H. Kench
H.Kench Engineer-in-charge Cherra-Companyganj Railway
The ambitious railway project was conceptualised by a British engineer in India, H. Kench, after need arose to connect Shillong, the then capital of the British India Province, to Calcutta by rail since carts had difficulty in negotiating mule tracks and roads on the steep slope of the Khasi Hills.
Further research is required in the IOR records as can be seen from the following reported in The Economic Times of 15 Mar 2012 [1]
'The CCSR in Meghalaya was opened to traffic on June 6, 1886.Passengers and goods were ferried between Tharia, a sleepy hamlet below Cherrapunjee and Companyganj, now in Bangladesh, for a distance of 7.5 miles. "Not many know that a 3.5 mile railway line was actually laid from Cherrapunjee to Mawsmai (now in East Khasi Hills district)," Arup Kumar Dutta, author of the book 'Indian Railways ? The Final Frontier', said.
'The author culled records for the book from the British railway records available at the National Archives and the Railway Museum archives in New Delhi and the State archives of Assam. The ambitious railway project was conceptualised by a British engineer in India, H Kench, after need arose to connect Shillong, the then capital of the British India Province, to Calcutta by rail since carts had difficulty in negotiating mule tracks and roads on the steep slope of the Khasi Hills.