(Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway – Bhusawal)
Traffic (Transportation)
PAPER – I
I GENERAL
History of Rail Transport in India
The history of rail transport in India began in the mid-nineteenth century. In
1849, there was not a single kilometer of railway line in India. By 1929, there were
66,000 km (41,000 mi) of railway lines serving most of the districts in the country.
At that point of time, the railways represented a capital value of some British
Sterling Pounds 687 million, and carried over 620 million passengers and
approximately 90 million tons of goods a year. The railways in India were a group
of privately owned companies. The military engineers of the East India Company,
later of the British Indian Army, contributed to the birth and growth of the railways
which gradually became the responsibility of civilian technocrats and engineers.
However, construction and operation of rail transportation in the North West
Frontier Province and in foreign nations during war or for military purposes was
the responsibility of the military engineers.
In 1845, along with Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, Hon. Jaganath Shunkerseth(known
as Nana Shankarsheth ) formed the Indian Railway Association. Eventually, the
association was incorporated into the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and
Jeejeebhoy and Shankarsheth became the only two Indians among the ten directors
of the GIP railways. As a director, Shankarsheth participated in the very first train
journey in India between Bombay and Thane, which took approximately 45
minutes.
A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of
the railways from 1857 onwards. The Calcutta-Allahabad-Delhi line was
completed by 1864. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian
Railway opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km
(4,000 mi). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta
via Allahabad. This route was officially opened on 7 March 1870 and it was part of
the inspiration for French writer Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty
Days. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy Lord Mayo concluded that “it was
thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole
country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system”.
By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in Indian
guaranteed railways.
1
(Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway – Bhusawal)
By 1880 the network route was about 14,500 km (9,000 mi), mostly radiating
inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895,
India had started building its own locomotives and in 1896 sent engineers and
locomotives to help build the Uganda Railways.
In 1900, the GIPR became a government owned company. The network spread to
the modern day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and soon various
independent kingdoms began to have their own rail systems. In 1901, an early
Railway Board was constituted, but the powers were formally invested under Lord
Curzon. It served under the Department of Commerce and Industry and had a
government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from
England and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members.
For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a profit.
In 1907, almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government. The
following year, the first electric locomotive made its appearance. With the arrival
of World War I, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside
India. With the end of the war, the railways were in a state of disrepair and
collapse.
In 1920, with the network having expanded to 61,220 km, a need for central
management was mooted by Sir William Acworth. Based on the East India
Railway Committee chaired by Acworth, the government took over the
management of the Railways and detached the finances of the Railways from other
governmental revenues.
The period between 1920 and 1929 was a period of economic boom. Following the
Great Depression, the company suffered economically for the next eight years. The
Second World War severely crippled the railways. Trains were diverted to the
Middle East, railway workshops were converted to ammunitions workshops and
some tracks (such as Churchgate to Colaba in Bombay) were dismantled for use in
war in other countries. By 1946 all rail systems had been taken over by the
government.
2
(Zonal Railway Training Institute, Central Railway – Bhusawal)