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The '''Assam-Bengal Railway''' (ABR) was a metre gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]) railway built to connect the highlands of Assam with the port of [[Chittagong]].
<ref name=Admin1918>[https://archive.org/stream/BombayBarodaAndCentralIndiaRailwaySystem/Bombay_Baroda_And_Central_India_Railway_System#page/n161/mode/1up  " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government  Printing,  Calcutta;  page 153]; Retrieved 20 Dec 2017</ref>
[[File: Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909.png|thumb|Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909]]


==Survey and Construction==
The [[Government of India]](GoI) carried out surveys for the route between 1882 and 1887. The GoI started the construction of the railway in 1891 from [[Gauhati]] to Dimapur. In 1892 the ‘Assam and Bengal Railway Co’ was formed in London to construct and operate the railway. The line was 740 miles long and the construction was divided into three sections numbered I, II and III.
*Section I, 303½  miles(490km), ran from [[Chittagong]] to [[Badarpur]];  and included the ‘[[Laksham]]-[[Chandpur]] Branch' and the ‘[[Badarpur]]-[[Silchar]] Branch’
*Section II, 115 miles(185km), from [[Badarpur]] to [[Lumding]]
*Section III, 321½ miles(517km), from [[Lumding]] to [[Makum]] where it joined '[[Tinsukia]] Branch' of the [[Dibru-Sadiya Railway]]; and included the ‘[[Lumding]]-[[Gauhati]] Branch'
The construction of Section I and III was straightforward. Work commenced on Section I in 1892-93, and completed by 1899. Section III had been commenced by the GoI in 1891 and the ABR commenced work in 1893-94, and fully completed by 1903  <ref name =RC01>“Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at  http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference:  Entry RC01  page ....</ref>.
Section II was a more complex section of the line to construct and was not completed until the end of 1903. Work commenced in 1895 and a contract was given to ‘Lewis Jones & Co’ for the construction of the earthworks and tunnels <ref name =RC01/>.
<br> The Imperial Gazetteer <ref>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V06_084.gif “mperial Gazetteer of India”, v. 6, p. 78]; Retrieved 20 Dec 2017</ref>  gives the following account:-
''“This section runs through shale of the worst description, often intermixed with bands of kaolinite, which swells when exposed and causes heavy slips, or exerts immense pressure on the sides of tunnels. To counteract this pressure, very heavy masonry was required, cuttings had to be arched in, and special measures taken to allow drainage to escape. Though the hill section was only 113 miles in length, it container 24 tunnels, 7 covered ways,  and 74 major bridges, the longest being 650 feet, and the highest 113 feet above the river bed; while many of the banks and cuttings approach 100 feet in height and depth respectively. Apart from the special engineering difficulties, great inconvenience was experienced owing to the absence of local labour and food-supplies, and to the unhealthiness of the country traversed. At one time, in addition to the railway materials, food for more than 25,000 men had to be carried into the hills on elephants, bullocks, ponies and other pack animals. The result is that the cost of construction of the hill section has been extremely heavy.”''
<br>By the end of Apr 1901 track had been laid 36 miles(58km) north from [[Badarpur]] and 40 miles(64km) south from [[Lumding]]. Track was laid throughout Section III ib May 1903 when goods trains started running. The line opened to passenger traffic on 16 Feb 1904 <ref name =RC01/>.
==Development of the ABR==
===ABR Initial Line and Branches===
Main Line from Chittagong Port to [[Tinsukia]], 574 miles(924km) where it joined the [[Dibru-Sadiya Railway]], fully opened 1903. Some records refer to this as the '[[Assam Valley Branch Railway]]'
*[[Chandpur Branch Railway]], 32 miles(51km), opened 1895. This is the ‘[[Laksham]]-[[Chandpur]] Branch'.
*[[Chittagong Port Branch Railway]], opened 1895; constructed to convey tea to Chittagong port; line extended, 1903
*[[Silchar Branch Railway]], 19 miles(30km), opened 1898. This is the ‘[[Badarpur]]-[[Silchar]] Branch’
*[[Gauhati Branch Railway]], 113 miles(181km), opened 1897-99. This is the ‘[[Lumding]]-[[Gauhati]] Branch'
===Later Extensions===
The following extensions were in place by 1918 <ref name=Admin1918/>:-
*[[Noakhali Branch Railway]], 30 miles(48km), from [[Laksham]] to [[Noakhali]]
*[[Bhairab Bazar Branch Railway]], 19 miles(30km), opened 1910), from [[Akhaura]] to Ashuganj on the banks of the Meghna opposite the village of Bhairab Bazar , the commercial centre of the District and site of a cattle market.
*[[Tangi Branch Railway]], an extension to the above via the wagon ferry to connected through to Tangi, 1916,  61 miles(98km), from [[Akhaura]] to meet with the [[Eastern Bengal Railway]] near [[Dacca]]..
*[[Sylhet Branch Railway]], 31 miles(50km), under construction 1911, to Fenchuganj Ghat 1912, to [[Sylhet]] with opening of Kusiyara Bridge, 1916.
*[[Dikhow Extension Railway]], 6.7 miles(10.7km), from Sibsagar Road to [[Bihubar]], opened 1913
*[[Naginimara Branch Railway]], 2.3 miles(3.7km), a further extension to the [[Dikhow Extension Railway]] above, from [[Bihubar]] to Naginimara, opened 1917
===Lines worked by ABR===
*[[Noakhali (Bengal) Railway]], opened 1902; Worked by ABR until merged into ABR 1906
*[[Pandu Ghat-Gauhati Railway]], opened 1908, Link constructed by [[Eastern Bengal Railway]](EBR) from [[Amingaon-Pandu Train Ferry]] to ABR network; worked by ABR; transferred to ABR 1922
*[[Chaparmukh Silghat Railway]], opened  1908 and being worked by ABR 1919
*[[Mymensingh-Bhairab Bazar Railway]]; Constructed 1912-18, worked by ABR
*[[Netrakona-Mohanganj Railway]] Constructed 1912-18, worked by ABR; part of  [[Mymensingh-Bhairab Bazar Railway]]
*[[Katakhal Lalbazar Railway]]; Under construction 1921 by private company; worked by ABR, 1923
===Routes Surveyed by ABR===
*[[Hajiganj-Shatnal Railway Survey]].  Branch line surveyed by ABR, 1897; still pending 1906; apparently not constructed
===The end of ABR===
On 1 January 1942 the ABR combined with the [[Eastern Bengal Railway]](EBR) to form the [[Bengal and Assam Railway]]. At time of partition in 1947 the Bengal and Assam Railway was split up <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam_Bengal_Railway Wikipedia “Assam-Bengal Railway” ]; Retrieved 20 Dec 2017</ref>.
==Records==
Refer to FIBIS Fact File  #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” -  available from the [http://www.fibis.org/store/fibis-books-and-publications/bff-0004-research-sources-for-indian-railways-1845-1947/ Fibis shop]. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the [[India Office Records]] (IOR) held at the [[British Library]]
An on-line search of the IOR records relating to this railway
<ref>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=IAMS_VU2  “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue”  - Search]; Retrieved 18 Jan 2016 </ref> gives 65 references. The most important being:-
*'''L/AG/46/1''' “Records of the Assam Bengal Railway Company; 1892-1941”
*'''L/F/7/141-145''' “Finance Department  - Assam Bengal Railway Company; 1892-1941”
As a state managed railway a search of the following may provide information: -
*'''L/F/8/1-20''' "Appointments to State Railways made in the UK 1855-1946"
*'''Z/L/F/8/1-2''' Index to Appointments to State Railways made in the UK 1855-1946"
==Personnel==
The 1905 Civil List records the following deployment from the [[Public Works Department]] - [[:Category:State Railways|State Railways]]:-
*[[Boswell Parkinson Milsom]], Executive Enginner, '1893-96, on loan to the Assam-Bengal Railway Company <ref>[https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PA560 Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 560 (pdf page 523)] Retrieved on 29 May 2016</ref>.
==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/romanticeastburm00delmrich  The Assam-Bengal railway: 'The Romantic East: Burma, Assam, and Kashmir by Walter del Mar (1852 - 1944); Chapter XII, pages 107-8. Published by Adam and Charles Black, London, 1906.] and reproduced at http://www.irfca.org/docs/history/romantic-east.html
*[http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/take-this-train-at-your-own-peril-9815 Take this train at your own peril] by Jaideep Mazumdar  February 23, 2013 timescrest.com.  "The rail route through the Borail Hill Range between Lumding and Badarpur in Assam is considered to be an engineering marvel with 37 tunnels and a series of stunning bridges and viaducts spanning deep gorges and ravines.    During the construction of this rail line, which took 11 years (it was completed in 1903) many died of malaria, diarrhoea, other diseases, attacks by wild animals. There were also killer landslides".
== References ==
<references />
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[[Category:Railways]]
[[Category:State Railways]]

Latest revision as of 17:57, 30 December 2020

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