Madras Tramway Proposals

The Madras Tramway Proposals, 1857, are given in the India Office Records as detailed below. No further information has been found to establish if any experiments were conducted. There is no evidence that such proposals were adopted.

See Early Railway Experiments and Proposals for more information.

In a letter dated 29th April 1857 it was suggested that experiments for using tramways instead of common roads were being carried out in the Madras Territories and may be used in the Punjab.

The first tramway in Madras was many years later with the formation of The Madras Electric Tramway Co Ltd formed in 1892. The construction of the first track commenced in 1894 and the first tramway section opened for use in May 1895.

Records

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

• Z/E/4/29/M167; “Madras, Tramways suggested as substitutes for common roads”; 1857
• Z/E/4/29/T372; “Tramways, Madras, suggested as substitutes for common roads “; 1857
• Z/E/4/29/R935; “Roads, Madras, tramways suggested as substitutes for common roads”; 1857

Further Information

See Early Railway Experiments and Proposals for more information and background.