Railway Difficulties in Germany.

Wartime imposes many restrictions upon transport, but compared with conditions in Germany the traveller at Home is indeed fortunate. Our own and the French railways are to-day admirably equipped to meet every demand made upon them. Very different is the railway situation in Germany. Shortage of rolling-stock has, for many months created difficulties there, and locomotive and track maintenance is considerably in arrears. Good coal, too, must be getting scarce, while fuel oil also will present a problem. The acquisition of the Austrian and Czechoslovakian lines brought a greatly increased mileage under the Berlin jurisdiction, but the occupation also brought with it difficulties galore from the transport viewpoint. Czech railwaymen, in particular, have no love for their new masters, and to keep traffic moving on the Czechoslovakian lines must present prodigious problems in the peculiar circumstances now ruling. As one Czech refugee in Britain remarked to the writer the other day: “Hitler has bitten off more than he can chew!” And this is already apparent in the disorganised transport services in the Czech area.