Passenger Rolling Stock of Indian Railways in the First Half-Century of Their Operation

Abstract

In India, as in many countries, railways originated as industrial gauge tracks for the transportation of ore, timber, stone, and other building materials. These were the first industrial railways in India to deliver supplies to construction sites, in particular, Chintadripet in Madras (1835), Red Hill Railroad line (1837), Godavari Dam Construction Railway (1845), and others. Initially, the promoters of the construction of railways, based on the general social and economic situation in the country, did not count on the development of passenger traffic, taking into account the virtually impoverished situation of the vast majority of the population. Efforts were focused on freight transportation. The colonialists proceeded from the need to develop railways as an important exploitation tool for exporting the country’s natural resources to the parent country and to the world market. Throughout almost the entire period of British colonial rule, passenger transportation was intended for a narrow stratum of colonizers and a few of the richest representatives of the country’s indigenous population. By the 1860s, there was a system of dividing passenger traffic on the railways of India into four classes. Saloon coaches were used to serve the ruling elite. The difference in travel conditions in luxury saloon coaches and first-class compartment carriages in comparison with third- and fourth-class carriages was huge. It reflected the social class structure of Indian society. At the same time, railway passenger transportation did not affect the interests of the majority of the population at all, as with their level of wealth they could not afford to travel by rail at all, remaining outside the line of progress in transport of the 19th century.