Rangoon Tramway, Burma
Rangoon Tramway, Burma
The British opened a system of steam tramways in 1884 in Rangoon, the capital, commercial center and principal seaport of Burma. An electric tram system followed on Dec. 15, 1906, and by 1921 there were 22 km of track and 77 cars in operation [1]
History
The first tramways in Rangoon used steam trams. A successful local businessman, John Darwood had a concession to operate steam trams but, after a few unsuccessful years of operation, he sold out to a company from Calcutta. This company was equally unsuccessful and went into liquidation in 1899. John Darwood re-acquired the concession in 1902 in order to operate an electric tramway. Since all the equipment had to be imported from Britain, start-up costs were high so John Darwood sold the concession, retaining an interest, to British investors and the Rangoon Electric Tramway and Supply Company was registered in Liverpool in 1905 [2].
The power station and headquarters were in Ahlone Township. One line ran along Dalhousie Street (now called Mahabandoola Street) to Sule Pagoda, then turning north then east along Montgomery Street (now called Bogyoke Aung San Street) to Pazundaung Jetty. A branch leading uphill along China Street served the south gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda. The system was further extended up until the mid 1930s, by which time it was carrying over 40 million passengers a year. The other part of the company's business was providing electric street lighting and electricity for commercial and private use. The Municipal Commissioners decided that electricity generation and transmission should be under their control and, in 1937, a municipal power station was opened. This was destroyed in 1942 during Japanese air raids on Rangoon. Later, the Rangoon Electric Tramway power station was destroyed by the British to deny the facility to the advancing Japanese. The Japanese were able to bring the municipal power station back into use until 1944 when they destroyed it in the face of Britain's re-occupation. After the war, limited generation was not resumed until 1950 [2].
The Rangoon Electric Tramway was nationalised as part of the Rangoon Electricity Supply Board in 1953 and, following prolonged wrangling over compensation for the shareholders, the Rangoon Electric Tramway was dissolved in 1961 [2]..
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this tramway [3] gives the following:-
- L/PJ/6/114, File 13; “Papers relative to the Rangoon Street Tramway Bill”; 11 Dec 1883
- L/PJ/6/114, File 56; “The Rangoon Tramways Bill, 1883”
References
- ↑ “Tram views of Asia” ; Retrieved 16 Aug 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “Rangoon Tramways” by Jan Ford , based on information from Dr. Tilman Frasch's article “Trams in Rangoon - they first ran 100 years ago” ,published in 'Tramway Review' No. 213 May 2008; Retrieved 16 Aug 2016
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 17 Aug 2016
