Burma Railway

Burma Railway
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System timeline
1896	Burma Railway Company formed to work existing state lines
1928	Nationalisation
1937	Separation of Burma from India
1948	Union of Burma created
Constituent companies / lines
1896	Irrawaddy Valley State Railway
1896	Sittang Valley State Railway
1896	Mu Valley State Railway
1923-1927	Madaya Light Railway
Key locations
Headquarters	Rangoon
Workshops	Insein
Major Stations	Mandalay, Pegu, Prome, Toungoo
Successor system / organisation
1928	Burma Railways
1989	Myanmar Railways
System mileage
Metre gauge	1340 miles (1905) 2049 miles (1943)
Associated auxiliary force
n/a
How to interpret this infobox

Formed as a private company, in 1896 Burma Railway (BR) took over the three metre gauge railways operating in Burma under a guarantee provided by the Government of India.

History

Following the merger of the Irrawaddy Valley State Railway, the Sittang Valley State Railway and the Mu Valley State Railway to form BR, construction continued on various projects until 1924 when the extent of line exceeded 1800 miles. From 1906, BR was managed by Walter Home who repeated his previous success at the helm of the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway, another metre gauge line. (1)

In 1928, BR was dissolved and the railways in Burma were brought once again under direct government control, being renamed Burma Railways. In 1937, Burma was split from India and political control passed to the newly-formed Burma Office.

The infamous Thailand-Burma Railway, constructed between 1942-1943 by Allied POWs under the direction of their Japanese captors, is at present outside of the scope of this article.

India-Burma Railway Link Proposals

• Assam-Burma Connection Railway Project. A series of proposals from 1892 onwards to link India and Burma by rail; eventually all were dropped.

Extensions to Burma Railway

• Alon-Saingbyin Railway. Section of BR network, opened before 1925
• Moulmein-Ye Railway. Section of BR network, opened sometime between 1919 and 1929.
• Pyinmana-Taungdwingyi Railway. Section of BR network, opened sometime between 1919 and 1929.
• Southern Shan States Railway. Branch of BR constructed shortly before 1914-18 war
• Tounghoo-Mandalay Railway. Opened 1890-91 as an extension of BR

Connection Line to Burma Railway

• Burma Mines Railway. Opened 1907, private NG railway to transport locally mined silver; connecting to Lashio branch of BR; independent until after 1947

Railways aquired by BR

Madaya Light Railway. Unassisted private company, 1912; Purchased by Government of India(GoI) 1923, passed to BR; closed 1927

Records

The following records are held at the British Library in the India Office Records (but not indexed in Z/L/AG/46).

• L/AG/46/6/17-18 : List of employees (1898-1921).
• L/F/10/250 : Half-yearly Staff lists (1922-1928).

External links

"History of Rail Transport in Burma" Wikipedia.

Railways in Burma in 1900

Notes

(1) "Walter Home : Burma Railway"