Developments in Indian Railways
Important developments in Indian Railways have been chronologically listed in Table 1.1.
Year |
Important events |
1831-33 |
The first idea of a railway line from Madras (now Chennai) to Bangalore conceived to improve the transport system of southern India |
1843 |
Lord Dalhousie considers the possibility of connecting India by means of railways |
1844 |
Mr R.M. Stephenson forms the East Indian Railway Company for construction of railway lines |
1845-46 |
Trial survey of a new line from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Delhi |
1848-49 |
Construction of a railway line from Howrah to Raniganj sanctioned |
1850 |
Construction of a railway line from Bombay to Thane started by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company |
1850 |
Work started for a railway line between Bombay and Kalyan on 31 October 1850 |
1853 |
First railway line from Bombay to Thane opened for passenger traffic for a distance of 21 miles (34 km) on 16 April |
1854 |
Railway line between Howrah and Hoogly (24 miles) opened for passenger traffic on 15 August |
1856 |
Railway line between Veyasarpady and Waljah road (63 miles) opened for traffic under the banner of Madras Railway Company. In fact, this was the first proposal initiated in 1831 but could be completed only in 1854. |
1856 |
First train in South India from Royapuram to Waljah road (Arcot) |
1866 |
Calcutta linked with Delhi, Amritsar, and Bombay |
1850-68 |
First stage of development of Indian Railways classified as the Early Guarantee System. The Government guaranteed a minimum percentage of return to shareholders in order to attract private enterprises to construct railways, but retained the right to purchase these railways at the end of 25 or 50 years. A number of railway companies were formed for the construction of railways, namely, East India Railway (EIR), Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIP), Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CIR) and Madras State Railway (MSR), etc. |
1869-81 |
In 1869, it was decided by the British Government that future railway projects should be either under the new guarantee system or under state-owned railways. Few states started construction of railway lines separately. The Government, however, exercised a considerable measure of control to commercialize them. At this time there were company-managed railways under the new guarantee system as well as state-managed railways. After 1870 the railways developed very fast. |
1871 |
Introduction of metric gauge in India on account of its being cheap and economic |
1873 |
First metre gauge line opened from Delhi to Farukanagar |
1881 |
First hill railway (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway; narrow gauge, 2' O'" gauge) inaugurated |
1887 |
Victoria Terminus railway station constructed in Bombay |
1891 |
Toilets introduced in third class coaches |
1903 |
96-km-long Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge line opened to traffic on 9 November |
Table 1.1 (contd) |
|
Year |
Important events |
1905 |
Railway Board assumes office; established with one president and two members |
1922 |
Railway Board reconstructed and given a free hand with extra powers |
1924 |
Railway finances separated from general finances |
1924 |
Railway Board reconstituted with the chief commissioner as the president, an ex-officio secretary to the Government of India, and two members |
1925 |
12' wide, 1500-V dc stock started plying on the Mumbai-Kurla electrified section on 3 February |
1925 |
As a general policy to assume control over company railways, the Government took over the management of East India Railway and Great India Peninsula Railway |
1925 |
First railway line electrified, consisting of the harbour branch line of GIP |
1928 |
BB&CI Railway electrified its Bombay Suburban section |
1929 |
Electrification of the entire section from Bombay VT to Pune completed on 5 November |
1930 |
Central Standards Office (CSO) under Chief Controller of Standardization set up to standardize all equipment commonly in use by the Railways |
1930 |
Indian Railways stretched over 66,300 route km |
1931 |
Madras suburban section electrified |
1930-31 |
There was general economic depression and a sum of Rs 110 million was withdrawn from the Railways reserve fund and credited to general revenues |
1931 |
Electrification of double track from Madras Beach to Tambaram and of sidings at Madras Beach, Madras Egmore, and Tambaram stations completed on 2 April; first electric train started running on 11 May |
1931 |
Suburban services between Madras Beach and Tambaram converted to electric traction on 1 August |
1936 |
Air conditioning introduced in passenger coaches |
1937 |
Burma separated from India and about 3200 km of railway lines taken out of Indian Railways |
1939-42 |
During the second world war, the Indian Railways was called upon to release track material, locomotives, and wagons for construction of lines in the Middle East. This resulted in the closing down of 26 branch lines. Railway workshops were used for manufacture of defence material. At the end of the war, there were heavy arrears for the renewal and replacement of various assets |
1942 |
War Transport Board formed |
1947 |
India became independent; due to partition of the country, railway lines and assets divided between India and Pakistan |
1947 |
Immediately after independence, the Railway Board consisted of five members including a chief commissioner and financial commissioner |
1947-51 |
At the time of independence, there were 42 railway systems consisting of 13 class I railways, 10 class II railways, and 19 class III railways. These included 32 lines owned by ex-Indian states. The Government of India decided to rationalize these railways to improve efficiency and facilitate better management |
(contd)
Year |
Important events |
|
Regrouping of railways was completed and six zones were formed, namely, Central Railway, Eastern Railway, Northern Railway, North Eastern Railway, Southern Railway, and Western Railway The main objective of the planning of Indian Railways after independence has been to develop rail transport to provide appropriate support for the planned growth of national resources as a whole. While doing so, the emphasis has been suitably readjusted during each 5-year period to take note of certain special features |
1950 |
Production of steam locomotives started in Chittaranjan Locomotive Works |
1952 |
Railway Staff College, Vadodara, set up |
1952 |
Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) set up |
1952 |
Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Madras, set up as a production unit for all welded steel, lightweight integral coaches |
1954 |
Position of chief commissioner for Railways renamed as chairman of Railway Board |
1955 |
Indian Railway Institute for Civil Engineering, Pune, set up |
1951-56 |
During the first Five Year Plan, there was special emphasis on rehabilitation and replacement of the assets overstrained and totally neglected during World War II. A sum of Rs 2570 million was allotted to Indian Railways out of a total plan expenditure of Rs 23,780 million |
1956-61 |
During the second Five Year Plan, the focus was on the development of rail transport capacity to meet the requirement of movement of raw materials and goods. A sum of Rs 8960 million (18.7%) was allotted to Indian Railways (IR) out of a total plan expenditure of Rs 48,000 million. |
1957 |
Indian Railway Institute for Signal and Telecommunication, Secunderabad, set up |
1957 |
Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, set up after the merger of various standards committees and RTRC |
1957 |
IR decides to adopt a 25-kV, 50-cycle, single-phase, ac system for electrification |
1957 |
Railway Protection Force (RPF) constituted |
1959 |
Post of Member Mechanical created in the Railway Board |
1961 |
Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) set up at Varanasi; Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) started manufacture of electric locomotives |
1961-66 |
The strategy adopted in the third Five Year Plan was to build up an adequate rail transport capacity to meet the traffic demands. It was proposed that this should be done through modernization of traction, i.e., by switching from steam traction to diesel or electric traction in a progressive manner. Track technology and signalling were also improved to match the new traction system. During the third Five Year Plan, a sum of Rs 8900 million (11.9%) was allotted to Indian Railways out of a total grant of Rs 75,000 million. |
1966-69 |
There was a gap of three years between the third Five Year Plan and the fourth Five Year Plan as the Government wanted to review the results of the preceding development plans and adjust its strategy accordingly. A (contd ) |
Table 1.1 (contd)
Year |
Important events |
1969 1969 |
sum of Rs 5920 million was allotted to Indian Railways for increasing its transport capacity. Divisional system uniformly adopted by Indian Railways New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express running at a speed of 120 km/h introduced |
1969-74 |
The fourth Five Year Plan was drawn with a renewed emphasis on the twin objectives of modernization of the Railways and improving the operational efficiency of the system by more intensive utilization of the existing assets of the Railways. A sum of Rs 10,500 million (6.6%) was allotted for the development of the Railways out of a total of Rs 159,000 million |
1974 1976 1974-78 |
Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) formed Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON) formed The main emphasis of the fifth Five Year Plan was on the development of a rapid transport system in metropolitan cities, improvement in financial viability through cost reduction techniques, resource mobilization, optimum utilization of assets, and achievement of national self-sufficiency in railway equipment. A sum of Rs 22,000 million (5.6%) was allotted to the Railways out of a total of Rs 393,000 million |
1982 |
The Railway Reforms Committee recommends four additional zones after studying the efficiency bureau reports of 1954, 1961, and 1965 on the |
1984 1980-85 |
existing nine zones First Metro rail introduced in Kolkata The sixth Five Year Plan was drawn up in the face of anticipated resource constraints and a heavy backlog of arrears of renewal of assets such as wagon and tracks. The main plan was that the limited resources of the Railways would be used for the rehabilitation of assets. A sum of Rs 51,000 million was allotted to the railways out of a total of Rs 975,000 million for all the public sector undertakings for the entire plan period. |
1985-90 |
The seventh Five Year Plan provided an outlay of Rs 123,340 million. Freight traffic in the terminal year of the plan, namely, 1989-90, was estimated to reach a level of 340 million tonnes. |
1985 1987 1988 1988 1992-97 |
Computerized Passenger Reservation System introduced Rail Coach Factory (RCF) established at Kapurthala First Shatabdi train introduced between New Delhi and Jhansi Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) established The eighth Five Year Plan provided an outlay of Rs 272,020 million (6.3%) for Indian Railways out of a total outlay of Rs 4,341,000 million for the full plan. Some of the main objectives of the eighth Plan were to generate adequate transport capacity, complete the process of rehabilitation of overaged assets, modernize the system to reduce cost and improve reliability, complete uni-gauge conversion of 6000 km of metre gauge (MG) and narrow gauge (NG) to broad gauge (BG), phase out steam locomotives, electrify 2700 route km, expand and upgrade intermodal operation, and improve manpower productivity |
Year |
Important events |
1998 |
Konkan Railway system becomes fully operational on 26 January |
1998 |
Guiness Certificate for Fairy Queen-the oldest working steam locomotive in the world |
1999 |
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO |
1999 |
Centenary celebrations of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway |
1999 |
Guiness certificate for Delhi main station equipped with the world's largest route relay interlocking system |
2000 |
Railway Board consisted of seven members including a Chairman |
1997-2002 |
The ninth Plan envisages an outlay of Rs 454,130 million, which is 14.1% of the total outlay of Rs 8,592,000 million for the full plan. Some of the main objectives were generation of adequate transport capacity for handling additional traffic, modernization and upgrading of the rail transport system, completion of the process of rehabilitation, replacement and renewal of overaged assets, and continuation of the policy of unit gauge. |
2002 |
150th year of Indian Railways starts with effect from 16 April 2002 |
2002 |
Jan Shatabdi trains introduced |
2002 |
East Cental Railway (HQ in Hazipur) and North Western Railway (HQ in Jaipur) become operational with effect from 1 October. |
2003 |
Indian Railways has 16 (earlier 9) zones and 67 (earlier 59) divisions with effect from 1 April 2003 |
2003 |
Indian Railways completes 150 years of existence on 15 April 2003 |
2002-07 |
The Tenth Five Year Plan envisages an outlay of Rs 606,000 million, which is 4% of a total outlay of Rs 15,256,390 million for the full plan. The main objectives of the plan have been outlined in Section 1.7.6. |
⇐History and General Features of Indian Railways | RAILWAY ENGINEERING - Contents | Different Modes of Transport⇒