the construction and operation of a steam-powered Decauville narrow-gauge railway. The Shah's court had meanwhile come to the conclusion that it would be much more convenient, instead of developing industry and business themselves, to conclude concession agreements with foreign companies and to concentrate on collecting concession income. Boital monetized the concession, which included the right to build and operate railroads throughout Persia for 99 years, and sold it to the Belgian entrepreneur Edouard Otlet (fr), that his son Paul Otlet, became known as the founder of modern information science. Edouard Otlet founded the Société Anonyme des Chemins de Fer et Tramways en Perse on May 17, 1887 with a share capital of 2 million francs. Edouard Otlet had started building and operating private railways across Europe. On May 20, 1876, he received the order from King Ludwig II of Bavaria to build a horse-drawn railway in Munich. In 1878, Otlet founded the Belgian Sociéte Anonyme des Tramways de Munich for this purpose. Only after much back and forth did the Munich magistrate decide to apply for Otlet and grant him a 30-year license. He then had to pay 1% of his gross income to the municipality for the use of urban roadside. After a dispute with the Munich city council, Otlet was forced to sell his company to the German Münchener Trambahn-Aktiengesellschaft (MTAG) in the same year, which later became the Munich Municipal Transport Company.[4] Railway operation In Persia, Otlet expected high profits. Since about 300,000 pilgrims visited the Shrine of Abdol-Azim annually, it seemed obvious to start building this route. A track width of 800 mm was chosen and a single-track stretch was laid from the Tehran bazaar to near the shrine in Rey. In Tehran, a small train station (fa) was built with three waiting rooms, one for men and one for women, with a hall in between for the Shah. The line was completed on May 31, 1888, and rail operations began in July 1888. [5] The railway staff consisted of 5 European and 60 Persian employees. The locals called the railway mashin doodi (smoke machine) and the station gar mashin' after the French gare'. Instead of using the train, the pilgrims preferred to walk the 9 kilometers from Tehran to Rey as before, so that the whole enterprise became a financial disaster. The Belgian managing directors complained to Naser al-Din Shah and persuaded him to demonstratively