Rail History

Railway Networks

The history of Indian Railways dates back to over 160 years ago. On 16th April 1853, the first passenger train ran between Bori Bunder (Bombay) and Thane, a distance of 34 km. It was operated by three locomotives, named Sahib, Sultan and Sindh, and had thirteen carriages. The photo to the right, while capturing a scene from the early days of railways in India, features a train pulled by a single locomotive, and is widely - but incorrectly - believed to be that first service.

Just a couple of years after that first train, the engineers of the Indian Railway took up the colossal task of building a track over Bhore Ghat.

Built at an elevation of 2000 feet, to connect Bombay with Poona, with tunnels and reverse viaducts, the track was finally constructed over a period of nine years and at great human cost.

1862: The Jamalpur Workshop

The first Railway Workshop was established at Jamalpur, near Munger, Bihar, in 1862. It gradually became one of the major industrial unit of India, with iron and steel foundries, rolling mills and more.

In 1864, the north got its first station - the Delhi Junction. The oldest one of the city, it was a major station and junction and remains so till date.

It was first established near Chandni Chowk in 1864 when trains from Howrah/Calcutta started operating up to Delhi. The current building was made operational in 1903.

The next important station in the north was Lucknow. It was the headquarters of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway (O&RR) whose first line from Lucknow to Kanpur was built in April 1867.

Now known as Lucknow Charbagh Station, it is part of Northern Railway.

It was built in England and was brought to India for use by the East Indian Railway (EIR) to haul light mail trains in West Bengal. It is powered by two cylinders and has an output of just 130 horsepower with a maximum speed of 40 km/hr.

After four decades of importing ready-made British locomotive parts for assembly, in 1895 the first steam locomotive was manufactured completely in India at the Ajmer Workshop.

The locomotive, F-734, became part of the Rajputana Malwa Railways and served both passenger and goods trains along Central India.

This lightweight design, which remained in service for 63 years, was the beginning of locomotive manufacturing in the country.

Now better known as Virat, locomotive number AWE 22907 is a broad gauge steam locomotive, built in 1943 by Baldwin Locomotive Workshop, Philadelphia, USA. It was brought to India for use by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway.

AWE Stands for American War Design. This brand of locomotives entered the industry at the beginning of the world war, when British manufacturers were engaged in the war. This new design with a light bar frame and lighter wheels was faster, more efficient and easier to maintain and soon replaced it's bulkier predecessors.

The locomotive is now maintained in working state at Rewari Steam Centre, near Delhi.

Railway technology

The railways became popular at an unprecedented speed. The frequency and the quantity of trains was increasing as more and more people become dependent on it's services. At the same time, there was a need to enhance the safety of the passengers and the number of trains on the track increased. Many instruments were thus developed for better management of railway sections. One of them was the three position block instrument, seen on the right.