Great Indian Peninsula Railway
Formed in 1849 at the urging of the then Governor, Lord Dalhousie, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) ran the first passenger train in India on 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 20 mile journey took an hour and fifteen minutes over the first section of the GIPR to be opened.
Like most of the early railways in India, the GIPR was a British company, registered in London, privately owned and financed, operating under license and guarantee from the (British) Board of Control in India.
When, in 1871, the GIPR eventually reached Allahabad and linked to the East India Railway, it completed Dalhousie’s dream of a Bombay-Calcutta route.
Records
Staff agreements from 1881-1925 and index to appontments made in the United Kingdom from 1848-1880 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
Great Indian Peninsula Railway logo
