to Alec Badenoch who patiently copy-edited my thesis, rendering it a more pleasant experience for the reader. The members of my doctorate committee Colin Dival, Eda Kranakis and Harry Lintsen who read an earlier version of my thesis and provided me with useful comments. Relatedly, I would also like to thank the Foundation for the History of Technology for financing the copy-editing. Finally my brother in law Andrew Kerrigan who made some final adjustments to my English.

Spending 5 years away from family and old friends has been a difficult and challenging experience. I may not have been able to go through these years without the help of a few people who happened to be in Eindhoven and who supported me and helped me go through this process. A special thanks therefore goes to Apostolos Doris, Efie Kesidou, Dick Van de Brick, Joost Mangnus, Ariana Martinelli, Frank Schipper and Maria Vlasiou. Last but not least, warm thanks to my mother and sister who, even though far away, closely shared my worries and concerns, difficulties and happy moments on this trajectory, providing an infinite source of support and encouragement.

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Abbreviations

ΒΒΕ Βιομηχανική και Βιοτεχνική Επιθεώρησις, εκδιδóμενη υπό του

Συνδέσμου των Ελλήνων Βιομηχάνων και βιοτεχνών (Industrial and

Manufacturing Review)

BCC Bureau Central des Compensations

BUIC Bulletin de l' Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer CEEC Committee of Enquiry for European Union

CEH Contemporary European History

CIM Convention Internationale Merchandises

CIT Comite International des Transports par Chemins de Fer CIWL Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits et Grands Express

Européens

COTIF Central Office for International Rail Transport EWP European Table of Direct Vehicles

HoT History of Technology

HSR Hellenic State Railways

ICC International Chamber of Commerce ILO International Labour Organization

IRCA Congress Internationale des Chemin de Fer

JT Journal des Transports, Revue Commerciale des Chemins de Fer et de la Navigation

JTH Journal of Transport History

KKV Proposed Railway line Kalabaka – Kozani –Veroia LoN League of Nations

Mitropa Mitteleuropäische Schlaf- und Speisewagengesellschaft

OCT Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit of the LoN. From 1938 : Committee for Communications and Transit OE Orient Express

ΟΣΕ Οργανισμός Σιδηροδρόμων Ελλάδος (OSE)

OTIF Intergovernmental Association for International Carriage by Rail PO Railway Company Paris Orléans

PLM Railway Company Paris Lyon Mediterrannée

RG The Railway Official Gazette (from 1882); The Railway Gazette (from

July 21, 1905); The Railway Gazette and Railway News (from December 6, 1918); The Railway Gazette: a journal of Management,

Engineering and Operation (from January 18, 1935).

RGCF Revue Générale des Chemins de Fer

RIC Regolamento Internazionale Carrozze RIV Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli SCB Société Commerciale de Belgique SE Simplon Express

SOE Simplon Orient Express ΣΕ Σιδηροδρομική Επιθεώρησις TE Taurus Express T&C Technology and Culture

TIE Transnational Infrastructures and the Rise of Contemporary Europe

ΤΧ Τεχνικά Χρονικά

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UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

UT International Standards Conference, Unité Technique des Chemin de Fer

Verein Union of German Railway Administrations (Verein Deutscher Eisenbahn Verwaltungen); from 1932 Union of Administrations of Railways of Central Europe (Verein Mitteleuropaischer

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Chapter 1 Introduction: International Railway

Travel in Interwar Europe

In 1910, an anonymous reporter described the experience of international railway travel, saying that "indeed, the railway itself is an object lesson as to the futility of mere artificial restrictions on progress. The passenger boards his train at Calais and frontiers are wiped out between the English Channel and Brindizi; or he sets out on his journey from St. Petersburg and his destination is the distant port of Vladivostock in the Far East. For him the artificial distinction that calls this 'Europe' and that 'Asia' is wiped out."1 In interwar Europe, railways provided contemporaries with the experience of international travel. This fascination is underlined by the fact that quite a few novels were inspired by the international railway experience as well. The best known was Agatha Christie's famous novel Murder on the Orient Express, written in 1932. The murder that detective Hercules Poirot, the main character in her novel, is called upon to solve takes place on board the Simplon Orient Express (SOE), which was one of the best known trains of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits (CIWL). Detective Poirot began his journey in Syria with the destination of London, boarding the Taurus Express at Aleppo (Syria). The train, after crossing the Bosphorous, then travelled on to Istanbul where there was a connection to the SOE that would run through Trieste and Calais to London.2 In the end, the train stopped unexpectedly somewhere in Yugo-Slavia due to heavy snow on the tracks, and the plot of the novel unravels. The international atmosphere runs through the novel. On the second day of the journey, Poirot is having his meal with his old friend and travelling companion. Bouc, the Belgian director of the CIWL, in the luncheon car of the train. Bouc, observing his surroundings notes:

"Ah!' he sighed. "If I had but the pen of a Balzac! I would depict this scene." He waved his hand. "It is an idea, that," said Poirot. "Ah, you agree? It has not been done, I think? And yet it lends itself to romance, my friend. All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages. For three days these people, these strangers to one another, are brought together. They sleep and eat under one roof; they cannot get away from each other. At the end of three days they part, they go their several ways, never, perhaps to see each other again."3

The international travel of the SOE inspired many other authors. An Italian author Vittorio Carlo published a short novel called simply Simplon Orient Express, also in 1932. In the opening paragraph of the novel, the author describes the setting of the first scene:

"This, the most comfortable and certainly most aristocratic of the trains de luxe that cross small Europe, the pay toilet of people on the 1930 run from the coast of the Bosphorus to the mists of Tamesi. ... The SOE is formed exclusively of clean and shiny wagons with beds and restaurant cars, clerks and chefs are international as well as the travellers and the cigarettes they are smoking."4

1_{"The International Railway Congress", RG 33 (1910): 70.} 2_{Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, 11.}

3_{Ibid., 37-8.}

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Graham Greene's novel Stamboul Train, a thriller which similarly takes place on an express train from Ostend to Constantinople, was also published in 1932. 5 The international space of cross-border railway travel not only inspired many novelists in the 1930s, it also inspired visionaries of a new Europe. In the 1930s, when Europe was in economic crisis, the director of the International Labour Office (ILO) Albert Thomas submitted a memorandum to the newly created Committee of Enquiry for European Union (CEEU) of the League of Nations (LoN). In the committee's work for unemployment relief, railways and Europe met. Thomas called on the committee to undertake public works of international importance. These would have a double role, serving both to relieve unemployment and help cultivate a spirit of solidarity among the European people. An Italian lawyer, C.E. Barduzzi, submitted a memorandum to the ILO and LoN's the newly created Committee of Enquiry for Public Works and National Technical Equipment, in which he argued that the political unification of Europe could be achieved through the construction of international railway arteries.6

It seems that international railway travel fascinated contemporaries. In articles in railway trade journals, such as this one from the Railway Gazette (RG), we read that

"both between the wars and before 1914 there was, as there is today, a spirit of enlightened co-operation amongst European railway-men, who have been among the first to realize the importance of demolishing international barriers."7

Two main research questions underline this thesis: What were the factors/motivations that influenced international railway developments in interwar Europe? And: Was there a common shared European idea that influenced these developments? In the next two sections I position these questions within two sets of literature. The first is the literature on the history of railways in Europe and in particular the history of the internationalization of railways. The second is the newly-emerging literature on international infrastructure development and its role in the history of European integration. Following this discussion of the relevant literature, I will introduce my research strategy and the outline of my thesis.

The Railway Historiography: Internationalization of Railways

This thesis addresses literature on the internationalization of railways, focusing on Europe. Traditionally, railway historiography has been national in focus. The national focus of political, economic and cultural history of Europe explain this national orientation of railway historiography.8 This is legitimate due to language barriers and the fact that most railways as systems were organized at a national level.9 In addition, many studies focus on the nineteenth century up to the year 1914 when the construction of the great mileage of railways took place in most countries of Western

5_{Graham, Stamboul Train}

6_{For a better elaboration of the proposal see chapter 2.} 7_{"International Railway Co-operation", RG 95 (1951): 199.}

8_{"National histories have been the predominant scholarly category since the study of history was}

established as a discipline in Europe in the nineteenth century, but historians are paying increasing attention to developments and themes that cut across national boundaries, in the process forcing a revaluation of the concept not just of nation but also of history." Akira, "Transnational History", 211.

9_{A useful tool for looking at this literature is the book by Merger and Polino, ed., COST 340, Towards}

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Europe.10 The main questions addressed in this literature concern the role of the state in the construction of railways vis a vis private enterprise and the role of the railways in contributing to the modification of the political, economic, managerial and financial structures (for example the process of national unification, the construction of national markets, the process of industrialization and the rise of managerial capitalism) of the western world in the nineteenth century. The railway literature has already highlighted that technological networks are an important means for realizing socio-political goals and ideals. Historians have analysed the way in which transport networks, and more specifically railways, were placed at the service of the political goals not only of nation-states, but also of empires. Historiography on railway developments in the colonies in the nineteenth century has shown how the European powers used railway construction overseas primarily as a means of fulfilling their imperial interests, extending control over territories outside Europe in order to increase their economic and military power.11 Construction of railways in the colonies was associated with ideological constructs such as the "civilizing mission" in French West Africa.12 Studies of the interwar years and the years following WWI are more scarce.13 While railways were often presented as harbingers of peace, those who built them used them as often as not to pursue strategic national agendas and to prepare for war.14_British and American social and economic historians have written many studies discussing the impact of railroads on various aspects of society, such as the relationship between railroads and urbanization, medicine, psychology, architecture and language, literature.15 However, studies of how railways were placed into the service of political and economic agendas at an international level are scarcer. The few available comparative studies on the development of railways in different countries in Western Europe do not touch upon the issue of the internationalization of railways.16 Recent historiography has stressed the importance of looking at the role of international

10_{For example the books by Schivelbusch, The Railway Journey: The Internationalization of Time and}

Space in the 19th century; Taylor and Neu, The American Railroad Network, 1861-1890; Michael

Robbins, The Railway Age; Tajani, Storia delle Ferrovie Italiane, Tajani devotes a chapter to the interwar years, but the greatest part of his work is devoted to the years of the construction of the network in the nineteenth century; Chandler, The Visible Hand; Fogel, Railroads and American

Economic Growth; Usselman, Regulating Railroad Innovation; Merger and Polino, ed., Towards a European Intermodal Transport Network, this bibliographical essay also notes scarcity of railway

studies covering the interwar years. Comparative studies of the development of European railways also cover developments in the nineteenth century. See, for example, Fremdling, "European Railways 1825-2001, an Overview"; O' Brien, Railways and the Economic Development of Western Europe,

1830-1914. On the role of railways in building nation-states see for example Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen. For accounts on railway developments in the 20th century look at Meunier, On the Fast Track; Rees, Stalinism and Soviet Rail Transport, 1928-1941; Heywood, Modernizing Lenin's Russia;

Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich 1920-1932; Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable

Asset of the Reich, 1928-1941.

11_{Conklin, A Mission to Civilize; McMurray, Distant Ties; Headrick, The Tentacles of Progress, 180 -}

203; Davis et al, eds., Railway Imperialism.

12_{Conklin, A Mission to Civilize, 38- 72.}

13_{Heywood, Modernizing Lenin's Russia; Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich,}

1920-32; Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich, Rees, 1928-1941; Meunier, On the Fast Track.

14_{McPherson, Transportation in Europe, 43-44; Mitchell, The Great Train Race, 31; Mierzejewski,}

The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich, 1920-32; Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich,

Rees, 1928-1941.

15_{For a selective presentation of recent literature on these topics see Schivelbusch, The Railway}

Journey, 198 - 200.

16_{Fremdling, "European Railways 1825-2001, an Overview"; O' Brien, Railways and the Economic}

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railway infrastructures within a transnational context (for definitions of "transnational" vs. "international", see below).17 In his article "Railway Imperialisms, Railway Nationalisms" Colin Divall has criticized the national focus of railway historiography. The study of "imperial and post-colonial railways" he observes, "serves as a useful corrective to the assumption of most (European) transport historians that the 'natural' unit of railway development is the nation, and that any international dimension is chronologically and perhaps even ontologically a consequent".18_{Other authors have studied railway developments in Europe, adopting} an international perspective. They speak about the internationalization of railways as having begun in the late nineteenth century as a result of two developments. The first is what Douglas Puffert names an ex ante standardization of the railway gauge.19 In particular, early on in the period of railway construction, most European countries adopted what later became the international standard railway gauge (1435 mm). As existing historiography documents, this was the result of the commercial success of the Liverpool and Manchester which had made it the model of modern railway technique for many of the early railways in Great Britain, North America, and continental Europe. Furthermore, the well known British mechanical engineer George Stephenson (1781-1848) himself built lines in several parts of Britain and much of Belgium during the mid-1830s, while other British engineers introduced his gauge to several parts of Germany and Italy by the early 1840s.20

Second, the internationalization of the railways was a result of bilateral or multilateral agreements. In particular, as early as the nineteenth century the first international organizations to promote the interoperability of railways were being formed.21 Laurent Tissot, in a series of articles, assesses the importance of the Berne Agreement on the Transport of Goods by Rail (Convention Internationale Concernant le Transport des Merchandises par Chemins de Fer, CIM, 1890) for the history of Europe.22 The Berne convention on the transport of goods by rail was signed in 1890, and established for the first time an international code of merchandise traffic between the participating countries.23 Tissot argues that the convention is of great importance for the history of railway internationalization. Firstly, it established for the first time

17_{Divall, "Railway Imperialisms, Railway Nationalisms"; Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, eds.,}

Networking Europe; Transnational Infrastructures and the Shaping of Europe, 1850-2000.

18_{Divall, "Railway Imperialisms, Railway Nationalisms", 197. He has stressed the importance of}

looking at railway developments in connection with the establishment of supranational entities. By extending the logic of Anderson's argument to the level of supra-national entities such as empires, he proposes to explore how railways helped to shape the " "imagined communities" of conquering and subjugated peoples alike". Ibid. 197.

19_{Puffert, "The Economics of Spatial Network Externalities"; Id."The Technical Integration of the}

European Railway Network".

20_{While the first line in Bavaria adopted Stephenson's gauge because a British locomotive had been}

bought, the early French and Austrian railways adopted British practice for use by local engineers. These pioneering railways set the pattern for subsequent lines that branched out from them as compatible gauges were clearly adopted to facilitate through traffic. Puffert, "The Technical Integration of the European Railway Network", 132.

21_{Puffert, "The Technical Integration of the European Railway Network"; Tissot, "Naissance d' une}

Europe Ferroviaire" .

22_{Tissot, "Naissance d' une Europe Ferroviaire"; Tissot, "Les Modeles Ferroviaires Nationaux et la}

Création d' un Système International de Transports Européenes, 1870-1914"; Tissot, "The Internationality of Railways; An Impossible Achievement?"; Tissot, "Développement Touristique et Développement Ferroviaire".

23_{These were the governments of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,}

the Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland. Tissot, "Naissance d' une Europe Ferroviaire: La Convention Internationale de Berne (1890)", 285.

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in history an international code for the carriage of goods by rail. Furthermore, it established in 1893 a central body the Central Office for International Rail Transport, (COTIF), under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Council, which would be responsible for the maintenance, implementation and renewal of the convention. This was the first intergovernmental organization concerned with issues of international railway traffic.24 Tissot argues that the establishment of the CIM convention and the creation of the central office for international transport by rail signaled the rise of a new international European order, as well as becoming an example for similar developments in other fields. Methodologically, Tissot points out the importance of studying the internationalization of railways as a system of a different order than the national systems. At an international level, railways constitute more than the sum of the national systems.25 In particular Tissot argues that "the internationality of the railways has to be considered as an experience in itself, requiring specific tools in terms of infrastructure, rolling stock, management, commercial and industrial strategies, technical choices, accountancy and so on. This means that a new system of railway has to be created."26 David Gugerli in his article "The Effective Fiction of Internationality" reinforces Tissot's argument. In looking at the case of the 1950s Trans-Europe Express venture, he pleads for a cultural and technological approach to understanding international railway developments. Methodologically, he argues that the internationalization of railways should be approached analytically from two directions: from a bottom-up perspective, meaning from the perspective of national railways; and from a European top-down perspective, focusing on the international agreements that led to the establishment of international railway traffic. According to Gugerli, only a combination of both perspectives can provide interpretations for recent developments.27

The discussed literature seeks to interpret the internationalization of railways by analyzing developments that made the interoperability of railway networks in Europe possible. Other authors, however, have also pointed out the obstacles in this process. Puffert stresses the barriers to a technically integrated railway network in Europe, arguing that the decentralized development of railways within the nation-state hampered the rise of a technically integrated European railway network. He also underlines the role of international organizations as actors that promoted international railway traffic. In this sense, he agrees with Tissot and Gugerli that the internationalization of railways should be analyzed as a process separate from the

24_{Mutz, History of COTIF, 2. The countries that participated in this conference were Germany,}

Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Russia and Switzerland. On the 13th and 14th October 1890, the final conference took place, which adopted the first international rail freight convention (CIM). The CIM convention dealt with the commercial conditions for the acceptance and conveyance of passenger and goods traffic, defining the obligations and responsibilities of the various parties concerned. In 1985 the Intergovernmental Association for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) was created as a successor of COTIF.

25_{Tissot, "Les Modeles Ferroviaires Nationaux", 318. According to his analysis, the establishment of}

the Berne Convention signaled the rise of a new international order, and the establishment of a European railroad network due to the fact that it established for the first time an international law for railway commercial traffic that was to substitute with respect to certain provisions internal law. It provided a model for the establishment of similar provisions in other fields of legislation. So the case of the Berne Convention indicates, according to Tissot, how railways promoted the internationalization of society and the rise of a European society.

26_{Tissot, "The Internationality of Railways", 264.}

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development of national railway networks.28 However, Bryan Stone introduces a new problematic in his article "Interoperability: How Railways became European", arguing that interoperability of railways in Europe has not been achieved, and therefore there never was a European railway network. This was due to the fact that there was no common vision of what the European railways should look like. According to Stone, recent developments, and in particular, European Union legislation on the interoperability of railways, opens the way for the creation of a European railway network for the first time in history.

Consequently, different authors have interpreted the internationalization of railways differently. The two positions present in the literature are exemplified by the work of Tissot and Stone. The former sees in the developments of the nineteenth century the rise of a new European order while the latter argues that the establishment of a European railway network has not yet been possible due to the lack of a single European vision.29 This divergence of opinion has broader implications. According to Tissot's analysis, railway developments signaled a new phase in the history of Europe, preceding the formal process of political integration. In contrast, Puffert and Stone stress the difficulties in establishing an integrated network in Europe. According to them, the establishment of a European railroad network followed the establishment of political bodies aimed at bringing about a politically united Europe. Thus the implication of their conclusion is that railways, rather than facilitating the process of European integration, actually posed additional, mostly technical, barriers to this process. Political and economic integration, in this case, were anterior to railroad integration.

However, there seems to be unanimity on the prevalence of national versus international interests throughout these developments. Tissot discusses how national interests shaped the negotiations on the Bern Convention.30 He shows that the developments that made international railway traffic possible were more a result of aspirations to increase national power rather than efforts to promote a new international order. He argues that internationalization of railways in the nineteenth century was a process closely related to the aspirations of national states and their preoccupation with strengthening their national sovereignty rather than the expression of common visions of Europe and a new political order for the continent.31 Bryan Stone notes that national interests shaped railway developments not only in the nineteenth century, but also in the years following WWII. He points out that "there was in fact no incentive until the latter part of the 20th century to think in European terms".32 Puffert too seems to adopt the same thesis on the prevalence of national over

28_{Puffert, "The Technical Integration", 129 – 139. According to Puffert, railways in Europe developed}

diverse technical practices because network integration at a European level was less important to railway administrations than the integration of each local sub-network. The technical differences in national railways hampered the process of the interconnection of national networks and were the main obstacle in the process of emergence of a European railroad network. Technical coordination has so far been achieved through international agreements, often as a result of the activity of international organizations. Ibid.

29_{Tissot, "Naissance d' une Europe Ferroviaire: La Convention Internationale de Berne (1890)",}

283-295; Stone Bryan, "Interoperability: How Railways became European."

30_{Tissot, "Naissance d' une Europe Ferroviaire", 289.} 31_{Ibid., 283-295.}

32_{This, according to Stone, led to the extension of barriers to interoperability as national railways and}

their suppliers sought their own solutions and new technologies in many areas. "The most radical step in recent years was to recognize that, in a single Europe, the European union should be empowered with legislative endorsement to address the revitalization of European rail. Interoperability is then a pre-condition to be put in place by legislators so that rail operators can exploit the new competitive

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international interests in Europe, arguing that European railways developed in very diverse technical ways. The development of new technologies, such as electrification, was done on a national basis. Puffert argues that "European railways developed diversity in their technical practices because network integration at the European level was less important to railway administrations than the integration of each local sub network. As a result, many practices had to be coordinated after networks had been established. "33 He names this process an "ex-post coordination" that took place both through unilateral actions of local and national railway administrations, and through coordinated actions decided by international agreement.34

As part of my research on the factors/motivations that influenced international railway traffic in the interwar years I will address issues posed by the historiography on the internationalization of railways. In particular, throughout my analysis I will look at the tension between national and international considerations in discussions on the internationalization of railways in Europe. Furthermore, as I discussed above, I will explore whether there was a shared European idea that influenced international railway developments.

Internationalization of infrastructures and European Integration

This thesis not only addresses railway history, but in a broader sense, also a newly emerging body of literature that aims at bridging European history and the history of technology, and in particular, the history of infrastructures. A first attempt towards this direction took place with the program entitled COST 340, Towards a European

Intermodal Transport Network. Since 2000, this program has gathered many

historians, geographers, economists and engineers, financed partly by the European Union and partly from funding by the participating states. Cost 340 aimed "to observe and present - independent of ideology and without theoretical preconceptions - the successive realities of the development of trans-European connections of an inter-modal transportation, two major factors in the integration of transportation networks within Europe." 35 Consequently, the aim of the project was to study the integration of transport networks within Europe. It focused on two aspects: the development of transeuropean connections and inter-modal transportation. Several scientific conferences were held within the framework of that program.36 The first published volume of this program provided a useful exploration of national transport historiographies, showing the national orientation of transport histories to the detriment of the international dimension.37 A first step to fill this gap in historiography was made by Carreras, Giuntini and Merger with the publication of a second edited volume that comprises an anthology of essays where transnational network developments are analysed.38 In the introduction of this volume, the editors note the difficulties of a transnational approach in studying technological networks and cite reasons for this "negligence" in historiography.39 First, they point to the fact freedoms which ongoing rail liberalization gives them." Bryan, "Interoperability: How Railways became European", 243.

33_{Puffert, "The Technical integration", 138-139.} 34_Ibid.

35_{Cost 340, Towards a European Intermodal Transport Network, xvi.} 36_Ibid.

37_Ibid.

38_{European Networks, 19th-20th Centuries.}

39_{Ibid., 1-11. They speak about a transnational approach without clearing defining the notion of}

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that transport networks have been perceived as political elements favouring national unity, one of their essential functions having been to reinforce territorial cohesion. Even works meant to analyze the role of the railways in economic integration are usually limited within a national context. The second reason is a historiographical omission from the field of study of international institutions which worked on transnational coordination of networks. Finally, a last problem concerned the diverse and diffuse sources for such a history. Certainly comparative studies between national experiences are numerous; but none look at the network from a transnational perspective.40

This initiative was followed and complemented by the Tensions of Europe research network. This was a network of historians of technology meeting periodically in annual conferences and workshops, aimed at addressing questions relating to broader European issues of integration. Within the context of the network, a separate research program was established at the Eindhoven University of Technology entitled Transnational Infrastructures and the Rise of Contemporary Europe (TIE). This thesis is part of this project.41

Two products of the Tensions of Europe network and TIE, a special issue of the journal History of Technology and the book Networking Europe, are particularly relevant to this thesis. In the introduction to the special issue, Johan Schot and Tom Misa put forward the agenda of this research program. Technological developments, they argue, can be a promising research site for a closer understanding of European integration.42 So far, mainstream European integration history has looked upon European integration as a matter of international relations. European historians have assumed that "Europe" as a political and cultural entity was achieved through the building of economic and political institutions. Authors of European integration studies identify the establishment of political bodies with transnational authority, such as the European Coal and Steel Community (1951) and later the European Economic Community (1957) as the beginning of this process.43 Criticizing this bias of historiography on European integration, Misa and Schot aim to set a future research agenda for the study of European integration which incorporates all processes of European integration involving a range of actors since the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, they argue that these actors become visible when focusing on technical change including the construction and use of transnational infrastructures. While they plead in favour of looking into the technological integration of Europe as a process separate from the political integration of Europe, they argue that this process co-constructed political, economic and cultural integration processes.44 Articles included in this special issue provide both conceptual and empirical proposals for research as suggestions for how we might study the co-construction of Europe and technology.45 In particular, Vleuten and Kaijser show that the material linkage of

40_{Carreras et all.,"Introduction", in Carreras et all.,eds., European Networks, 1.}

41_{For more information on the project see http: //www.tie-project.nl/. Also outcomes of this project are}

the following: Lagendijk, Electrifying Europe; Schipper, Driving Europe.

42_{Misa and Schot, "Inventing Europe".}

43_{Schot et all. eds., Tensions of Europe; Dedman, The Origins and Development of the European}

Union, 7.

44_{Misa and Schot, "Inventing Europe: Technology and the Hidden Integration of Europe".}

45_{Schot et all. eds., Tensions of Europe. For example Vleuten and Kaijser propose a research strategy}

of looking at the technical integration of Europe through the study of technological networks. Trischler and Weinberger propose looking at the transnational aspect of big engineering projects. David Arnold discusses the importance of understanding Europe and the process of European integration through its colonial relationships, and finally Ruth Oldenziel, Adri Albert de la Bruhèze and Onno de Wit propose

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nation-states through transport and communication infrastructures started much earlier than the official European integration process after WWII, and may have influenced the boundaries and internal shape of contemporary Europe.46 Schot and Misa have introduced the term "hidden integration" of Europe as a cornerstone of the new research agenda.47 With this notion they refer to integration processes outside the official political integration of Europe. More recently, Schot argues that "the notion of 'hidden integration' is appropriate not so much because this vector of history has often been neglected in the European integration literature, but more importantly because the actors themselves, for example engineers, often intended to shield the process from the official political integration process".48

Vleuten and Kaijser have since developed their article into the edited volume Networking Europe. In this anthology, authors investigate technological networks from an international angle. "Networking Europe", say the editors of the book in its introduction, "refers to processes of simultaneous transnational network and society building in Europe".49 The studies in the book "focus particularly on transnational linking and de-linking processes, that is, network building in Europe that crossed national boundaries or had transnational meanings".50 The book is rich in essays covering different geographical areas of Europe and different infrastructures and time periods.51 However the majority of the authors base their analysis on research in national archives focusing on national actors. Vleuten et al. adopt a different approach in their recent article in Contemporary European History (CEH) entitled "Europe's System Builders: The Contested Shaping of Transnational Road, Electricity and Rail Networks". Here they argue for the importance of looking at international organizations as a research site for transnational developments. Conceptually, they propose the concept of European system builder as a tool that would help capture the international aspect of these processes. Methodologically, they suggest the study of international developments through the archives of international organizations. Studying international organizations and their research agendas allow a less nationally-biased interpretation of international developments.52

as a research strategy the study of consumption patterns, and more specifically, consumption of technologies.

46_{Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, "Networking Europe", 24. Vleuten and Kaijser argue that transnational}

linkages and networks have been priorities for centuries. Ever since the Enlightenment, politicians, philosophers and engineers have broadly discussed the potential of linking people and societies across natural or political borders by means of network technologies. Preceding the EU, political bodies such as the LoN and the UNECE stressed the role of transnational network building for creating a peaceful and prosperous Europe.

47_{Johan Schot introduced the term "hidden integration" in Johan Schot, "Transnational Infrastructures}

and the Rise of Contemporary Europe", TIE project (http://www.tie-project.nl), Working Document

no.1, (2003): 1. See also Misa and Schot, " Inventing Europe", 1-3; Schot, "Building Europe on

Transnational Infrastructure", 169.

48_{Schot, "Transnational Infrastructures and European Integration: A Historiographical and Empirical}

Exploration", 3.

49_{Vleuten and Kaijser, "Prologue and Introduction, Transnational Networks and the Shaping of}

Contemporary Europe", in Vleuten and Kaijser, eds., Networking Europe, 5.

50_{Ibid. 4-5.}

51_{Schot et al. eds., Tensions of Europe, 24.}

52_{The TIE project have resulted in several other publications. Problematizing Europe in relation to}

transnational transport developments was also the task that Badenoch, Shipper and Anastasiadou undertook on the special issue of the JTH under the title European Infrastructures. Anastasiadou, "Networks of Power;"; Badenoch, "Touring Between War and Peace; Schipper, "Changing the Face of Europe. Following the methodological suggestion of Vleuten et all, they worked on analyzing archives of international organizations. As Schot notes in the introduction of this issue, these articles "open

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Consequently, this literature discusses some important issues relevant to this thesis. The main argument in this historiography is that technology in general, and technological networks more specifically, provide a suitable research site for exploring efforts towards society building in Europe.53 Furthermore, they represent fields of negotiation and contestation. Different scenarios for the political and economic development of Europe were negotiated when decisions on the development of the infrastructures were taken. This argument relates to the argument of this thesis in which I look at the factors, motivations and expectations that influenced the development of the international railways in the interwar years. Taking these factors into consideration on an transnational level has involved making several strategic choices in designing the research, and it is to a more detailed discussion of these choices that I now turn.

Research Strategy

This thesis covers the interwar years. The reasons for the choice of this time-period are various. Firstly, the complexity of the issues and the size of the geographical area that this study covers do not allow a thorough long-term study. International railway developments in the nineteenth century, as I described in the previous section, have already formed the subject of a number of studies while thus far nothing has been written on the interwar years. An interpretation of developments in the interwar years can provide the basis for a better understanding and interpretation of developments after WWII. The interwar years are also very interesting as the years in which, after the disaster of WWI, many actors came to appreciate international railway co-operation as important for maintaining peace in Europe. In particular, in those years, international co-operation was institutionalized with the creation of the League of Nations (LoN). For the first time, internationalization of railways became part of a discussion about the construction of an international society. Ideas for the political unification of Europe were put forward for the first time in the interwar years and acquired momentum. In my last chapter I take a somewhat longer perspective, and extend the overall time frame to include the nineteenth century. This will allow me to show the continuing importance of both national and international impulses for railway developments.

Throughout my analysis, I use some conceptual tools that allow me to be more precise in the points that I am making. Since this thesis concerns railways, I need first to define what a "railway" is. I find the concept of "railway" that Michael Robbins adopts, drawing on Charles E. Lee, in his book The Railway Age, most appropriate for windows on this alternative history of European mobility". Schot, "Building Europe on Transnational Infrastructure", 169. This history can be analyzed as a process of hidden integration or fragmentation of Europe. The aim was to look to mobility as a category that contributed to the "hidden integration" of Europe. Badenoch and Fickers also promise to engage more directly with the issue of problemitizing infrastructures and European Integration in their forthcoming book Technologies of Transnantionalism. Badenoch and Fickers, "Introduction: Untangling Infrastructures and Europe: Mediations, Events, Scales"; Schot, "Transnational Infrastructure and European Integration: A Historiographical and Empirical Exploration", in Badenoch and Fickers, eds., Europe Materializing?. In the introduction of the book they note that "whereas the authors of the previous volume have highlighted transnational processes in Europe, we ask what roles have particular notions and spaces of Europe actually played in the construction, use and/or failure of the various systems, and by turns, what visions and projects of Europe have such networks made visible." Badenoch and Fickers, "Introduction: Untagling Infrastructures and Europe: Scale, Mediations, Events", 7.

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the purposes of this study. According to Lee, a modern railway comprises four main features: a specialized track, accommodation of public traffic, conveyance of passengers, and mechanical traction. To these four elements Robbins' adds a fifth, namely "some measure of public control". All five features have to be present together for something to be defined as a railway; when one or more are absent, then there is a tramway, or a light railway, or a private means of transport, or something else.54 This is a technical definition of a railway, in keeping with the socio-technical approach that I am adopting in this thesis. Such a definition includes a mixture of technical, economic, and political elements, and draws on the conceptual tools from the discipline of history of technology. As a result I am looking at a railway as a "network".55 In this I follow the methodological suggestion proposed in the seminal work of Thomas Hughes, who showed that in order to understand the development process and societal meaning of technology, historians should study an entire socio-technical configuration rather than individual artifacts. However, in contrast to Hughes, who focuses on the expansion of networks, I am extending the focus to include modifications to the existing networks, e.g. railway configurations, after they have reached a mature stage.56 The concepts of "hardware" and "software" are used to help me to distinguish between the technical and administrative or operational sides of the railway network.

As the title of this thesis reveals, I look here at railway developments in a context beyond the national. I use the notions of "international" and "transnational" throughout the analysis. It is useful to distinguish between these two notions, and in so doing I find Andrew Webster's definition of those two concepts closest to my own thinking. According to Webster "whereas 'international' means 'between nations' and so reinforces the idea of dealings between states, 'transnational' means 'extending beyond or across national boundaries' and so represents a crossing of the boundaries that separate nations or states".57 Or, as Schot defines the two concepts "while 'international' presumes that nation-states are the primary actors and fill the entire space of action beyond the level of the nation-state,'transnational' suggests that international spaces involve processes where nation-states can be very active and even dominant but that other actors can have such role as well".58

Often in my narrative I use the concept of "internationalization" of railways. By such a term I refer to the achievement of interoperability across national borders. The concept concerns not only the standardization of the technical aspect, but also the

54_{Robbins, The Railway Age, 6.}

55_{I adopt the definition of the notion of a "network" given by Vleuten and Kaijser. They argue that "we}

are interested here in human-made, materially integrated structures that cross national boundaries, perhaps best defined by examples like road, rail, telephone, or electricity supply networks." For a definition of a "network" see Networking Europe, 6.

56_{Tympas and Anastasiadou make this methodological suggestion in their article Tympas and}

Anastasiadou, "Constructing Balkan Europe", 26-7.

57_{"Whereas the term 'international negotiation' suggests a balancing of national interests between}

high-level representatives of both sides, charged with getting the best possible for their own country at the least cost in concessions to the other side", the term "transnational" is more appropriately used "for negotiation based on common interests among people on either side of the artificial line on the map". Andrew Webster, "The Transnational Dream: Politicians, Diplomats and Soldiers in the League of Nations", 498. Also for an account on how to write history of technology from a transnational perspective see Van der Vleuten, "Technological History and the Transnational Challenge, Meanings, Promises, Pitfalls". Additionally on the notion of transnationalism see Patricia Clavin, "Defining Transnationalism", 423-439; Iriye, "Transnational History".

58_{Schot, "Transnational Infrastructures and European Integration: A Historiographical and Empirical}

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homogenization of the operational and administrative aspects that allow rolling stock to cross borders and different railway networks to function as one system. Finally, I treat "Europe" in my narrative as an actor-category. In this point I follow the methodological suggestion introduced by Misa and Schot, who, in their introductory article in the HoT mentioned above, do not consider "Europe" to be a fixed geographic entity. Rather, they note, "our focus is on how actors design and use technologies to constitute and enact European integration".59

Studying an international subject presents many challenges, and historians can adopt different research strategies while approaching it. The decentralized way in which railway networks developed in Europe renders the work of the historian particularly challenging. Early on in my research, I decided to focus the greatest part of my analysis on material from archives of international organizations. In this point, I share the thesis of Vleuten et al., who argue that compared to national archives, international organizations and their archives constitute a research site better suited to bringing into view the overall picture of European infrastructure collaborations and those excluded from them. As Vleuten et al argue "since such organizations typically had little decision making power but rather functioned as arenas for co-ordinating and negotiating federalist, national and corporate interests, focusing on them should allow us to investigate the juxtaposition and relative weight of various interests in transnational infrastructure development".60 However, in order to grasp more thoroughly the dynamics of railway integration in Europe, I complement this strategy with an analysis from the point of view of a single nation-state, Greece, using national sources. This case study should be considered as an exemplary case for the argument that the construction of a European system was a process negotiated not only at the international level but also within national borders. Furthermore, it shows how negotiations at the European level influenced national railway developments too.

The selection of archives that I studied was ultimately the outcome of several considerations. First, I evaluated the importance and membership of the international bodies that were discussing issues relating to the achievement of the interoperability of railway traffic on a European scale. Second, the availability and accessibility of the archives of these organizations was an important practical consideration. The archive that provided me with the bulk of the material for the composition of my first three empirical chapters was the archive of the LoN. Additional material I collected from the archive of the ILO. The archive of one of the most important international organizations in the interwar years, the International Union of Railways (UIC), was inaccessible, which forced me to follow its activity through its official published instrument, namely its monthly bulletin. In addition, I consulted the monthly bulletins of the International Railway Congress Association (IRCA), and the Central Office for International Transport by Rail (COTIF, 1893). Finally, I conducted complementary research in the national archives of Italy, and collected interesting original publications from different libraries, such as the French national (François Mitterand) library, guided in each case by earlier findings in archives of the aforementioned international organizations.

Furthermore, research in railway and engineering journals of national origin, many of which claimed international status, at least in the titles, provided me with further useful contextual information on the most important national and international railway

59_{Using "Europe" as an actor category is a broader historiographical line of the TIE project, see Johan}

Schot, "Imagining and Living Europe" 4; Misa and Schot, "Inventing Europe: Technology and the Hidden Integration of Europe", 8-9.

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developments. Such sources also provided useful commentaries from a national perspective on international developments. Criteria that guided my selection of journals to be studied were primarily the diffusion and importance of each journal as evaluated in secondary and primary sources, as well as the subjects treated. Practical considerations such as language barriers and availability also played a role. I meticulously collected material from the The Railway Gazette (RG). Published in Great Britain, it was a mixed journal, established before WWI and incorporating older, more specialized British railway journals such as the Railway Magazine, the

Railway News (founded in 1864), the Railway Times (1837) and Herapath's Railway Journal.61_{From the turn of the century onwards, the RG paid increasing attention to}

engineering matters. The process of amalgamation, and with it the scope of the RG, continued in the years before the outbreak of the war.62 By the end of the war, the editors of the journal argued that "a professional railway journal could be successful only by having the world for its sphere", and dealing with matters concerning management, engineering and operation as affecting overseas, as well as home railways. Consequently the RG acquired a more international focus.63 A French commercial perspective is provided by the Journal des Transports, Revue

Commerciale des Chemins de Fer et de la Navigation (JT), published by the Chamber

of Commerce of Paris (1878 to 1939). Finally, I collected additional information from the French journal Revue Generale des Chemins de Fer, published by the French national railway network SNCF (RGCF). For the fourth chapter, railway archives in Greece were unavailable, so I based my narrative partially on secondary literature and partially on my extensive research in Greek engineering journals. More specifically, historiography on the Greek railway network is limited. The most comprehensive study is the economic study of Leuteris Papagiannakis (Λευτέρης Παπαγιαννάκης). This study is chronologically confined to developments from the formation of the Greek state up to WWI. These were the years when the Greek railway network was constructed. Furthermore his study is geographically limited to the pre-WWI borders of the Greek state with only some literature available on the history of the lines in Macedonia and Thrace that were to constitute part of Greece after the Balkan Wars and the WWI. Little, however, has been written on the development of the Greek railways in the interwar years, particularly with regard to the action undertaken by the Greek state in order to reshape the Greek railway network to meet what they saw as the needs imposed by the new socio-political conditions of the interwar years.64 I base

61_{These were largely financial papers and derived most of their revenue from official notices and}

reports of the railway companies meetings which were then held half yearly. The first purely technical modern railway periodical to make its appearance was the Railway Engineer (RE). The RE was a pioneer by virtue of its recognition both of the importance of the engineering and manufacturing sides of railway activities, and to the value of progress that was to be secured by the accurate ventilation of both developments and problems. "One hundred Years of Railway Publishing", RG 62, (1935): 849-853.

62_{On April 3, 1914, the Railway Gazette and the Railway Times were amalgamated, and almost}

simultaneously the then competitive Railway News completed its own series of absorptions by taken over The Railway Official Gazette.

63_{By 1920s two more journals were amalgamated in the Railway Gazette, the Railway News and the}

Railway Engineer, "One hundred Years of Railway Publishing", RG 62 (1935): 849-853.

64_{The most comprehensive study of the history of the Greek railway network that of the Greek}

historian Leuteris Papagianakis, which is focused on the formative years of the construction of the network, the years from 1869 up to 1914. Παπαγιαννάκης, Οι Ελληνικοί Σιδηρόδρομοι (1882-1910). Furthermore on different aspects of the development of the Greek railway network see Ζαρταλούδης et al., Οι Ελληνικοί Σιδηρόδρομοι; Δεληγιάννης and Παπαδημητρίου, "Η Ιστορία των Σιδηροδρόμων στη Βόρεια Ελλάδα", 157 – 164; Τραγανού-Δεληγιάννη, "Οι Σιδηρόδρομοι και η Ιστορία τους."; Τρένα και

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my analysis of the interwar years on material from all the engineering and railways journals published in those years that are available in the public libraries of Athens.65 These were: Archimedes (Αρχημίδης, 1899-1923 & 1934-1938 & 1947), 'Erga ('Εργα, 1925-1931), Technika Chronica (Τεχνικά Χρονικά,1932-1942 & 1945 up to today),

Railway Review (Σιδηροδρομική Επιθεώρηση 1829, 1932), Promitheus (Προμηθεύς,

1890-92) and Industrial and Manufactural Review (Βιομηχανική και Βιοτεχνική

Επιθεώρηση, BBE, 1914 - 1918).66 Archimedes was the first official journal of the Greek Polytechnic Association, established in 1899. It constituted a forum where engineers discussed issues relative to public works, infrastructures, industry, energy etc.67 The journal Technika Chronica was published by the Technical Chamber of Greece, starting in 1923.68 Industrial and Manufacturing Review was the journal of the Association of the Greek industrialists, manufacturers and tradesmen.69 In addition I complement my analysis with findings from the RG and the RGCF where relevant. While it must be acknowledged that my sources show some bias toward the Anglo-Saxon and French world, my aim here is not to exhaust the issue. Instead I hope to open up a discussion on the developments and negotiations that took place at an international level concerning the shape of the European railway network. The material collected, presented and interpreted here is a sample providing an insight into the process of the constitution of a European railway network. It is as such that in putting together this thesis my aim has been to provide a rich analysis and a firm foundation for what I hope it will become an internationally scholarly dialogue.

Thesis Outline

The thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, I look at plans put forward during WWI for the construction of railway arteries. At a time when the future of Europe was being negotiated at a political level, scenarios for constructing alternative railroad networks in Europe reveal how international competition was reflected and embodied in such schemes. During the war, but also in the period of the Depression in the 1930s, engineers and politicians put forward plans to generate new flows of traffic and restructure the existing infrastructure to accommodate a new Europe. It seems that few of these plans managed to influence actual network building in the interwar years. Their study, however, is important for several reasons. Firstly, they provide an insight into the socio-political agendas of the Allied powers in the interwar years. Secondly, they suggest that railroad technology was intimately intertwined with broader ideologies of interwar Europe, including nationalism and the nascent ideas of European union or federation. Thirdly, they point to the cons1truction of transnational railway arteries as a means of strengthening the political and economic relations between European countries and as well as creating transnational alliances that embodied the political agenda of some circles during the interwar years. Finally,

Άνθρωποι, Θεσσαλονίκη -Ευρώπη 1888-1988;100 Χρόνια Σιδηροδρομική Σύνδεση Θεσσαλονίκη-Έδεσσα- Μοναστήρι, 80 Χρόνια Ελεύθερη Έδεσσα; Ματζαρίδης, Συνοπτικό Ιστορικό των Ελληνικών Σιδηροδρόμων; Pepelasis Minoglou, "Phantom Rails and Roads".

65_{In particular I conducted research of journals in the following libraries: library of the National}

Technical University of Athens (NTUA), library of the Chamber of Commerce of Athens, library of the Parliament, library of the Hellenic State Railways (HST) and finally the National library of Greece.

66_{From these journals I have looked at the available for consultation volumes.} 67_{Αντωνίου, Οι Έλληνες Μηχανικοί; 136, 140.}

68_{Ibid., 244.} 69_{Ibid., 258.}

In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway developments in interwar Europe

In search of a railway Europe : transnational railway

developments in interwar Europe

In Search of a Railway Europe

Transnational Railway Developments in Interwar

Europe

In Search of a Railway Europe

Transnational Railway Developments in Interwar Europe

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de

Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een

commissie aangewezen door het College voor

Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen

op maandag 12 januari 2009 om 16.00 uur

door

Irene Anastasiadou

Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor:

prof.dr. J.W. Schot

Copromotor:

dr.ing. G.P.A. Mom

This research has been made possible by:

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

To my parents

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

Abbreviations

Chapter 1 Introduction: International Railway

Travel in Interwar Europe