East Coast State Railway

The East Coast State Railway (ECSR) was a guaranteed company formed in 1890 to undertake the construction and working of a railway line on the from Bezwada(Vijaywada) junction point of Southern Mahratta Railway and to join the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway at Cuttack. It also provided an interchange with the metre gauge(MG) Bellary-Kistna State Railway at Kistna south of the river Kistna.

History

In 1899 the Survey of Rail line was ordered by the Government of Madras and undertaken by the the Public Works Department (PWD) . The construction of this broad gauge(BG) line, and named the East Coast Railway, was sanctioned in 1889-90 - see 'Personnel'.

The route included the construction of the Kistna Bridge at Bezwada to cross the River Kistna. This bridge was designed by Sir Alexander Rendel with F J E Spring as Engineer-in-Chief and Ernest Ifill Shadbolt as Executive Engineer on construction.

East Coast Railway - Northern Section

The ECSR had a comparatively brief existence before being divided:-

ECSR Northern Section

The ECSR opened the first section from Vizianagaram to Waltair, 38 miles in 1893 in 1893; extended northwards to reach Cuttack in 1897 via Naupada, Berhampur, Ganjam and Kurdha to Cuttack . Total length 294 miles(470km).

• ’Naupada Salt Branch’ , a short line 2.4 miles(3.8km) from Parlakimedi Road (Naupada) ]] .
• ’Puri Branch’, opened 1897, 27 miles(43km) from Khurda to Puri ]]..

In 1902 the ECSR was divided with the Northern Section being transferred to the Bengal-Nagpur Railway (BNR ).

ECSR Southern Section

East Coast Railway - Southern Section

The ECSR opened the section southwards from Waltair to Rajahmundry in 1893. Also in 1893 from Bezwada northwards to Kovvur. The line was completed in 1900 with the opening of the Havelock Bridge over the Godavari River connecting Rajahmundry to Kovvur. The line length was 217 miles(436km)

In 1901 the Southern Section was transferred to the Madras Railway(MR) in 1901; subsequently renamed Madras (North-East) Railway; becoming the Madras-Waltair NE Mainline of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR) in 1908.

Records

An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway gives the following:-

• L/F/8/16/1091; "Bengal-Nagpur Railway, Contract as to taking over a part of East Coast State Railway and construction of extensions and branch lines"; 23 Jan 1902
• L/F/8/16/1104; "Madras Railway Company, Contract as to maintenance, management and working of a portion of the East Coast Railway by the Company"; 31 Dec 1902

PersonnelRecords

Unfortunately, there are no ECSR Staff appointments held in the IORecords.

1905 India List records the following staff from the Public Works Department posted to the East Coast State Railway (ECSR):-

• Survey and Construction
  • Henry Wilkins Clift, 1889, ECSR Survey, Executive Enginner .
  • Bernard Baxter, 1889, ECSR Executive Engineer in Madras .
  • Francis Joseph Edward Spring, 1890, ECSR Engineer-in-Chief
  • Frank Haman Walford Morse, 1890, ECSR Survey, Executive Engineer and in 1894, Executive Engineer on open sections of line .
  • Abel John Oldham, 1890, ECSR Executive Engineer .
• Management
  • Alfred Brereton, 1893, ECSR Manager and Engineer-in-Chief .
  • Willoughby Verner Constable, 1898, ECSR Manager

Other records

• Robert Richard Gales, between 1895-1900, East Coast State Railway Assistant Manager .