Indian General Navigation and Railway Company

The Indian General Navigation and Railway Company was the owner of Mymensingh-Jamalpur-Jagannath Railway. A metre gauge (MG) line of 56 miles(90km) linking the three towns of Mymensingh-Jamalpur-Jagannathganj. The line opened in 1899 and was worked by Eastern Bengal Railway(EBR)

Company History

India General Steam Navigation Company was established in India in 1844 to compete with the steamers of the Indian government on the Ganges, later turning its attention to Assam, where the tea industry was developing and in need of improved communications.

From the 1870s onwards, the company faced much competition from 'Rivers Steam Navigation Company Limited', as a result of which various working agreements between the two companies were reached in the 1880s. As a result of one such agreement, made in 1889, the two companies came generally to be known as the Joint steamer companies, operating many joint services but maintaining separate management

In 1899, India General went into liquidation, partly in order to raise more capital, and partly in order to register in London.

India General Navigation and Railway Company Limited was the new name for the Company (so called because a few years earlier India General had undertaken the construction of an extension of a railway to the banks of the Brahmaputra at Jaganathganj).

Railway Interests

• Jorhat Provinicial State Railway - see separate page

From 1 Oct 1927 the maintenance, management and working of this railway was made over to Messrs Macneil and Co, Agents for ‘Rivers Steam Navigation Ltd’ and Messrs Kilburn & Co, Managing Agents for Indian General Navigation and Railway Company.