East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter VI
Note: This is a sub-section of the East Indian Railway
The History of the East Indian Railway by George Huddleston. Published 1906 by Tracker, Spins and Co
CHAPTER VI. OPENING OF THE CHORD LINK FOLLOWED BY A TEMPORARY SLUMP IN TRAFFIC - THE BENGAL FAMINE OF 1873-4 - REDUCTIONS IN RATES - COAL EXPORTED FROM CALCUTTA - ANALYSIS OF STATISTICS INTRODUCED.
THE year 1870 opened with the Chord line still awaiting completion, but otherwise this was the only important work of construction that remained unfinished. The Chord line was opened for public traffic on the 1st January 1871, and on this date the work of constructing the East Indian Railway was considered to have ended. The engagements of all engineers not required for the maintenance of the line were now terminated, and the Board directed that the permanent staff should "be fixed at the lowest scale consistent with the nature of the duties to be performed."
The opening of the Chord route increased the mileage of the Railway to 1,280 miles - 400 miles being double and 880 miles single - but no sooner had the Railway been thus far completed than a serious decline in traffic set in. The tonnage of goods and minerals carried during the first half of 1871 was 580,378 tons, against 700,804 tons in the corresponding half year of 1870. The Company's goods sheds were empty, its wagons lay idle in sidings and many of its engines were put out of running. The Government of India were so concerned that they appointed a Committee to investigate the cause.
But there were no doubts as to the chief reasons of the decrease; in 1870 an exceptionally large famine traffic had been carried in consequence of a scarcity in the North-West Provinces, while the export seed trade of 1871 was much smaller than in the preceding year, because of a dull market in Calcutta, and because, in the words of the Board, the merchants, whenever the market was dull, "preferred the somewhat cheaper though more dilatory conveyance afforded by the river, which, owing to a very heavy rainfall, became navigable at an earlier period of the year than usual." Then again the Board tell us of another cause of decreased traffic, which is curious reading in these days, "the importations of English coal at Calcutta, as compared with any previous period since the Railway has been opened, have been so large as to have successfully competed in price with native coal, and have unquestionably very seriously interfered with the market for the latter."
The Committee appointed by Government do not appear to have thrown any fresh light on the question, but there is little doubt that the rates charged at the time were excessive, or traffic would not have fluctuated as it did between the river and the rail. A change in the mode of regulating the charge for carriage was sorely needed, though the point was not seriously taken up until some years later, when the experiences of a serious famine shewed what the possibilities were. Greater attention seems, however, to have been paid to, lowering the cost of transport, and a further reduction in the working expenses followed. In the first half of 1872 these were brought down to 38.66 per cent. of the gross earnings and in 1873 to 37 per cent.
In 1873 Mr. E. Palmer, who had succeeded Sir Macdonald Stephenson in May 1857 and had held the office of sole Agent until 1866, when a fresh Board of Agency, of which he became Chairman, was constituted, retired. Mr. Palmer left the East Indian Railway, the foremost line in India for financial success, and in the words of the Consulting Engineer to the Government of India, "second to none in vigour of administration." The Government of India also expressed their appreciation of Mr. Palmer's "long and loyal service and high character."
The Agency was now reconstructed, and instead of consisting of three members, was conducted by two only, Messrs. Cecil Stephenson and George Sibley.
Owing to a failure of the rains in 1873 a famine occurred in Bengal, and the following extract from Mr. Crawford's address to the shareholders indicates the measures taken by the Government of India and the Railway Company to assist the people during that calamity:-
"The Directors had placed the line at the disposal of the Government. The Railway rate was 5/8d. per ton per mile, but the Government was sending the people provisions at a much less carriage charge than that, and made up the deficiency to the Company. Apart, however, from all questions of profit, it was a source of sincere gratification to the Directors, that they were able to render substantial assistance to the Government, in supplying the population of Bengal with food. Giving the Government the assistance of all their locomotive plant, they were enabled to deliver 4,000 tons of grain daily for the use of the people."
From the 1st November 1873 to the 3rd September 1874, the quantity of food grains carried into the famine-stricken districts and delivered at stations between Rajmahal and Arrah, was estimated at nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand tons. The traffic consisted chiefly of rice from Howrah, and of other grain from the North-West Provinces, and was consigned partly on Government and partly on private account.
In order to convey and accommodate so large an addition to the ordinary business of the Company, some thirty additional engines were erected and brought into use; forty-six drivers and firemen were sent out from England, and ten were lent by the Madras Railway; wagons were hired from the Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway; the staff of guards was largely augmented; watchmen were engaged to protect the grain lying at stations; and sidings to the river Ganges were laid, for the use of the Government, at Mokameh, Barb, and Futwah.
The half-yearly report of the Directors referring to this subject states that "the desire of the Board effectively to support the efforts of the Government in coping successfully with this, perhaps the greatest exigency of modern times, has been most ably and efficiently seconded and sustained throughout, by the unwearied and zealous co-operation of the whole of the service." Put in another way the East Indian Railway had been the main instrument by which a dire calamity had been prevented from attaining the proportions of a fearful catastrophe. This had been done without any interference whatever with the regular traffic of the country and at a rate which left no burden upon the Indian exchequer. The Railway, it was alleged, "was not a competitor with the river Ganges for the supply of the food required by the starving population, but merely another instrument in the hands of the Government for accomplishing their object."
As a result of the Bengal famine, considerable attention was given to the grain rates, and the wants of the different districts served by the Railway were carefully studied with a view to developing traffic generally. Perhaps the most important lesson learnt was that, in the upper part of India, there was a very large growth of grain and especially of wheat, a good deal of which found its way down the river Indus to the sea at Kurrachee. In a favourable season there was an immense surplus to dispose of and efforts were made to draw this produce to Calcutta, by quoting lower rates for its carriage than had previously been thought of. These efforts proved in a large measure successful; by introducing considerably reduced grain rates, a valuable traffic was drawn to the line and a profitable business established.
The only section of the Railway which was not doing so well as anticipated was the Jubbulpore branch, its local traffic was poor and the traffic interchanged with the Great Indian Peninsular Railway nominal. The Chairman said in his address in July 1874, "the Jubbulpore line must be considered for the present in the light of a political line, and it is very useful to travellers; but as regards the trade and commerce of the country, the line has not done much." The Jubbulpore branch runs for the most part through an uncultivated waste, poorly populated, and has always been the least paying portion of the Railway.
In 1873 some Bengal coal was taken by Madras for the use of the Madras Railway, and some was conveyed to Singapore for the manufacture of gas, and some to Bombay for cotton spinning works. The quantity exported was small, but this was the first recorded trade in export coal and at the time quite a new feature in the traffic.
While on the subject of coal, it is well to say a few words as to the result of opening the Chord line route. It will be remembered that one of the reasons for constructing this route was that it would have the effect of bringing the Bengal coalfields nearer to the centre of the Company's system. The policy of the Board had often been questioned on the score of the initial expense, and on the grounds that the Chord route ran through an unprofitable tract of country, which its opponents thought was adequately served by the original branch line to the Raneegunge collieries.
In 1875 Mr. Crawford in his address to the shareholders dwelt on this subject; he said:-
"They might now look upon the policy involved in the construction of that line with the utmost satisfaction. It had placed at their command that ample and abundant supply of fuel, which had enabled them to carry on their operations, without any fear whatever of being brought into difficulty for want of it."
Not only did the Chord line place at the service of the Company and of the public, including foreign railways, a vast quantity of easily accessible coal, but in opening out new mrces of supply, it brought about, not only reduction in cost, but a better quality of fuel than that obtainable from Raneegunge itself.
During 1875 considerable changes were made in the personnel of the administration Calcutta, Mr. Cecil Stephenson, Chief Agent, died, and Mr. Sibley, who had been Chief Engineer for many years, retired, and seeing that all construction works of any magnitude were at an end, it was thought unnecessary to retain the services of both an Agent and a Chief Engineer. Mr. Bradford Leslie, now Sir Bradford Leslie, who had formerly been Chief Engineer of the Eastern Bengal Railway Company and had afterwards been employed in building the floating road bridge over the Hooghly, was selected to fill the dual appointment of Agent and Chief Engineer.
Shortly after Mr. Cecil Stephenson's death a tablet to his memory was placed on the wall of Howrah Station and a copy of the inscription on it is here given:—
IN MEMORY OF
CECIL MACKINTOSH STEPHENSO.
AGENT OF THE EAST INDIAN RAILWAY COMPANY,
WHO DIED AT SEA ON THE 21ST NOVEMBER 1875, AGED 56.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED
AS A MARK OF THEIR SINCERE ESTEEM AND RESPECT
BY MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND OFFICERS AND MEN
OF THE EAST INDIAN RAILWAY
(AND OTHERS DESIRING TO JOIN),
WHO HAVE ALSO PLACED A SIMILAR TABLET
IN THE CALCUTTA CATHEDRAL,
AND INSTITUTED A SCHOLARSHIP
IN THE DIOCESAN SCHOOL AT NAINI TAL
FOR SONS OF EAST INDIAN RAILWAY SERVANTS.
The following statement shows the net earnings of the Company from 1870 to 1875 inclusive:
- 1870 ... ... ... £1,549,628 17s 0d
- 1871 ... ... ... £1,380,377 1s 5d
- 1872 ... ... ... £1,483,385 0s 11d
- 1873 ... ... ... £1,686,338 6s 2d
- 1874 ... . . ... £2,196,877 1s 5d
- 1875 ... ... ... £1,624,333 6s 3d
The figures combine the earnings of the main and Jubbulpore lines, though at this time the accounts were separately kept, and are interesting as shewing the effect of the famine traffic of 1873-74. They also shew, excluding the two exceptionally poor years, 1871-72, when trade was more or less stagnant and everything depressed, that following the famine there was a distinct development.
In 1871 we find for the first time an analysis of statistical figures much in the form in which they are given at the present time. The principle of these statistics was laid down by Sir Alexander Rendel (then Mr. Rendel) in conjunction with Colonel Strachey, R.E., now Sir Richard Strachey, Chairman of the Board, and will be referred to in greater detail elsewhere. It is sufficient to say here that according to the first analysis the average load of a goods train on the main line was 109 tons and on the Jubbulpore branch 68 tons. At the present time an average load of under 275 tons is considered poor.
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