Alex II industrialisation

• There was a seven-fold increase in railway track opened between 1862 and 1878
• The success of the railway industry meant that Russia saw little effect from the European economic depression (1873-82)
• The railway's ability to "break bulk" at speed gave a significant boost to the industrial sector. (Break bulk - the carriage of low-value, high density goods in large quantities)
• Due to the very high costs of construction and operation, about 94% of railway lines were in private hands by 1880
• Alexander II appointed Reutern as Minister of Finance (1862-78). He continued railway construction, brought in financial technical expertise and employed J.J Hughes as an expert in iron and steel, and he even built a new town (Yuzovka) with 32,000 Welsh Russians in 1904.