Chapter 356

Inside a hotel in Salzburg. The senior manager of the Austrian Federal Railways, Moetrich, was holding a mobilization meeting with the technical staff.

"Listen up, the board of directors has made a decision. In the next year, we will connect the railway to Adenin."

There weren't many polite people in the construction site, so Motterich didn't try to be bureaucratic. He directly stated the task.

He was only in charge of administrative management, not a technical background. He had been on the project team for more than a year, so he knew the progress of the project inside out.

It would be very difficult to complete the speed required by the headquarters. However, as a qualified manager, he knew that he could not back down at the first sign of difficulty.

The board of directors had already made a decision. No matter how difficult it was, he had to try to complete it. This was a matter of attitude.

If he didn't even take any action and just shouted to his superiors that it was difficult and impossible, then what was his value?

Private companies were very realistic. If there was no value, he could just get lost. On this issue, he did not carry as much weight as the technical staff below him.

In this era, technical staff were treasures. No matter the project, they were indispensable talents. The administrative staff was different. The railway company had plenty of them.

Chief Engineer Salvador said bluntly, "Mr. Moetrich, with our current construction progress, it would be good if we could complete this task in two years. This is the pre-planned period. It is impossible to complete it ahead of schedule!"

Moetrich was nominally in charge of the overall management of this section of the railway construction, but Salvador had the final say in the technical aspects.

Moetrich could not control Salvador at all, or rather, he did not dare to interfere. He was a smart man, and he knew that it was easy for problems to arise if he gave orders blindly.

Now that the construction task had suddenly been increased, it was normal for the technical director to object. However, Moetrich was not unprepared. He explained with a smile, "Mr. Salvador, a solution has to be thought of.

"Mr. Salvador, people will always come up with a solution. If you need anything, just let me know. I'll coordinate with the head office, but the work must be completed on time.

In the following days, everyone will work hard and sacrifice their rest days. Please rest assured that the company will not mistreat everyone.

I guarantee that as long as the task is completed ahead of schedule, the bonus you will receive will not be lower than your current salary.

No, just complete it on time. I will go to the headquarters to apply for it. If it is lower than this amount, I will pay for it myself! "

Moetrich's performance was a success. Many problems in the world could be solved with money, and speeding up the construction was no exception.

The two years of construction had to be completed in one year, so there was nothing wrong with paying two years of salary. Everyone would still do the same amount of work, and the railway company's labor budget did not increase. Now was the time when they were short of manpower, and Moerich was confident that he would be able to get the money.

The salary increase could appease most technical staff, but Moetrich still shook his head.

"Mr. Moehrlich, no one doubts your character. The problem now is that we don't have enough time. We've already started construction from both ends to the middle.

If he wanted to increase the progress, he would have to split the current section into two and split it again from the middle. Not only do we need more manpower, but we also need more machinery and equipment. We don't have enough technicians, so the difficulty of management will increase greatly. "

Mottrich thought for a moment and said, "These problems can all be overcome. I'm sure you all know that in order to speed up the construction of the railway, the country has already issued a law. From the time the railway is established, the railway operation will not be subject to any taxes within ten years.

"We started construction in 1849 and are expected to complete the entire line in 1854, which means that we will only have five years of tax-free operation.

The Federal Railway Company is a listed company, and the headquarters have to consider the opinions of the shareholders. Everyone hopes that the railway can be put into operation as soon as possible.

If we can complete the construction of section five by 1851, we can lay the track and install the relevant equipment in 1852, and we can start trial operation in 1853.

Being able to start a year in advance will bring a lot of profit to the company, and everyone will receive a generous return. "

"Profit" was only one factor. More importantly, the Government of Austria wanted the railway company to speed up the construction of the main line. The reason was that Austria was preparing to go to war with the Osman Empire and needed to use the railway to transport logistics.

No one could refuse this reason. Moreover, it was not like the government did not compensate them. That was how the ten years of tax exemption came about.

As for why the railway connecting the Kingdom of Bavaria had to be sped up in the war with the Osman Empire, that was not the point.

The point was that His Majesty Franz had personally spoken. Since he said that the construction of the national main line had to be sped up, it had to be the national main line.

Could it be that he had to go and negotiate with the Emperor, who was busy every day, just because of this?

In the end, the management of the railway company decided to focus on speeding up the construction of the main line and suspend the branch lines.

…

In this day and age, railway technicians were in high demand. In order to retain talents, the Federal Railway Company also took out some stock options as bonuses for these technicians.

Although the amount of money in the hands of each person was not much, the effect was very good. With their own shares in it, there was no one who did not want the railway to open in advance.

Salvador thought for a moment and said, "I have no opinion on the company's decision, but Mr. Moetrich, you have to help me solve these problems.

Also, we have too many casualties in the construction process. It is best if you can restrain the management so that they do not go too far. "

The so-called management was, of course, the hired thugs of the railway company. Right now, this batch of free labor was the real "prison workers". It was cheap, but it was not convenient to manage them.

All of them wanted to pass the time. As long as there was no one watching them, they would slack off and even run away from time to time. If it was not for the army, there might have been riots.

Although the army had sent people to watch over them, they would not send people to help them manage. In order to speed up the construction, the management hired by the railway company naturally served the workers with whips and sticks.

Salvador, who had not completely lost his morals, could not stand this. Of course, he was not a saint. He was just casually mentioning it, but he also hated these kinds of rebels.

Moetrich laughed and said, "No problem. There is a lack of labor. I will immediately report it. There are still some in the machinery company's warehouse. Just send someone over to pick up the goods.

I will report the lack of technical personnel to the head office. But Mr. Salvador, there is a lack of technical personnel everywhere. The head office is poaching people from all over Europe. Don't have too much hope. "

That's right, there were technical personnel from all over Europe in the Austrian railway construction team. For the sake of strategic security, these people could not be the main designers.

This was requested by Franz. The main reason was that when the British exported their railway standards overseas, they smuggled in a lot of goods, and many countries were cheated.

Now, all the railway companies in Austria used the same method. If there was a lack of technical personnel, the engineers and apprentices would replace them.

Since the construction was done according to the drawings, as long as they studied at the construction site for a year and a half, they would be in charge of simple technical work. Experienced engineers would guide them every day, assign tasks, and then check and accept.

Basically, when the railway section was completed, the apprentices were almost done. This was basically how the railway engineers of this era came to be. There were only a few people who graduated from school.

Salvatore nodded with a bitter smile as he looked at his subordinates with high morale. With the addition of a new construction line, his task as the chief engineer became even more important.

The means of transportation in this era was riding a horse. People who did not know how to ride a horse could not make a living. Every few days, they had to travel hundreds of kilometers. This kind of life was not easy.

On the contrary, the technical personnel under him had it easier. They followed the main team and did not need to run to both sides every two or three days.

This was the disadvantage of not having enough engineers. If he left all the work to his subordinates, he would not feel at ease. Whenever there was a technical problem, Salvador would have to personally preside over it.

At the beginning of the 19th century, European railway construction had just begun. By 1850, there were no more than 15,000 kilometers of railways in operation on the entire European continent.

Experienced engineers were naturally in short supply. With this in mind, when the Austrian railway construction began, major railway companies erupted in a battle for manpower.

For Salvatore, it was a time of pain and happiness. Heavy work meant high pay.

For example, while he was the chief technical engineer, he was also responsible for the main technical guidance of the construction at both ends. This way, he could get two more salaries.

Now, with the addition of two construction sites, if the company did not send people to help him share the burden, it meant that he could get two more salaries, which was a total of five salaries.

If it were not for the fact that the salary was too good, he would have quit a long time ago. How could he accept this kind of work day and night?

Such good days were not common. Coupled with the bonus promised by Moerich, once the task was completed, it was equivalent to Salvador getting ten years' worth of salary in one year.

After all, people like Salvador were in the minority. The railway company could not always not send engineers to help. After all, one person's energy was limited. He could manage in the early stages, but in the later stages, he would be too busy.

However, it was not uncommon for one person to complete the work of two or three people in the railway construction.

Capitalists were not philanthropists. It was impossible for them to be so generous forever. Now that they were irreplaceable, they were naturally treated well. Once they could be replaced, their good days would come to an end.

Salvador knew very well that once the railway construction was completed, they would be ready to leave.

When the railway company was in operation, there was no need for so many experienced engineers. Capitalists would naturally choose cheaper ordinary technical personnel to be responsible for the later stages of the railway maintenance.

In the later stages, when the supply of engineers exceeded the demand, even if they did the work of two people, they would still only get a salary in the end.

The relationship between supply and demand in the market determined the price of goods. It was also applicable in the human resources market. Capitalists would pay high salaries when they were short of people, and naturally find ways to make up for it when they were not short of people.

In short, they had come at a good time to make money. After this village, there would be no more shops like this.

Salvador did not know how long these good days would last. If it was possible, he hoped that these days could last a little longer.

He even had the idea of getting a job at the Ministry of Railways. Although the pay was not as good, it was stable and decent.

As night fell, Salvador lay on his bed and lit a cigarette. He fell into a deep sleep and could not fall asleep for a long time.