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Negotiating railroad safety in the late Ottoman Empire: The state, railroad companies, trainmen, and trespassers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2019

Can Nacar
Can Nacar*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Koç University
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Abstract

This study examines different approaches taken in the late Ottoman Empire to deal with the risks and dangers posed by railroads. Like its counterparts in Europe and the United States, the Ottoman state actively sought to protect individuals against railroad risks. For this purpose, it mandated the use of certain devices meant to facilitate the safe flow of railroad traffic and introduced measures that aimed to discipline railroaders and pedestrians into behaving appropriately. However, the state was not the only actor that struggled to address railroad risks. Railroad companies, primarily to advance their economic interests, incorporated technologies that considerably reduced the risk of collisions. Yet economic concerns also sometimes hampered investments in railroad safety. For instance, the manner in which trespassing cases were handled by accident investigation committees and courts allowed the companies to avoid their obligations with respect to fencing around railroad tracks. As a result, it was easy for pedestrians to use tracks near their homes and workplaces as pathways. Finally, the article also shows that in performing their duties, trainmen enjoyed considerable freedom from control by railroad managers. This freedom was further reinforced by the shortage of experienced and skilled labor in the Ottoman railroad industry.

Keywords

Railroad accidentsOttoman Empiretechnological change and riskaccident investigations
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 60 , May 2019 , pp. 61 - 84
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Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2019 

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References

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BEO (Bab-ı Ali Evrak Odası)Google Scholar
DH-EUM-AYŞ (Dahiliye Nezareti Emniyet-i Umumiye Asayiş Kalemi)Google Scholar
DH-MKT (Dahiliye Nezareti Mektubi Kalemi)Google Scholar
DH-MTV (Dahiliye Nezareti Mütenevvia)Google Scholar
HR-TH (Hariciye Nezareti Tahrirat Kalemi)Google Scholar
T-DMİ (Ticaret-Nafia-Ziraat-Orman-Meadin Nezaretleri Demiryolları İdaresi)Google Scholar
T-HPD (Ticaret-Nafia-Ziraat-Orman-Meadin Nezaretleri Haydarpaşa İdaresi)Google Scholar
TFR-I-SL (Rumeli Müfettişliği Selanik Evrakı)Google Scholar
ZB (Zabtiye Nezareti)Google Scholar
BEO (Bab-ı Ali Evrak Odası)Google Scholar
DH-EUM-AYŞ (Dahiliye Nezareti Emniyet-i Umumiye Asayiş Kalemi)Google Scholar
DH-MKT (Dahiliye Nezareti Mektubi Kalemi)Google Scholar
DH-MTV (Dahiliye Nezareti Mütenevvia)Google Scholar
HR-TH (Hariciye Nezareti Tahrirat Kalemi)Google Scholar
T-DMİ (Ticaret-Nafia-Ziraat-Orman-Meadin Nezaretleri Demiryolları İdaresi)Google Scholar
T-HPD (Ticaret-Nafia-Ziraat-Orman-Meadin Nezaretleri Haydarpaşa İdaresi)Google Scholar
TFR-I-SL (Rumeli Müfettişliği Selanik Evrakı)Google Scholar
ZB (Zabtiye Nezareti)Google Scholar
Anadolu-Bağdad Demiryolları Hareket Nizamnamesi. Konya: Demiryolları Matbaası, 1339/1923.Google Scholar
Mersin-Adana Demiryoluna Ait Evrak-ı İmtiyaziye. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 1: Aydın Demiryoluna Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 2: Şark Demiryollarına Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 3: Anadolu Demiryoluna Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Aldrich, Mark. Death Rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Birdal, Murat. The Political Economy of Ottoman Public Debt: Insolvency and European Financial Control in the Late Nineteenth Century. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.Google Scholar
Bucknill, John A. Strachey and Utidjian, Haig Apisoghom S.. The Imperial Ottoman Penal Code: A Translation from the Turkish Text. London: Oxford University Press, 1913.Google Scholar
Demirel, Fatmagül. Osmanlı Adliye Nezareti: Kuruluşu ve Faaliyetleri, 1876–1914. İstanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2007.Google Scholar
Engin, Vahdettin. Rumeli Demiryolları. İstanbul: Eren Yayıncılık, 1993.Google Scholar
Geyikdağı, V. Necla. Foreign Investment in the Ottoman Empire: International Trade and Relations, 1854–1914. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, Ralph. “Railway Safety and Railway Slaughter: Railway Accidents, Government and Public in Victorian Britain.” Journal of Victorian Culture 8, no. 2 (January 2003): 187–207.Google Scholar
Koçak, Kıvanç and Paşaoğlu, Tuğrul. “‘Benim Sendikamın Amblemi Daima Buharlı Tren’: Zafer Boyar’la Türkiye’de Demiryolu Sendikacılığı Üzerine Söyleşi.” In Tren Bir Hayattır. Edited by Bora, Tanıl. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2012. 187–214.Google Scholar
Krist, Gary. The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2007.Google Scholar
Kurtcephe, İsrafil. Türk-İtalyan İlişkileri, 1911–1916. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1995.Google Scholar
Maksudyan, Nazan. Orphans and Destitute Children in the Late Ottoman Empire. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Mentzel, Peter. “Accidents, Sabotage, and Terrorism: Work Hazards on Ottoman Railways.” In Frontiers of Ottoman Studies: State, Province and the West, Volume II. Edited by Imber, Colin, Kiyotaki, Keiko, and Murphey, Rhoads. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. 225–240.Google Scholar
Mentzel, Peter. “The ‘Ethnic Division of Labor’ on Ottoman Railroads: A Reevaluation.” Turcica 37 (2005): 221–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohun, Arwen. Risk: Negotiating Safety in American Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Özbek, Nadir. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Sosyal Devlet: Siyaset, İktidar ve Meşrutiyet, 1876–1914. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2002.Google Scholar
Özyüksel, Murat. Hicaz Demiryolu. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2000.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. “The Age of Reforms: 1812–1914.” In An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Volume 2: 1600–1914. Edited by İnalcık, Halil and Quataert, Donald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 759–943.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. Miners and the State in the Ottoman Empire: The Zonguldak Coalfield, 1822–1920. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006.Google Scholar
Rogan, Eugene. Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the Nineteenth Century. Oakland: University of California Press, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schull, Kent F. Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire: Microcosms of Modernity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Welke, Barbara Young. Recasting American Liberty: Gender, Race, Law, and the Railroad Revolution, 1865–1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Zürcher, Erik J. The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building: From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk’s Turkey. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.Google Scholar
Anadolu-Bağdad Demiryolları Hareket Nizamnamesi. Konya: Demiryolları Matbaası, 1339/1923.Google Scholar
Mersin-Adana Demiryoluna Ait Evrak-ı İmtiyaziye. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 1: Aydın Demiryoluna Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 2: Şark Demiryollarına Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Umur-ı Nafia’ya Ait Mecmua-i Mukavelat, Cüz 3: Anadolu Demiryoluna Ait Mukavelat. Dersaadet: Selanik Matbaası, 1329/1913.Google Scholar
Aldrich, Mark. Death Rode the Rails: American Railroad Accidents and Safety. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Birdal, Murat. The Political Economy of Ottoman Public Debt: Insolvency and European Financial Control in the Late Nineteenth Century. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.Google Scholar
Bucknill, John A. Strachey and Utidjian, Haig Apisoghom S.. The Imperial Ottoman Penal Code: A Translation from the Turkish Text. London: Oxford University Press, 1913.Google Scholar
Demirel, Fatmagül. Osmanlı Adliye Nezareti: Kuruluşu ve Faaliyetleri, 1876–1914. İstanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2007.Google Scholar
Engin, Vahdettin. Rumeli Demiryolları. İstanbul: Eren Yayıncılık, 1993.Google Scholar
Geyikdağı, V. Necla. Foreign Investment in the Ottoman Empire: International Trade and Relations, 1854–1914. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, Ralph. “Railway Safety and Railway Slaughter: Railway Accidents, Government and Public in Victorian Britain.” Journal of Victorian Culture 8, no. 2 (January 2003): 187–207.Google Scholar
Koçak, Kıvanç and Paşaoğlu, Tuğrul. “‘Benim Sendikamın Amblemi Daima Buharlı Tren’: Zafer Boyar’la Türkiye’de Demiryolu Sendikacılığı Üzerine Söyleşi.” In Tren Bir Hayattır. Edited by Bora, Tanıl. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2012. 187–214.Google Scholar
Krist, Gary. The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2007.Google Scholar
Kurtcephe, İsrafil. Türk-İtalyan İlişkileri, 1911–1916. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1995.Google Scholar
Maksudyan, Nazan. Orphans and Destitute Children in the Late Ottoman Empire. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Mentzel, Peter. “Accidents, Sabotage, and Terrorism: Work Hazards on Ottoman Railways.” In Frontiers of Ottoman Studies: State, Province and the West, Volume II. Edited by Imber, Colin, Kiyotaki, Keiko, and Murphey, Rhoads. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. 225–240.Google Scholar
Mentzel, Peter. “The ‘Ethnic Division of Labor’ on Ottoman Railroads: A Reevaluation.” Turcica 37 (2005): 221–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohun, Arwen. Risk: Negotiating Safety in American Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Özbek, Nadir. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Sosyal Devlet: Siyaset, İktidar ve Meşrutiyet, 1876–1914. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2002.Google Scholar
Özyüksel, Murat. Hicaz Demiryolu. İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2000.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. “The Age of Reforms: 1812–1914.” In An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Volume 2: 1600–1914. Edited by İnalcık, Halil and Quataert, Donald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 759–943.Google Scholar
Quataert, Donald. Miners and the State in the Ottoman Empire: The Zonguldak Coalfield, 1822–1920. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006.Google Scholar
Rogan, Eugene. Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the Nineteenth Century. Oakland: University of California Press, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schull, Kent F. Prisons in the Late Ottoman Empire: Microcosms of Modernity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Welke, Barbara Young. Recasting American Liberty: Gender, Race, Law, and the Railroad Revolution, 1865–1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Zürcher, Erik J. The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building: From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk’s Turkey. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.Google Scholar