Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
I. Für eine Kulturgeschichte der Eisenbahn / Towards a cultural history of railways - Michael Cotte: Railways and Culture: An Introduction
Railways and Culture: An Introduction 2) decreasing drastically the price of transports. In other words, intensity and regularity of traffic shaped the usual thoughts about new transportation technologies. At that time rapid transport was not a major purpose. That would happen later. We also have to note the spirit of individuals’ affairs and the spontaneous belief in enormous benefits that also stimulated a lot of potential investors! Local democracy and the occurrence of debates also diffused information. The Saint-Etienne region shaped social patterns favourably in a few months for the innovative proposals and the acceptance of new projects by elites. Of course, those projects would bear important developments in social patterns and commercial systems, but the counterparts in individual profits and collective enrichment were much more significant than the possible social disturbances. On the other hand, such a mentality paved the way for the idealisation of economic effects of new technologies and led to a general underestimation of technical difficulties and financial costs. In the same way, the development of the liberalism ideology among the upper classes and bourgeoisie was very favourable to the innovation and economic change acceptance . The transport situation served as a favourable foundation for the local initiatives; and generally local councils and regional chambers of commerce warmly supported them. There were, of course, also some different examples like Rive-de-Gier refusing the railway line because it could have threatened its advantage in the coal trade based upon the Givors canal, a direct link with the Rhone River to the Eastern part of the Loire coalfield. Facing such a situation, the role of the French administration was sometimes hesitant but more generally it was favourable, especially among the higher administration closer to political power. Prefects and their assistants' made official enquiries, expressing the local urgent needs of transport to the central government. The French government understood well the Saint-Etienne region’s potential for coal mining and drove a longtime reform from the Napoleonic period to promote an industrial operating of the underground areas by capitalist companies. Corps of mine engineers, such as the figures of de Gallois and Beaunier, close to the local and regional industrialists and elites, led this kind of program with efficiency. We have also noticed that the bad state of public finances led to a favourable opinion of central government for private investments in civil engineering and transportation companies as for suspension bridges or steamboat navigation. The role of the corps evolved clearly toward the technical evaluation of projects, organisation of tenders among applicants, the definition of the official guide- 5 5 Prefect represented directly the central government and its general policy inside each department. 53
