text: Highly active in excavating and restoring the temples and palaces , Curzon also did more than any of his predecessors , adding 9,000 km ( 5,500 miles ) of new railway lines , working to modernize farming with an agricultural research institute , and building an irrigation system that would become a model for Asia and Africa .
  
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  Curzon far surpassed the work of his predecessors by adding 9,000 km of new railway lines in addition to building an irrigation system and working to modernize farming with an agricultural research institute .