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Trevredyn Rashleigh Wynne Sir

Railway Achievements

T. R. Wynne did his engineering in 1874 from R. I. E. College, Cooper's Hill, London. This institute was patronised by the East India Company and later by their successors. T. R. Wynne was one of the fifty engineers of 1874 batch appointed by the Public Works Department of India. These 50 engineers sailed for India in October 1874 from Southampton.

After reporting at Calcutta, Mr. Wynne was posted as an Assistant Engineer, Rajputana Railway on 18th November 1874. He was instrumental in completing the Yumuna Bridge near Agra. After completion of Yamuna Bridge, Mr. Wynne worked on 'Dhond and Manmad Railway from February 1877 to October 1879.

On his promotion as an Executive Engineer he joined 'Kathiawar State Railway' in November 1879. He worked there till May 1883 and later had two small stints at 'Bengal and North Western Railway' and 'Sind-Sagar Railway' and for a short while worked as Deputy Consulting Engineer to Government of India for the Guaranteed Railways in 1886.

Wynne resigned government service in 1887 to take up the appointment of Agent and Chief Engineer BNR in April 1887. He remained Agent of BNR till 1905 save for a long furlough from June 1902 to November 1903 when he was engaged in China as incharge of an Engineering and Mining Company. Wynne's tenure as Agent and Chief Engineer of BNR is full of laurels. Starting from a scratch in 1887 the lines in 1905 stretched to 1966 miles of length with a capital outlay of Rs.26 crores and an operating ratio less than 50 percent.

Trevredyn Rashleigh Wynne joined the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) in 1887 as its first Agent and Chief Engineer. BNR was formed to take over the then existing Nagpur Chhatisgarh Railway (149 miles), convert it to broad gauge and extend the system to join the East Indian Railway at Asansol and also to construct a branch 161 mile long northwards from Bilaspur to Umaria coal-fields and thus connect Katni, a station on the Jabalpur branch of the East Indian Railway. The allotted task for the young Wynne was stupendous by all records. By then Wynne was in early thirties and had been on job for only thirteen years. BNR was not a fore-runner on the Indian Railway scene. It was a generation younger than the leaders viz., the East Indian and the Great Indian Peninsula Railways. Though a latecomer, it captured the lost ground fast and in a couple of years, it was a major railway system competing with the premiers. The success of BNR is the story of success of T.R.Wynne who guided its path for over 48 years!

Wynne was appointed a Member of the Railway Board on its formation in 1905. Three years later Wynne became its President on the retirement of Sir F. R. Upcott in May 1908. He was appointed Knight Commander of the most eminent order of the Indian Empire in 1909 followed by Knight Commander of the most exalted order of the Star of India in 1911. He was Chairman Railway Board upto 1913.

Sir T. R. Wynne, KCSI, KCIE, VD, MICE could not remain idle for long. After his retirement from the Railway Board he joined the BNR Company as its Managing Director and remained on that position from 1915 to 1930. Again not to retire but to become its Chairman and be on the top position for a period of 5 years. This is thus the story of a railwayman who spent 61 years of his life in active service of railways.