- Before Independence, the railway system in India was run by several private companies which were all progressively nationalised, starting from the 1940s, and finally integrated post 1947.
- The number of classes were four: first (usually reserved for Europeans), second (mixed but the highest that Indians could aspire for), inter class (akin to the present second class), and third class, which is what most Indians could travel by. The third class was abolished in 1978 by the Janata government. The second class had to wait till 1977 to get padded seats.
- Toilets were non-existent in the railways until the early 1900s. You waited for the next station.
- Entire towns in India owe their present popularity to the railways: Jamalpur (the first railway colony dating to the 1860s) in Bihar, Arakkonam (Tamil Nadu), Bitragunta (Andhra Pradesh) and Mughalsarai (Uttar Pradesh) are some of them.
- Most railway refreshment rooms had bars attached at least until the Prohibition era in many Indian States. Catering in the initial years, at stations and also on trains, was largely by the Madras-based Spencer’s.
- The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai has a profusion of stonework, much of it done by students of the Bombay School of Art under the supervision of John Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling.
Stills from Satyajit Ray’s ‘Nayak’ (1966), starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore.
- Shyam Benegal’s tele-serial ‘Yatra’ (1986) was entirely based on a rail journey on the Himsagar Express — running from Kanyakumari to Jammu. Prior to this, Satyajit Ray had shot a whole film on the Rajdhani Express — ‘Nayak’ (1966), starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore. ‘Bhowani Junction’ (1956), based on the Anglo Indian community that was much associated with the railways, was not shot in India at all, but in the U.K. and Pakistan.
- In the 1980s, film director and poet Gulzar presented an entire Jaimala programme on AIR, dedicated to Hindi film songs, starting from the 1940s, shot on trains.
- Drive-in platform was a unique concept at some stations – Egmore and Howrah were two. Now they are non-existent.
- Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta (Andhra Pradesh) still remains the longest railway station name in India. Apparently, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. MGR Central (Tamil Nadu) has one letter less. Ib in Odisha is the shortest.
- The last coach usually has an enormous X painted on its rear. It is to indicate that the train has passed in full and not lost some wagons on the way.
The famed bungalows
The Divisional Railway Manager’s bungalow in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Indian Railways is its colossal scale: massive stations, offices and bungalows. The first two remain but the bungalow is sadly vanishing. Almost all famed railway junctions still have some of the bungalows. In Mumbai, there is a collection of them at Budhwar Park. In Kolkata, the General Manager of the South Eastern Railway lives at Serail House (S.E. Rail House), at Metiabruz. It was once the palace of Wajid Ali Shah, the deposed Nawab of Oudh. In Chennai, it was Blenheim on Haddows Road, now renamed Bhavani. Northern Railway is headquartered in a palace - Baroda House in New Delhi, once the city residence of the Gaekwars of Baroda and Lutyens-designed to boot.
Dull in Delhi
New Delhi Railway Station | Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
New Delhi, despite being the capital of India, has what can only be termed very drab railway stations. Post 1857, the status of the city was downgraded and not resurrected till it became the capital in 1911. By then, the big railway junctions and stations had come up elsewhere. And post 1911, the British had other things to worry about. State Entry Road at New Delhi Railway Station still commemorates a time when viceroys were expected to get off trains and ride in state into the city. And in a supreme act of vandalism, the British made the railway line cut across Red Fort itself: it runs on a shoulder of the fort even today.
The writer is also a railway enthusiast and author of ‘Chennai: A Biography’.
