East Indian Railway
| East Indian Railway | ||
|---|---|---|
 Howrah Station, Calcutta | ||
| Line of route | ||
| Howrah (Calcutta) to Delhi | ||
| Gauge / mileage | ||
| Broad gauge | 1962 miles (1905) | |
| Timeline | ||
| 1849 | Guarantee agreed with East India Company | |
| 1851 | Construction begun | |
| 1854 1867 1871 |
First train between Howrah and Hooghly First through train to Delhi First through train to Bombay via Jubbalpore | |
| 1880 | Line acquired by State | |
| Key locations | ||
| Presidency | Bengal | |
| Stations | Agra, Benares, Hooghly, Mirzapur, Patna | |
| System agency | ||
| 1880 | worked by East Indian Railway Company | |
| How to interpret this infobox | ||
| East Indian Railway | ||
|---|---|---|
 East Indian Railway device | ||
| System timeline | ||
| 1880 | EIR re-formed to work line now owned by State | |
| 1925 | Management of system taken over by State | |
| Constituent companies / lines | ||
| 1880 | East Indian Railway | |
| 1889 | Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway | |
| South Behar Railway | ||
| 1885 | Tarkessur Railway | |
| Jind-Palipat Railway | ||
| 1925 | Oudh and Rohilkhand merged into EIR | |
| Key locations | ||
| Headquarters | Calcutta | |
| Workshops | Jamalpur, Liluah | |
| Major Stations | Agra, Benares, Howrah, Patna | |
| Successor system / organisation | ||
| 1947 | Eastern Division, Indian Railways | |
| 1952 | split between Eastern & Northern Railways (IR zones) | |
| System mileage | ||
| Broad gauge | 2225 miles (1905) 4011 miles (1943) | |
| Associated auxiliary force | ||
| East Indian Railway Regiment | ||
| How to interpret this infobox | ||
Built on the same terms and conditions as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), the East Indian Railway (EIR) was a British company, registered in London, privately owned and financed, operating under license and guarantee from the (British) Board of Control in India and the East India Company (EIC).
By 1859, the arrangements were "the construction and working of lines from Calcutta to Delhi, and from Allahabad to Juppulpore - total, about 1,400 miles. Capital - 12,731,000l. This amount has been sanctioned for the works specified, but it is probable that a larger sum will be required. Rate of Interest Guaranteed - 5 per cent. on 11,553,000l. capital; 4½ per cent. on 1,178,000l. debentures, convertible into shares." 1
Contents
History
Formed in 1845, the EIR was not contracted by the EIC to begin railway construction until 1849 when it became one of the three original guaranteed companies sanctioned to construct experimental lines. It was not until 1854 that the EIR opened its first section from Howrah to Hooghly. By 1864, the EIR had arrived in Delhi although it was not until 1871 that the Bombay-Calcutta route was completed when the GIPR reached Juppulpore.
In 1862, the Jamalpur Locomotive workshops were established. On 15 January 1935, the Jamalpur Workshops along with the entire railway colony was destroyed by an earthquake. It took 3 years to rebuild.
The Government of India (GoI) acquired the assets of the EIR on 31 December 1879 while leaving the management to the private company.
The GoI took over the direct running of the EIR on 1 January 1925.
Indian Railways
In 1952, the EIR was split to form two zones of Indian Railways. The Moradabad, Lucknow & Ellahabad Division was subsuned into Northern Railway while the remainder was merged with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway (BNR) to form Eastern Railway. This latter merger was not considered a success as, in 1955, BNR was demerged to form South Eastern Railway.
Organisation
By 1914, EIR was organised into the following departments, each with its own workshops with the main ones shown.
- Agency
- Audit & Accounts
- Carriage & Wagon
- Colliery
- Electrical
- Engineering
- Locomotive
- Medical
- Printing
- Provifent Institution
- Stores
- Traffic
Schools
The EIR operated many schools, of which probably the best known was Oak Grove School at Mussoorie. Oak Grove School is still associated with Indian Railways and Northern Railway.
Records
The following are held in the India Office Records at the British Library.
- L/AG/46/11/133-137 : Contracts of appointment, c1858-1925 (possibly not all included)
The above is indexed in
- Z/L/AG/46 : Index to UK Appointments to Indian Railways (1849-1925)
The following is not included in the index Z/L/AG/46.
- L/AG/46/11/138-141 : Half-yearly staff lists, 1861-1890 & 1911-1922 (giving ages from 1886).
Recommended reading
George Huddleston, History of the East Indian Railway (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co, 1906). [A second part, published in 1939, took the history to 1924.]
Blair Williams, "EIR at Jamalpur - Anglo-Indian Railway Officers", The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies (Vol 6, No 2, 2001).
External Links
Science & Society Picture Library
EIR at Jamalpur- Anglo-Indian Railway Officers by Blair Williams The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies Volume 6, Number 2, 2001.
Notes
1 "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
