Railways of The Raj -How The Age Of Steam Transformed India

Presenter: Christian Wolmar

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

The initial introduction of railways was down to the East India Company in the late 1840s and it was 1857 before the British Government took control. In 1849 tenders were put out for building the first railways – the East Indian Railway and the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, with a guaranteed 5% for investors! Most contractors were British and their unfamiliarity with the vagaries of the climate resulted in problems with many structures being destroyed by monsoons!

By 1871 most of the major cities had been connected and featured Fortress stations with associated garrisons to ensure that in the event of uprisings from the Independence Movement. Control could still be maintained – Victoria Station in Bombay being the prime example.

Further expansions in the 1890s could be classified as :- Famine railways to enable access of food ; Hill railways to enable Brits to spend the summer months in the cooler climate; Military railways particularly on the NW frontier where Russia was considered the threat. Ironically in WW2 it was the Western frontier where the threat was from the Japanese in Burma!

Following Partition in 1947, which involved massive use of the railways, the Indian railways were nationalised and expanded with their own workshops and the construction of the West Coast line from Mumbai to Goa in 1990. Freight continued to be the major traffic apart from the intensive suburban services around the major cities.

Sadly, the railways of Pakistan and Bangladesh have been largely neglected in comparison.

An interesting and informative evening for which we thank Christian. Christian is prolific author on rail matters and for more information on the author and his books go to https://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/