Goa, Mormugoa Harbour Construction Railway
Goa, Mormugoa Harbour Construction Railway
The construction of a harbour at Marmagao/Mormugao, South Goa District in the Portugese enclave of Goa, was undertaken from 1878 with the signing of an agreement between the Portuguese Goverenment and the West of India Portuguese Railway.The construction stated in 1882 and thev first ship berthed in 1885 [1].
Two broad gauge(BG) steam locomotives were used during the initial construction from 1882, they operated on a 2½ mile(4km) line between a block yard and the harbour works and used to carry completed concrete blocks. The block yard had a 16 inch(40cm) gauge tramway used for transporting dry materials for concrete block making to the wet mix area. All the BG equipment including rails was advertised for sale in 1895 [1].
Marmagao/Mormugao Port was connected to the rest of India in 1888 with the opening of the West of India Portuguese Railway(WIPR), a metre gauge(MG) line linking via Castle Rock to Londa junction with the Southern Mahratta Railway(SMR) [2]. The Port would therefore be using a MG system to move goods via the SMR network.
In 1909-10 the records show that 2ft/610mm narrow gauge(NG) locomotives were being used at as part of the Mormugao Port Trust improvement scheme including an extension of the railway on behalf of WIPR
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compliled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry GA03 page 145
- ↑ “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 94 (pdf102); Retrieved 15 Feb 2017