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Chennai: The track record

By Aishwarya Iyer | Express News Service | Published: 16th April 2018 03:21 AM |
Last Updated: 16th April 2018 03:21 AM | A+ A A- |

CHENNAI: On this day, 165 years ago, as cheer, joy and applause
filled the air amid 21-gun salute, India’s first train with 14 railway
carriages and 400 passengers chugged out of Bori Bunder (today’s
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) to Thannah (today’s Thane) in 1853.
While it was the first commercial passenger service, it was not the
first train in the country. If one had to unearth the original reports submitted by the British civil
engineers, one would find that the British owed the origins and inception of railways to the Madras
Presidency.
Established 16 years before the railway line in Mumbai, in 1836, the first rail road was set up from
Chintadripet or Chinna Thari Pettai to Little Mount. Called as the Red-Hills Rail Road, this rail line was
more than just an experimental design. The three-mile line originated at Red Hills (northern part of
Madras) to the stone quarries around the Little Mount area, along the banks of the river Adyar —
originating in Chembarambakkam Lake in Kanchipuram district and winding through Chennai.

On November 11, 1973, a report titled ‘Madras Breakwater’ by Captain Civil Engineer Arthur T Cotton
was published in the Reports, correspondence, original papers on various professional subjects
connected with the duties of Corps of Engineers- Madras Presidency. The rail road was established to

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transport granite to build roads in the Madras Presidency and cut down the expenses incurred by
transportation through the Adyar river and the common roads. It was a freight railway, but passengers
also travelled on it. While there were two to three locomotives with steam engines, animals were used
to draw the rail carts, and prison inmates were employed to load and unload the granite.
Cotton, in his report, says, “If the stone is bore by prisoners and conveyed by the Railroad and Canal to
the North East angle of Black Town, the cost will be diminished to at least Re. 1 per ton. Had the granite
been still brought by the Adyar river, the actual results showed that it would have cost between Rs. 3-4
per ton, when deposited on the work.
Cotton’s reference to Black Town is a derogatory term for the township and the residents of Fort St.
George. In his report, Cotton further explains “On the Red Hills Rail Road, one bullock drew 9 common
bandy loads of stone, or as much as what 18 bullocks draw on the common roads.” He adds, “The line
between Covelong (today’s Kovalam) and Adyar consists of the greater part of Backwater, and all the
rest is low sandy soil, so that a canal to that river similar to that leading from North Madras could be
completed at a very moderate expense; from Adyar to the beach, probably a rail road would be the best
kind of communication. To complete these works would cost scarcely cost Rs. 1.5 lakhs and they would
form so valuable a work for general purposes.” However, the rail line was dismantled in 1845 only to
make more developments in the railways.
Did you know?
The material used to set up the rail line was manufactured in India. The Standard newspaper reported, on
August 23, 1836: We have heard that the furnaces of the Porto Novo iron company were in full play, having an
order from the Government for 600 cast iron gun carriages; as well as another for a large quantity of road-rails.
The Herald of Saturday confirms this account, as far as the rails are concerned, intimating that the Government
has made the necessary advances, and that operations are to commence at the Red Hills carried in a direct line
to Cochrane’s canal that ran 11 miles from Madras to Ennore and it was soon extended 25 miles to Pulicat.
Source: Simon Darwill, railway enthusiast and history buff, Indian Railways Fan Club Association
Chintadripet means a ‘village of small looms’, and was established in 1735 when George Morton Pitt was the
governor of Fort St George. One of the merchants of the city possessed a large garden where the River Cooum
winds past Periampet. A village for spinners, washermen, painters and temple attendants was established in
this garden. Source: Indian Railways: The Weaving of a National Tapestry by Bibek Debroy
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TAGS Madras Presidency Thannah Bori Bunder Madras Breakwater

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