Indian Railways - Part II

INDIAN RAIILWAYS

PART - II

Welcome to part 2 of the history of Indian Railways. In this post, we will discuss how the early stages of the Indian Railway developed and how new lines were uilt to connect nearly every corner of the Nation.

EARLY STAGES:

In the early years, Indian Railways was first expanded from the first routes as discussed below. Click the link below to see it. From then on, the railways was divided according to region and started to become a big organisation. At that time however, it was not a single state owned organisation. It was a set of seperate companies that worked in competition with one another to provide rail connectivity to Indian cities and villages.

Nothing changed much over many years in the railways under the british rule, but after independence, in 1951, all of the train companies that had been running trains were forced out of India and the newly formed state owned organisation was named Indian Railways.  

                              

Indian Railways Logo

Along with Indian Railways, ICF, short for Integral Coach Factory, was built in Madras to manufacture trains that would run all over India. 

Throughout the British Period, newer and longer railway lines were built all across India. The railways were first built only for cargo and ran single track steam services. Teens and youth first attempted to smuggle on to trains and get off wherever they desire. Slowly, these modes os illegal transport became essential modes of oving people and when Indian Railways was unified, those ind of routes were legalised as passenger services to small towns and became the lifeline of the Nation. 

To operate safe and frequent services across single track corridors, a British Engineer Named John Neale Invented a Token System. We will see more about this system in the next post. Untill then, stay tuned...

Indian Railways - A Brief History

INDIAN RAILWAYS - A BRIEF HISTORY

PART - I

This is perhaps the post i have been waiting for since i started posting on this blog. A quick sidenote, there won't be an MRT News Express this month because most of the construction works and operations of metro rails have been stopped due to Novel Corona Virus spread. 

At first, i thought of making a blog on the Railways alone. Then i changed my mind to do both Railways and Metros, that's why the Blog is called MRT India instead of MetroIndia. I also decided to make Railways after some posts. But today, i finally decided to make a post on Indian Railways. 

About:

This is a series in which i will cover every part of the inception, development and the future of Indian Railways and how it has changed the lives of Indian Citizens drastically. Without further ado, let's start!!

Indian Railways in the 19th Century

THE FIRST STAGES:

The first proposals to build a railway in India rose in Madras in 1932. The first railway was a cargo railway that ran from Red Hills to Chindadaripet in the city, also known as the red-hill Railway, Built by Arthur Cotton to transport granite from the Hills into the city. However, saying that now would be ridiculous as Red Hills is considered as Chennai Metropolitian Area and is less than 20km away from Chindadaripet.Also, the Godavari Dam Construction Railway and the Solani Aqueduct Railway are some examples of railways built in that time period.

Unlikeese, people think that the Dadar to Thane line of Mumbai Bombay is the first railway in India. Actually, it is the first PASSENGER RAILWAY line in India. Known as the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, Opened on 8 May 1945, which is 2 weeks from now. ADVANCE HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIAN RAILWAYS!!! Though this line is not the first Raliway in India, it is the firt to operate under one national vernment Organisation. 

Similaly, The other two precidencies also started getting their railways within 2 decades of each other - Namely Howrah to Hooghly in Kolkata and from Royapuram to Wallajah Road in Madras. 

These were the first Railways in India. To know more, and to be rescued from getting bored, stay tuned untill next week for part 2. Thank you for Reading.

Hyderabad Metro

Hyderabad Metro

Welcome to the next post on MRT India. I hope that all of you are staying home and are safe. But, a blog can't stop getting new posts if the government makes us stay home. In this post, we will discuss the evolution of Hyderabad metro.

Inception and Evolution:

The hyderabad metro was first proposed in 2003 in the state assembly. Soon, the project to builda metro in Hyderabad as brought up. although the city had a MMTS in the form of trains, the city lacked a metro to connect the inner parts of the city. To solve this issue, the Hyderabad metro began construction in 2015 by a Public Private Partnership or PPP between the Telangana state government and Larsen and Toubro, also called L&T. 

Together, L&T and the state completed construction in November 2017 and opened a 30km section between Miyaaapur to LB Nagar and a branch to Nagole which would later become the Blue line from Raidurg to Nagole besides Myapur to LB Nagar Red line.

Hyderabad Metro Map

By inaugrating a 30km section at a time, Hyderabad Metro never faced any operational losses as the metro was mainly used not as a joy ride like in the cases of Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and even London.

Since then, the metro has expanded rapidly and recently last year, Ameerpet to Hitec City section was also inaugrated expanding the metro to be 54km big. Bright and joyful days are coming to the city with most famous Biriyani in India.

Thank you for reading this post. I will be doing something different in the next post. It is quite long, so i won't post anything next week. Guess what!!