Beitkal Harbour to Hyderabad Railway Proposal 1858
Beitkal Harbour to Hyderabad Railway Proposal 1858
The “Bombay Minutes of the Members of Council on a railway from Beitkal Harbour to Hyderabad” dated 13th September 1858 [1] indicate that a full scale railway was under consideration to be built. Colonel Arthur Thomas Cotton had been asked to provide an expert opinion. His estimate on page 28 of the submission gave that for the proposed 400 miles of railway at 80,000Rs per mile the cost would be over three million pounds. His conclusion was that this investment was unjustified and would place financial restrictions on the Madras Presidency.
At about same time in 1858 proposals were being considered for a Light Railway/River link. This would connect the cotton producing area of Dharwar by light railway and river to the port town of Karwar where Beitkul Harbour would be developed. A comprehensive report was published – see Dharwar Light Railway/River link to Karwar Proposal, 1858 for details and references.
In the event neither of these two proposals were adopted and Karwar was not connected by rail to the interior, although a small port at Beitkal Harbour was constructed.
Further Information
See Early Railway Experiments and Proposals for more information and background.
References
- ↑ Gokhale Institute of Poliics and Education “Copy of Minute of Major Moore, then Member of the Court of Directors of the East India Company” ....”including 1) Memorandum of Colonel A. Cotton, on the Bombay Minutes of the Members of Council, on a Railway from Beitkul Harbour to Hyderabad, prepared in obedience to Orders of the Madras Government, on the 13th day of September 1858”. Then click on pdf file GIPE-014294.pdf pages 22-51; Retrieved 5 Jan 2017
