Burma Railway
Formed as a private company, in 1896 Burma Railway (BR) took over the three metre gauge railways operating in Burma under a guarantee provided by the Government of India.
Characteristics
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 Jodhpur Railway, another metre gauge line. (1)
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.
Records
The following records are held at the British Library in the India Office Records (but not indexed in Z/L/AG/46).
- L/AG/46/6/17-18 : List of emplyees (1898-1921).
- L/F/10/250 : Half-yearly Staff lists (1922-1928).
External links
Wikipedia "History of Rail Transport in Burma"
