Equally determined has been the intention to open up railway communication with the north, north-eastern frontier of Persia, the original surveys taking place simultaneously with the parties working towards the Oxus. For purposes of the Persian railway two routes were also inspected in this quarter, the Askhabad-Meshed line receiving the earliest attention and warmest support. This scheme, after passing through the defiles between Firuza, the summer resort of Askhabad society, and Badjira, entered Persian territory at Kettechinar; running up the Deregez valley and leaving the Atrek waters near their source at Kuchan, it then broke into the Keshef Rud valley, striking the caravan road to Meshed between Durbadam and Imam Kuli. Great initial outlay was made in connection with this railway. Its course had been pegged out under the supervision of M. Stroieff, dragoman of the Russian Consulate at Meshed, with the help of the Ikram-ul-Mul late Karguzar of Kuchan, to whom 12,000 roubles were presented. Further, it was arranged to open a branch of the Imperial Russian Bank at Meshed to assist the financing of the work, the staff comprising an official from St. Petersburg as manager-in-chief, an assistant manager from Teheran, with Ali Askar Khan, the interpreter of the State Bank at Askhabad. The outbreak of hostilities in Manchuria imposed a temporary check upon the labours of the construction parties, the reflection thus obtained giving rise to the advantage of dropping a branch line from Tejend station on the Central Asian railway _viâ_ Sarakhs, Daulatabad, Pul-i-Khatun to between Zulfikar and Kala Kafir, wherever some future extension of the Askhabad-Meshed line, following the Keshef Rud to its meeting with the Hari Rud on the actual Perso-Afghan frontier, may terminate. The Tejend Rud is the name given to the lower waters of the Hari Rud which, flowing by Herat, receives midway in its course the Keshef Rud and thence runs close to Sarakhs, presenting to any line running along the Had Rud valley an alternative approach to the Afghan city.