History of railway

railwaysEdit

India's first railway proposals were made in Madras in 1832.The Red Hill Railway, the country's first train, ran from Red Hills to Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837. It was hauled by a rotary steam-engine locomotive manufactured by William Avery. Built by Arthur Cotton, the railway was primarily used to transport laterite stone for road-building work in Madras.In 1845, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway was built at Dowleswaram in Rajahmundry. Also built by Cotton, it supplied stone for the construction of a dam over the Godavari River.

On 8 May 1845, the Madras Railway was incorporated, followed that year by the East India Railway. On 1 August 1849, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway was incorporated by an act of parliament. The "guarantee system", providing free land and a guaranteed five-percent rate of return to private British companies willing to build railways, was finalized on 17 August 1849. In 1851, the Solani Aqueduct Railway was built in Roorkee. It was hauled by the Thomason steam locomotive, named after a British officer-in-charge of that name. The railway transported construction materials for an aqueduct over the Solani River.In 1852, the Madras Guaranteed Railway Company was incorporated.

The country's first passenger train, which ran between Bombay's Bori Bunder station and Thane on 16 April 1853, was dedicated by Lord Dalhousie. The 14-carriage train was hauled by three steam locomotives: the Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan. Travelling 34 kilometres (21 mi), the train carried 400 people. The passenger line was built and operated by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR).It was built in 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge, which became the country's standard for railways.

The first passenger train in eastern India ran from Howrah (near Calcutta) to Hoogly, a distance of 24 miles (39 km), on 15 August 1854. The line was built and operated by the East Indian Railway Company (EIR). In May 1854, the Bombay–Thane line was extended to Kalyan with the Dapoorie viaduct over the Ulhas River (India's first railway bridge). That year, the GIPR opened its first workshops in Byculla. In 1855, the BB&CI Railway was incorporated.That August, the EIR Expressand Fairy Queen steam locomotives were introduced.

South India's first passenger train ran from Royapuram–Veyasarapady (Madras) to Wallajah Road in Arcot, a distance of 60 miles (97 km), on 1 July 1856. It was built and operated by the Madras Railway.^[The Madras Railway's first workshop opened in Perambur (near Madras) that year, and the Bombay-Thane line was extended to Khopoli. In 1858, the Eastern Bengal Railway was incorporated.

India's first tramway (a horse-drawn tramway) opened in Calcutta between Sealdah and Armenian Ghat Street, a distance of 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi), on 24 February 1873.The following year, the Great South Indian and Carnatic Railways merged to form the South Indian Railway Company. On 9 May 1874, a horse-drawn tramway began operation in Bombay between Colaba and Parel. The Calcutta Tramways Company was incorporated in 1880,followed a decade later by the East Coast State Railway.

Lighting in passenger coaches was introduced by many railway companies in 1897. In 1902, the Jodhpur Railway was the first to introduce electric lighting as standard fixtures. Electric signal lighting was introduced between Dadar and Currey Road in Bombay in 1920.

Edit

The first railway budget was presented in 1925. On 3 February 1925, the first electric passenger train in India ran between Victoria Terminus (VT) and Kurla on 1,500 V DCoverhead traction.Cammell Laird and Uerdingenwagonfabrik manufactured the locomotives for this train. The VT-Bandra section was electrified (with an elevated platform at Sandhurst Road), the Oudh and Rohilkhund Railway was merged with the EIR, the first railway budget was presented in the same year. In 1926, the Kurla-Kalyan section was electrified with 1,500 V DC. Electrification to Poona and Igatpuri (both 1,500 V DC) over the Bhore and Thal Ghats was also completed,^] and the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow was built that year. The Bandra-Virar section was electrified with 1,500 V DC in January 1928.

The Frontier Mail made its inaugural run between Bombay VT and Peshawar in 1928.The country's first automatic color-light signals became operational, on GIPR's lines between Bombay VT and Byculla. In 1928, the Kanpur Central and Lucknow stations opened. The Grand Trunk Express began running between Peshawar and Mangalore, the Punjab Limited Express began running between Mumbai and Lahore, and automatic color-light signaling was extended to the Byculla-Kurla section the following year. On 1 June 1930, the Deccan Queen began service (hauled by a WCP-1—No. 20024, old number EA/1 4006) with seven coaches on the GIPR's electrified route from Bombay VT to Poona (Pune).The Hyderabad Godavari Valley Railway was merged into Nizam's State Railway and the route of the Grand Trunk Express was changed to Delhi-Madras that year