Burma Railway

Burma Railway
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System timeline
1896	Burma Railway Company formed to work existing state lines
1928	Nationalisation
1937	Separation of Burma from India
1948	Union of Burma created
Constituent companies / lines
1896	Irrawaddy Valley State Railway
1896	Sittang Valley State Railway
1896	Mu Valley State Railway
1923-1927	Madaya Light Railway
Key locations
Headquarters	Rangoon
Workshops	Insein
Major Stations	Mandalay, Pegu, Prome, Toungoo
Successor system / organisation
1928	Burma Railways
1989	Myanmar Railways
System mileage
Metre gauge	1340 miles (1905) 2049 miles (1943)
Associated auxiliary force
n/a
How to interpret this infobox

Formed as a private company, in 1896 Burma Railway (BR) took over the three metre gauge(MG) railways operating in Burma under a guarantee provided by the Government of India.

History

Following the merger of the Irrawaddy Valley State Railway, the Sittang Valley State Railway and the Mu Valley State Railway to form BR, construction continued on various projects until 1924 when the extent of line exceeded 1800 miles. From 1906, BR was managed by Walter Home who repeated his previous success at the helm of the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway, another metre gauge line.

In 1928, BR was dissolved and the railways in Burma were brought once again under direct government control, being renamed Burma Railways. In 1937, Burma was split from India and political control passed to the newly-formed Burma Office.

The infamous Thailand-Burma Railway, constructed between 1942-1943 by Allied POWs under the direction of their Japanese captors, is at present outside of the scope of this article.

Railways in Burma in 1900

Burma Railway Map 1909

Neighbouring countries Railway Link Proposals

• Assam-Burma Connection Railway Project. A series of proposals from 1892 onwards to link India and Burma by rail; eventually all were dropped.
• Burma-Yunnan Railway Project. A project to connect the Burma Railway network to the China’s south-western Yunnan province. Construction started in 1938 and was abandoned in the early 1940’s

Extensions to Burma Railway

• Alon-Saingbyin Railway. Section of BR network, opened before 1925
• Moulmein-Ye Railway. Section of BR network, opened sometime between 1919 and 1929.
• Pyinmana-Taungdwingyi Railway. Section of BR network, opened sometime between 1919 and 1929.
• Southern Shan States Railway. Branch of BR constructed shortly before 1914-18 war
• Tounghoo-Mandalay Railway. Opened 1890-91 as an extension of BR

Connection Line to Burma Railway

• Burma Mines Railway. Opened 1907, private NG railway to transport locally mined silver; connecting to Lashio branch of BR; independent until after 1947

Railways aquired by BR

Madaya Light Railway. Unassisted private company, 1912; Purchased by Government of India(GoI) 1923, passed to BR; closed 1927

Coal Supplies

From 1891 coal for the BR was partly supplied from the Kebwet Mine, the coal was carried by the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company(IFC) . By 1923 23,000 tons of coal had been extracted and carried by IFC. The coal was of inferior quality and supply ceased in January 1905. See separate page for further information

Records

Refer to FIBIS Fact File #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” - available from the Fibis shop. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library

An on-line search of the IOR records relating to this railway gives many references. The most important being:-

• L/AG/46/7 “Records of the Burma Railways Company, 1896-1921”
• L/AG/46/28 “Records of the India Office relating to the Burma Railways Company 1897-1927”

Personnel Records

• L/AG/46/7/17-18 “Records of the Burma Railways Company, which includes lists of employees, 1898-1921”
• L/F/10/250 "Records of service: Officers employed by the Burma Railways Co Ltd. Half-yearly Staff lists 1922-1928"

This railway was a State Railways and the following IOR records relating to Staff employment are held :-

• L/F/8/1-20 "Appointments to State Railways made in the UK 1855-1946"
• Z/L/F/8/1-2 "Index to Appointments to State Railways made in the UK 1855-1946"

The following staff from the Public Works Department are listed in the 1905 Civil List as being posted to Burma State Railway:-

• Frederick Robert Bagley, 1883, posted to Burma Railway as Executive Engineer, Survey; 1897 Superintending Engineer and 1903 Chief Engineer of Burma Railways .
• Abraham Robert Lilley, from 1887, Executive Engineer, Burma Railway .
• Henry Rigg, 1889, Manager and Engineer-in-Chief Burma State Railways .
• John Walker Buyers, 1890, posted to Burma Railway as Superintending Engineer until retirement in 1891; prior to this he was deployed to Mu Valley State Railway which was absorbed into Burma State Railway.
• Edward Henry Clementson, 1890, posted to Burma Railway as Executive Engineer .
• Cornelius Edward Cardew, from 1890's, Burma State Railway, Locomotive Superintendent; 1892, Indian Railway Conference Association, Lahore. 'Locomotive Superintendents Conference' delegate representing Burma Railway ; Lieut.-Colonel of the Burma Railway Volunteers.; 1906, Retired
• Charles Albert Bull, 1891 September, posted to Burma Railway as Superintendent of Works, promoted 1892 June to Superintending Engineer .
• Hugh Lewin Monk, 1895, Officiating Manager ; prior to this he was deployed to Mu Valley State Railway which was absorbed into Burma State Railway.
• Frederick Benbow Hebbert, 1896, Officiating Manager .
• Reuben William Roberts, 1896, Executive Engineer 'on loan to Burma State Railway' .