7. The Railway Services
The efficiency of the service of the railways which generally form the Lines of Communication is of the utmost importance to the Army, as on it depends the issue of supplies and ammunition to the troops at the front, and consequently their ability to move and fight.
The control of the Railway Services is laid on the Director of Railways, who is responsible to the Inspector-General of Communications, and works under the supervision of the Quarter-Master-General’s Branch of the Staff.
The work of the Railway Services comprises the maintenance and working, as well as the repair (and sometimes the construction), of railways in the theatre of operations. The personnel of the Railway Services consists of two entirely separate bodies. One is termed the Technical Railway Personnel, and the other the Railway Control Establishments.
The Technical Personnel is provided in a friendly country by the civil railway companies, but in a hostile country by the Royal Engineers, when it is organized in a Central Railway Establishment, two Railway Districts, and three Railway Companies of Engineers. There is allotted also, from the two Lines of Communication Telegraph Companies, a Railway Telegraph Section for the exclusive use of the Railway Service.
The “Central Railway Establishment” and the two “Railway Districts” are organized in branches for the following purposes: Management, Traffic, Engineering, Locomotive, Accounts, Stores. The total strength of these Units is 51 Officers and 854 other ranks.
The total strength of three “Railway Companies” is 12 Officers and 732 other ranks.
The Railway Control Establishments are the medium of communication between the troops and the Technical Personnel. Officers of this body are posted at the chief stations to facilitate the traffic, arranging all details with the troops, providing meals at certain stations, and supervising the movement of men, animals, and stores.
The personnel of the “Railway Control Establishment” is 7 Officers and 10 clerks and checkers, distributed to each important station.
The Director of Railways and his personnel have no responsibility for the technical security of the railway; for this the “Commander of the Line of Communication Defences” is responsible.