Calcutta to Delhi Railway Proposal 1852-53
Calcutta to Delhi Railway Proposal 1852-53
There had been an earlier proposal for railways from the ‘East India Company - Railway Proposals 1845’ - see separate page
The next consideration was the ‘Great Trunk Railway from Calcutta 1847 Proposal ’ - see separate page
Both these proposals came to nothing.
1852 December, the decision was made to construct a line to form a trunk designed to connect Calcutta with Delhi with a second section to ((Rajmahal]]. The work would start in different places at the same time and eventually connect. This would start immediately initially the cost would have been raised either on the stock market or from Central Government [1]. This was altered before the Dispatch was sent out, referring to the Governors Report [2] and the Resident Consulting Engineer ‘s Report[3]
1853 October, the dispatch referred to the expansion of Indian Railways and that a new company had undertaken to construct the railway to Delhi and the work to commence as decided in 1852 in different parts and operations started before the completion of the whole line. [4] This was a joint undertaking with the ‘East India Railway Company’ and the ‘Upper India Railway Company’ (formed in 1852 specifically to construct the line from Allahabad to Cawnpore) - see separate page
1854 August, the first section of the East Indian Railway from Howrah(serving Calcutta) to Hooghly opened to traffic in Aug. 1854 and the Allahabad to Cawnpore Section opened in Mar. 1859 and Delhi was reached in 1867 , it became the ‘EIR Main Line’ - see separate page
References
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/818 Financial Department Dispatch 21 December 1852 p.505
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/818 Financial Department Dispatch 21 December 1852 p.509
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/818 Financial Department Dispatch 21 December 1852 p.508
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/822 Financial Department Dispatch 5 October 1853 p5364