SAEDNEWS: Read the Historical Story of Naser al-Din Shah’s Opposition to the Railway in Iran
According to the Society Service of Saed News, Mohammad Khan Etemad-ol-Saltaneh was the Minister of the Translation Bureau under Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, responsible for reading European newspapers to the Shah. In his memoirs, he writes, regarding the 3rd of Safar 1304 AH (around 1265 SH, approximately ten years before the assassination of Naser al-Din Shah):
*"Boatal had brought a small model of a railway. The Shah remarked: ‘How absurd! Camels, mules, and donkeys are a hundred thousand times better than railways.
Now, forty or fifty Europeans are in Tehran, and we are helpless. If the railway is built, a thousand will come, and the eyes and ears of the common people will be opened. What then shall we do?’
I went to the book dealer’s house, and the topic of the railway came up. I spoke frankly, saying that the Shah had deemed railways harmful to Iran’s independence and security, and thus, the project was halted."*
