East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter X

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

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CHAPTER X. QUESTIONS BEFORE THE BOARD AFTER THE PURCHASE OF THE RAILWAY BY GOVERNMENT - RETROSPECT OF THE POSITION OF THE COMPANY AT THE TIME - REDUCTION OF THIRD CLASS FARES AND OTHER MATTERS.

ON the last day of the year 1879 the contracts, under which the mutual relations of the Company and the Indian Government had subsisted for more than thirty years, terminated; the undertaking was transferred to the Secretary of State and a fresh agreement for the management and working of the Railway came into force.

The negotiations with the Secretary of State had been long and difficult, but the ultimate arrangement was satisfactory both to the Government and the Company. The real object of the Government in making this new agreement seems to have been to secure to the State a larger share of the profits than it received under the previous contracts, and at the same time to leave the working and management of the line in the hands of the Company who had so successfully administered its affairs in the past.

The general principle of the new contract in regard to the division of earnings was that, having ascertained the amount of net working profits, certain deductions were made in respect of interest charges, contributions to provident fund, and so forth, and the balance, called the surplus profits, was then left to be divided between the Government and the Company in the proportion

• 4-5ths to Government.
• 1-5th to the Company.

Now at the time of the purchase of the Railway by the State, the Company had in hand certain surplus assets, amounting to over one hundred thousand pounds, and the question arose how this sum should be disposed of. Part of it consisted of unclaimed interest and dividends and could not be touched, but there remained at the disposal of the shareholders about seventy thousand pounds and out of this it was decided to pay thirty-four thousand to Sir Macdonald Stephenson, in commutation of a pension voted to him some years previously, and from the balance to make a grant to Mr. Robert Ingram Crawford, the Chairman of the Company, whose exceptional services called for some special recognition. Mr. Crawford was one of the few gentlemen who met together, before the East Indian Railway Company was formed, to consider the question whether the railway system was adapted to India and if so how money for the purpose of constructing a railway could best be provided.

He and Mr. Stephenson then agreed that nothing could be done without a Government guarantee, but it took them some years to establish the principle of a guarantee, and not until this had been done could the Company be formed. Mr. Crawford had been with the Company from its initiation; he had made himself master of its history and of every one of its transactions; he had been instrumental in introducing many economies and finally had devoted several years of his life to the negotiations with the Government, which had just been brought to a successful issue. It was decided to make him a grant of fifteen thousand pounds, and to divide the balance of the surplus assets among the shareholders.

There were also at this time certain balances at the credit of the "Savings Bank" and "Fine Fund" standing in the books of the Company, apart from the funds of the undertaking, which were also available for disposal.

The position of the subordinate staff of the Company in India, with reference to the education of their children and placing them out in life, had long been an object of solicitude with the Directors, and it was thought that this money might be devoted to the establishment of a school in the hills for the education of the children of Company's servants. The amount available from the combined funds was rather more than four lakhs of rupees and was at least sufficient to form a nucleus for carrying out a scheme of the kind.

Such were among the questions before the Board at the time of the purchase of the Railway by the Government, and we shall hear more about the hill school later on.

The report for the first half of the year 1880 deals for the first time with the undertaking of the East Indian Railway as a whole. Previously the accounts relating to the Main and Jubbulpore lines had been kept separately, but on the first of January 1880, the undertaking was handed over to the Company to be worked without distinction of parts, and consequently the figures, from this time onward, relate to the work done by, and the expenditure and earnings of, the two lines together.

Questions which had been deferred pending settlement of negotiations with the Government as to the future of the Railway now came up for decision. In the new contract the Secretary of State took power to "require the fare of passengers conveyed in closed carriages with seats to be reduced to any rate not below two pies per mile." It will be remembered that the Board had already had under consideration the question. of reducing the third class fare, which was then three pies per mile, but although they were not yet prepared to make a definite move, the wishes of Government, as indicated in the contract, were clearly in support of such a measure—what actually followed is described later on.

Then again the report of Mr. Rendel on the subject of his last visit to India had to be dealt with. The chief object of this visit, as already indicated, had been to consider with Mr. Leslie, the Company's Agent at Calcutta, what extension of the works of the Railway, having reference to the then recent rapid increase of traffic, might, on the assumption of its continuance, be necessary within the next few years.

The subject which first engaged Mr. Rendels attention was one to which the constantly augmenting traffic of the line attached a daily increasing importance, namely, the provision of proper means for transferring goods, on their arrival at Howrah, from the Railway to the ships in the Hooghly river or to warehouses in Calcutta or Howrah and vice versa.

The warehouses were mostly on the Calcutta side of the river, and goods leaving the East Indian Railway could only reach them either by being carted over the floating bridge or by boat. A connection by rail was therefore greatly to be desired.

Messrs. Rendel and Leslie now held the opinion that the connection should be made about 24 miles north of Calcutta, thus placing the East Indian Railway in direct communication with the Eastern Bengal Railway and the Port Trust Jetties along the Calcutta fore-shore. The Board accepted their views and the Government after considering the matter proposed that the bridge should be constructed by the East Indian Railway as part of the undertaking.

The cost of the bridge, excluding the sum required for the approaches and for the junction of the two lines, was originally estimated at Rs. 20,00,000 and the Railway Company at once agreed to undertake the work. Mr. Leslie came to England and, in consultation with Mr. A. M. Rendel, drew up designs which were sanctioned shortly afterwards.

In 1880 Dr. Saise, F.G.S., Assistant Manager of the Company's Collieries, made a very careful survey of the coal-fields then opened up in Bengal and summed up his conclusions in the following words:—

"The output Of the coal-field is from 400,000 to 450,000 tons per annum, of which the East Indian Railway raises 250,000 to 300,000 tons; assuming an output of 500,000 tons, the coal-field will have a life of 162 years."

The output of the collieries has for many years very largely exceeded Dr. Saise's estimate of 500,000 tons a year, and as far as the East Indian Railway is concerned, its collieries are unable to turn out enough coal to meet its own requirements. The Railway has in consequence to buy part of its supplies in the open market, but then it must not be forgotten that the field of operations has also been greatly extended.

The length of line open in 1880 was 1,504.25 miles, or from Howrah to Delhi with certain branch lines. The total length of railways open to traffic throughout India was at that time 9,148.75 miles, and we find in the administration report a reference to the development of Indian Railways, which illustrates the feeling of Government in those days:—

"The year 1880 is remarkable in the history of railways in India as being connected with three important events. It has seen an unprecedentedly rapid and successful development of State railways, it has witnessed the introduction of private enterprise into railway construction, it marks the date of the railway conference."

The battle of the gauges had only just been determined and railway competition had, compared with present day competitimi, hardly begun. Still in the Traffic Manager's report for the second half of the year a reference is made to competition; speaking of the speed of goods trains the remark appears:—

"It behoves us now that Railway Companies are competing with us so keenly, to increase as far as possible the speed of goods trains;" and again—" It is much to be regretted that our new engines cannot be run at a higher speed than 13 and 15 miles an hour with 600 ton loads."

The head-quarters of the Traffic Department were at Jamalpur, Mr. N. St. Leger Carter was the Traffic Manager, he had with him a Deputy and a Personal Assistant and the line was divided into five Traffic Districts. Some idea of the working may be derived from a glance at the time tables and goods and coaching tariffs of the period.

The Chord line mail train used to leave Howrah at 9 P.M., Calcutta time, it reached Dinapore at 10-25 the next morning, Allahabad at 7-8 P.M., halted at Cawnpore from 1-20 to 1-50 A.M. and arrived at Delhi at 2-45 P.M., on the second day, thus taking 42.25 hours between Howrah and Delhi, a through speed of little more than 22.5 miles an hour. The load was 16 vehicles and no third class passengers were carried below Allahabad; the parcels and luggage traffic was nominal, so that it is hard to find any justification for what appear to have been most unnecessarily long halts all along the route. That at Cawnpore, in the middle of the night, could only have been allowed with the object of regaining time lost elsewhere.

The down mail did the same run in practically the same time as the up, and besides the mail trains there was but one through passenger train each way, which took over 53 hours to cover the 954 miles.

A second passenger train terminated at Allahabad, a mail and a passenger train ran between Howrah and Burdwan, and a few locals for a shorter distance, between Howrah and Pundooah. The load of these local trains was 20 vehicles.

The number of stations open for traffic was naturally far less than now, some of the runs on the Howrah district being as long as 12 miles, while on the Upper Districts this was the ordinary distance between stations and some runs were far longer, as much in fact as 16.25 miles.

The Coaching tariff, then called the Time and Fare Table, was a small volume of 78 pages and contained train timings, fares and rules. The intermediate class fare was 4.5 pies per mile, and the third class 3 pies, but as has been already indicated, the question of reducing the latter was under consideration. The Traffic Manager held the opinion that reduction was unnecessary, and his opinion was shared by other officials in India. Naturally, the question was one for considerable controversy. There were two proposals, one to reduce the fare from 3 to 2.5 pies per mile, the other to reduce to 2 pies. Both proposals were strenuously opposed by the Agent, the Traffic Manager and Chief Auditor, mainly on the ground that if either of them had the anticipated effect of increasing abnormally, the number of passengers to be carried, the provision of sufficient vehicles in which to carry them would become an impossibility! In spite of this opposition, the reduction to 2.5 pies, ordered by Government as an experimental measure, was supported by the Home Board, who indeed had no alternative but to acquiesce, although they were admittedly doubtful as to the expediency of the move. The reduced fare was introduced on the Jubbulpore branch and on the main line above Nairn in January 1882, being extended below Naini in July following.

The earnings from third class passengers at once responded; in 1881 they amounted to Rs. 90,02,162, in 1882 they went up to Rs. 99,99,999. It is only fair to mention that this great rise in the earnings was partly due to a Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, still there was never, in after years, any loss in a year's figures; on the contrary the third class traffic continued to respond and the lesson of the reduction is one to be remembered. To illustrate how strenuously it was opposed in India, the following extract from the Traffic Manager's report for the first half of 1881 will suffice:—

"Third class passengers as usual show a decided increase on the figures of any previous half year, rendering still more incomprehensible and inexplicable the course to be pursued of reducing the third class fare by one-sixth."

Successive half-yearly reports harped on the question, but the only explanation can be that previous remarks had in some way or another to be justified; thus we find that in the second half-year of 1882, a temporary falling off in intermediate class passengers is attributed to the reduction in third class fares, and again in 1884, it was actually proposed that the old fares should be reverted to, the Traffic Manager writing:—

"It is evident from the low average distance travelled by third class passengers, that the reduction made in 1882 in the hope of encouraging longer journeys has entirely failed in its object, and I think the time has now arrived to revert to our former rate of 3 pies per mile for the greater portion of the line."

So much for the controversy on third class passenger fares, the reduction was evidently a very sore point, but the results proved from the outset that it was fully justified. Since those days the average distance travelled by each passenger has become still shorter, but this is due, not to reduction in fares, but to the greater number of people who have gradually been induced to take the rail for short journeys, instead of walking the distance, and also to the opening of alternative routes.

The fares for first and second class passengers were much the same in 1880 as at the present time, first class one anna and-a-half and second class nine pies, but no reduction was then made, as it is now, for long distance journeys. Efforts were however being considered to develop the higher classes, and we read as a novel feature in Indian Railway administration, of the opening of negotiations with Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, the well-known tourist agents. In the year 1880, Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son started their first agency in India at Bombay.

The goods and mineral traffic was contending with what we would now consider a very high tariff. Giridih coal worth Rs. 3 a ton in wagons at the Collieries, cost Rs. 30 a ton by the time it reached Lahore, while to Calcutta the freight charge from Sitarampur was no less than Rs. 3-13 a ton. No rebates whatever were allowed and with such a tariff in force there is no wonder that English coal readily found its way to Calcutta. The Traffic Manager in his report for the second half of the year 1880 remarks

"During the first three months of the half year there was a brisk traffic in coal to the Port, but in October and subsequently, owing to large arrivals of foreign coal brought by steamers and ships as ballast, the demand for Indian coal considerably abated."

The quantity of English coal imported into India in the year was no less than 683,768 tons. Madras found it cheaper to use patent fuel brought from England than to depend on Indian coal. The total weight of coal despatched downwards in the year 1880 was 563,241 tons; since then we have seen in a single year a downwards coal traffic of 4,881,524 tons.

But though the downwards coal traffic was so poor, the upwards was still poorer; the upwards figures for the year being 168,990 tons against an upwards traffic in the year 1905 of 1,260,740 tons. Efforts were however being made to develop a better traffic with the railways and mills in Upper India. In October 1880 the charge for coal in full wagon loads, carried not less than 300 miles, was reduced from 1/5th to 1/6th pie per maund per mile. It was hoped at the time that this reduction would enable upcountry mills to use coal in place of wood fuel.

But it was not only the coal rates that required reducing, the coal-fields of Bengal, as we now know them, were scarcely touched and the assistance given to colliery proprietors was nominal. It was recorded at the time, as a great concession, that with a view to the encouragement of trade, the Railway Company would lend second-hand rails to those who could not meet the entire cost of providing themselves with the necessary sidings to their pits, and in 1881 the Company discontinued the sale of coal to outsiders.

Apart from coal, the rates for all classes of merchandise were exceedingly high compared with what they now are, and in some instances transport difficulties were enormous. As an instance the route from Calcutta to Darjeeling was via Sahebgunge. Goods were forwarded by rail to Sahebgunge, thence by steam ferry across the Ganges to a place called Caragola and onward by bullock cart. The charge for tea from Darjeeling, where by the way the East Indian Railway had an out-agency, to Caragola, was over Rs. 2-0-0 per maund, and for salt in the upwards direction nearly Rs. 3-0-0, and yet the traffic was growing.

The rate for wheat from Delhi to Howrah was 13 annas per maund compared with 0-7-11 per maund, the present rate. The whole of the goods tariff was contained in one small volume; now the goods tariff comprises three large volumes, and there is a separate one for coal. The total goods earnings of the year were well under 300 lacs of rupees or less than a poor half year's earnings now.

But great changes were coming on apace. Up to 1881 Calcutta was much in advance of Bombay in the quantity of wheat and seeds exported from India, while Kurrachee was a port of minor significance. The opening up of a large wheat-producing country, by the construction of the Rajputana Railway, altered the aspect entirely, for in addition to opening up a new country, this Railway also had the effect of directly connecting the Punjab with Bombay; and although Calcutta still continued to do well in seeds, Bombay shot ahead with its wheat exports and following this the source of wheat supply gradually moved from Bengal to the North-West.

The opening up of the Rajputana Railway shortened the distance between Delhi and Bombay by 345 miles and distances now compared:—

• Bombay to Delhi vid Bombay, Baroda and Central India and Rajputana Railway 889 miles
• Ditto via Jubbulpore 1,234 miles
• Ditto Calcutta to Delhi 954 miles

As a consequence the question of competition between Bombay and Calcutta assumed what was described as "a position of grave importance," and so much consideration had to be given to it that Mr. Leslie, the Agent and Chief Engineer, was relieved of his duties as Chief Engineer, retaining only charge of the Hooghly bridge, and Mr. C. H. Denham was appointed Chief Engineer. This question of competition between Bombay and Calcutta is dealt with however in greater detail elsewhere.

In spite of all this the first half of the year 1883 will long be remembered by those who were on the line at the time as a record wheat year. The Howrah sheds were blocked for weeks, with the grain which came from Cawnpore, Benares, Patna and other points, and the resources of the Railway to carry it were taxed to the utmost. Mr. Urban Broughton, who was officiating Traffic Manager, devised a system of night deliveries from Howrah passenger station, and even third class carriages were requisitioned to load the grain when wagons could not be got. As a climax the water-supply on the Chord line failed and much of the traffic had to be diverted over the single line via the loop. Fortunately this did not occur until the month of June, by When the great bulk of the traffic had already passed down and the rains were near at hand.

In these days the earnings from wheat were often heavier than from coal; in the first half of 1883 the freight earned on the wheat carried was over 31 lacs of rupees, whereas from coal the takings were under 30 lacs.

The wheat traffic of 1883 was the heaviest ever carried until 1904. The figures of these two years are interesting as indicating, not only the great increase in weight carried in the latter period, but the reduction in freight earned owing to the heavy reductions in rates charged.

• 1883 ... 469,173 Tons Rs. 53,76,535
• 1904 ... 759,162 Tons Rs. 48,46,310

Some attention was given in the early eighties to the question of train loads, the loads of goods trains above Moghalsarai were raised from 400 to 450 tons and below Asansol from 600 to 700 tons. But although these loads were permissible it is not evident that measures were taken to ensure their being availed of, as the average load of goods trains was not more than 175 tons.

With the sanction of Government new Provident Fund rules were introduced in 1881. Under these rules, though the main principles of the original fund were upheld, certain important modifications were introduced. A distinction which previously existed between Europeans and non-Europeans was abolished, all servants of the Company, without distinction of race, drawing Rs. 15 per mensem and above, were called upon to subscribe 5 per cent. of their pay to the Fund and each member was given the option of subscribing an additional amount not exceeding another 5 per cent. It was laid down that the contribution of the undertaking would be declared on the net profits of the year only, and that no ad interim contribution would be made in respect of the first half of the year as had hitherto been done. These rules continued in force until 1903 when, as shown in another chapter, they were further modified and the existing rules introduced.

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