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GIPR REWRITE Work in Progress
Contents
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] [2]
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.
In 1910 John Edwin Dallas became Managing Director of the GIPR Company in London. Prior to his retirement from the Indian Public Works Department his final position was Senior Government Inspector of Railways [3].
The 1918 Administration Report on Indian Railways gives the GIPR broad gauge(BG) line length as 2668 miles; and including 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) lines, a total of 3441 miles.[4]
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.
The principal economic benefit of the GIPR was the opening up of the interior to external trade. The two lines up the Western Ghats were fully open by 1865 in time for cotton from the Deccan to be exported from Bombay to Manchester thus filling the trade gap created by the American Civil War.
Construction
The Western Ghats
The narrow coastal plain of India's west side is separated from the Deccan plateau by a mountain range which rises 1200m (3,900 ft) and which has always restricted internal communication with the Arabian Sea.
Bhore Ghat Railway Incline - between Kalyan and Poona
The Bhore Ghat Railway Construction was a major engineering constructed undertaken 1856-63 taking the GIPR south-eastern route towards Madras. The construction with an incline length: 15 miles, tunnels: 26 (totalling 2.25 miles in length),and 8 viaducts of masonry construction.
- Civil Engineers:
- Robert Stephenson [5], Consulting Engineer GIPR, based in England, 1849- until his death 1859 [6]
- Arthur Anderson West, Consultant Engineer 1847 - 1867, (surveyor of the Bhore Gate Incline) [7]
- James John Berkeley, GIPR Chief Engineer, 1849 - 1862 (surveyor and route designer)
- Charles Buchanan Ker, GIPR 2nd Engineer 1850 -
- Robert W Graham, GIPR 3rd Engineer 1850 -
- Robert Maitland Brereton, Assistant Engineer
- GIPR Engineers: Messrs Adamson and Clowser, replaced by Messrs West and Tate in November 1859.
- Construction Contractors
- 1855, The contract was awarded to William Frederick Faviell and work begun at Bhore Ghat on 24 January 1856 [8].
- In March 1859, Faviell gave up his contract; for a short time, two GIPR engineers, Swainson Adamson and George Louis Clowser, carried on the work [8].
- The GIPR construction contract was relet in November 1859 to Solomon Tredwell who died within fifteen days of landing in India. His wife, 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 [8].
- 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” [8].
Thul Ghat incline - between Kalyan and Nasik
The GIPR north-eastern route towards the Gangetic plain.
References
- ↑ "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
- ↑ H.M. Government “Statute Law Repeals: Nineteenth Report : Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill; April 2012"; pages 128-130 paragraphs 3.57 - 3.64 Retrieved on 2 January 2016
- ↑ Institution of Civil Engineers "Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers" Retrieved on 17 May 2016
- ↑ " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; pages 64-68; Retrieved 18 Dec 2015
- ↑ Grace's Guide "Robert Stephenson (1803-1859)"; Retrieved on 24 Jun 2016
- ↑ Google Books "The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise by Kartar Lalvani, page 162; Retrieved on 24 Jun 2016
- ↑ Institution of Civil Engineers Obituary "Arthur Anderson West 1827-1913"; Retrieved on 24 Jun 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 The Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency "Thana District" page 329., 'page 329. Retrieved on 24 Jun 2016
