Great Indian Peninsula Railway

Great Indian Peninsula Railway
The Bombay-Poona Mail in full flight about 1910
Line of route
Bombay to Raichur (SE Division} Bombay to Jubbulpore (NE Division)) Bhusawal to Delhi Bhusawal to Nagpur
Gauge / mileage
Broad gauge	1562 miles (1905)
Timeline
1845	Company formed
1853	First section of line open to traffic
1871	Through trains to Calcutta via Jubbulpore
	Dhond-Manmad State Railway absorbed
1900	Line acquired by State
Key locations
Presidency	Bombay
Stations	Kalyan, Poona, Hotgi, Wadi, Ahmadnagar, Akola, Chanda, Khandwa, Itarsi, Narsinghpur
System agency
	Worked by Great Indian Peninsula Railway
How to interpret this infobox

Great Indian Peninsula Railway
Great Indian Peninsula Railway device
System timeline
1900	Company re-formed to work State line
1925	Government takes over working of system
Constituent companies / lines
	Great Indian Peninsula Railway
	Agra-Delhi Chord Railway
	Bhopal-Itarsi Railway
	Bhopal-Ujjain Railway
	Bina-Goona-Baran Railway
	Gwalior Light Railway
1900	Indian Midland Railway
Key locations
Headquarters	Bombay
Workshops	Parel
Major Stations	Agra, Ahmadnagar, Akola, Amraoti, Banda, Bhopal, Bhusawal, Cawnpore, Chanda, Delhi, Dholpur, Gwalior, Hotgi, Itarsi, Jhansi, Jubbulpore, Khandwa, Muttra, Nagpur, Narsinghpue, Poona, Raichur, Saugor, Wadi
Successor system / organisation
1951	Central Railway (IR zone)
System mileage
Broad gauge	2988 miles (1905) 3363 miles (1943)
2' 0" NG	183 miles (1905) 202 miles (1943)
Associated auxiliary force
Great Indian Peninsula Railway Regiment
How to interpret this infobox

Like most of the early railways in India, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) was a British company, registered in London, privately owned and financed, operating under licence and guarantee from the (British) Board of Control in India and the East India Company (EIC).

History

Formed in 1845, it was not until 1849 (at the urging of the then Governor, Lord Dalhousie) that the EIC sanctioned the GIPR to construct an experimental line, built to the broad gauge of 5' 6", eastward from Bombay. The first sod was turned on 31 October 1850 and the first locomotive was used in construction on 22 December 1851, but the first passenger train in India did not run until 16 April 1853, when a train, with 14 railway carriages and 400 guests, left Bombay bound for Thane, hauled by three locomotives: Sindh, Sultan, and Sahib. The 21 mile journey took an hour and fifteen minutes over the first section of the GIPR to be opened.

By 1859, GIPR was tasked with "the construction and working of the following lines, all of which terminate at Bombay, - viz. from Bombay, via Callian, to Jubbulpore, to meet the East Indian Railway Company's line from Allahabad, with branches to Mahim and Nagpore - 870 miles; and from Callian, via Poonah and Sholapore, to the opposite side of the river Kristna, to meet the line, via Bellary, from Madras - 366 miles - total, 1,236 miles. Capital 10,000,000ll. Rate of Interest Guaranteed - 5 per cent. on 8,000,000l. capital, and 4½ per cent. on 333,000l. debentures, the balance to be raised upon arrangements to be hereafter made." ⁽¹⁾

Map of GIPR in 1870

When, in 1871, the GIPR eventually reached Jubbulpore and linked to the East Indian Railway (EIR), it completed Dalhousie’s dream of a Bombay-Calcutta route.

On 30 June 1900, the assets of the GIPR were purchased by the GoI and merged with those of the Indian Midland Railway into a "new" GIPR, managed by the old company.

On 1 July 1925, the GoI took over direct control of the GIPR and transferred the Allahabad to Jubbulpore branch of the EIR to the GIPR.

In 1951, the GIPR combined with the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway, the Dholpur State Railway and the Scindia State Railway to become Central Railway, a zone of Indian Railways.

Design and construction: Bhore Ghat Incline - between Bombay and Poona

GIPR Chief Engineer 1849 - 1862: Mr. James J. Berkley (surveyor and route designer).

GIPR Engineers: Messrs. Adamson and Clowser, subsequently replaced by Messrs. West and Tate in Nov 1859.

Construction Contractors Autumn 1855 Mr. Faviell , work begun at Bhore Ghat on the 24th January 1856. In March 1859, Mr. Faviell gave up his contract; and, for a short time, GIPR's engineers Messrs. Swainson Adamson and George Louis Clowser, carried on the works.

The GIPR construction contract was relet in November 1859 to Mr. Solomon Tredwell, but he died within fifteen days of landing in India. Mrs. Alice Tredwell assumed the contract and appointed Messrs. Adamson and Clowser to manage the contract for her, in her absence - as Mrs. Tredwell returned to England. This arrangement was to last seven years.

“These gentlemen (Adamson and Clowser) carried on the work with the greatest zeal and ability.” Labour management could limit construction progress, but “by their good and liberal management (Adamson and Clowser) collected and kept on the work a force of 25,000 men during two seasons, and in 1861 of more than 42,000 men.”

Incline length: 15 miles, tunnels: 26 (totalling 2.25 miles in length),and 8 viaducts of masonry construction.

Records

The following are held in the India Office Records at the British Library.

• L/AG/46/12/86 : GIPR Lists of appointments (officers 1849-1885; workmen 1852-1880)

• L/AG/46/12/88 : GIPR Contracts of employment (officers 1886-1925; workmen 1881-1925)

Both of the above are indexed in

• Z/L/AG/46 : Index to UK Appointments to Indian Railways (1849-1925)

External Links

• Solomon and Alice Tredwell, contractors for Bhore Ghat Instone Family Tree.

• GIPR picture gallery Science & Society Picture Library.

• GIPR picture gallery David Flitcroft's Photographs.

• "Guaranteed Railways in India" Hansard 1803-2005 (accessed 04 December 2008)

• History (of Central Railway) Central Railway (Indian Railways).

• http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/gazeetter_reprint/Thane-I/trade_roads.html#5 Railways

	See our interactive map of the North East Division locations and routes on Google Maps

Notes

¹ "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.