East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter XIV
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 XIV. THE JHERRIAH COAL-FIELD.
As early as 1886 proposals were made by the Railway Company to construct a bridge across the river at Barrakur, and to extend the branch line, which then terminated at that station, to the collieries on the other side. In other words the Company had long recognised that a bridge over the Barrakur River was the key to the Jherriah field.
Some time before General Strachey visited India in 1899, Mr. Ward, Manager of the Company's Collieries, had made a preliminary survey of this coal-field, which lay still further inland than the collieries immediately beyond the Barrakur River, which the railway first intended to serve. The results of this survey were thought' sufficiently satisfactory to induce the Chairman, during his stay in India, to solicit the approval of the Government of India to the sinking of trial pits to test the quality of the coal; while the question of extending the Barrakur branch line into Jherriah was at the same time mooted.
In 1890 a further report on the Jherriah field was submitted by Mr. Ward. This report established beyond question that the area surveyed contained a coal-field of very great extent, both in respect to the quality of coal and its value.
Estimates and plans of a projected line of railway from Barrakur Station to the Jherriah coal-field, a distance of about 36 miles, were prepared, and the Board sanctioned the estimates subject to the confirmation of the Government of India. With a view to expediting matters the Board also addressed the Secretary of State, pointing out that the expediency of constructing an extension across the river at Barrakur had first been suggested some years previously, that the Directors were satisfied that it was desirable, but that hitherto they had been unable to obtain the assent of the Government of India; that further enquiry had confirmed their previous views, and had shown the expediency of giving a somewhat greater extension to the line than at first contemplated.
The Board, not having been able to obtain consent to the original proposal, appear to have anticipated further delay in obtaining Government sanction to the larger scheme, and therefore adopted every means in their power to convince the Secretary of State of the desirability of constructing the extension without loss of time. In their letter they not only pointed out that there were good grounds for believing that the projected line would prove remunerative at an early period, but referred again to their general policy in regard to the coal traffic in the following terms:—
"As Lord Cross is aware, the Board have recently, with his Lordship's assent, made important reductions in the coal tariff, with a view to doing all that was within their power to develop and assist this important industry, and they think it is no more than reasonable to look forward, if proper facilities are provided, to the possible future development of a large export trade of coal from Calcutta, the commercial value of which, if successful, it would not be easy to exaggerate With this in view they will continue to do all in their power to extend and facilitate the economical working of the Bengal coal-fields, and they regard the present project as likely to be highly advantageous to the community generally."
After some delay the Secretary of State approved of the construction of the Jherriah extension; in 1892 the Government of India sanctioned the work, and it was at once started. On the 20th May 1894 trains began running as far as Ghootrya, some seven miles beyond Barrakur, the first train carrying 100 tons of coal and 50 passengers!
From such small beginnings do great things come when enterprise is guided by intelligent foresight. In less than three years the wisdom of the policy of the Railway Company was fully established, for by 1897 the collieries on the Jherriah and Toposi branch lines, the latter having been extended at the same time as the Jherriah branch, were contributing not far from a million tons a year to the traffic of the undertaking. It must not be thought that there was no real difficulty in obtaining sanction to the construction work proposed by the Company; on the contrary Government opinion for some time appeared opposed to expenditure, on what some of its responsible officers thought might prove an unprofitable undertaking. A certain Consulting Engineer to Government, whose opinions ordinarily carried great weight, held the view that the Jherriah branch would never pay, and that it was not wanted, but General Strachey persisted when others might have given way in despair. At a meeting of the shareholders in 1891, he publicly urged his case, saying:—
"It is a subject of continued regret and disappointment that the Government still withholds its decision as to the proposals of the Board for constructing the branch line from Barrakur to the Jherriah coal-field. The position of the Company under its contract with the Secretary of State, in respect to the provision of additional Capital, has unquestionably had a most unfortunate effect in crippling the Board in its attempts to carry out extensions of the undertaking, and the responsibility for any failure in this direction does not rest with them. It is not easy to understand how the Indian Government, which constantly professes its anxiety for the extension of railways, when it can be shown that they are likely to be profitable and can be undertaken without adding to the burdens on the State, is able to reconcile such professions with its passive resistance to the Board's proposals, or how it can appropriate the enormous profits made from the East Indian Railway, without an apparent thought of the claims of districts that have provided these large sums, to obtain extensions and amelioration of their means of communication, in carrying out which the Board is not only ready but most anxious to participate."
It must be remembered that in these days there was little or no public opinion to support General Strachey; the Jherriah coal-field was known only to a few; the land was all in the hands of natives, who had no idea of its value, and in fact, but for the coal beneath it, it had no value. It was merely a bare uncultivated waste, the true value of which was quite unsuspected.
But as soon as the East Indian Railway constructed a line into the centre of the field, Coal Companies were formed, sidings applied for faster than they could be put in, and a rush of traffic came which was so sudden that it was almost beyond the power of the railway to carry it. The consequence was that the railway, while making the most strenuous efforts to provide additional facilities, was blamed instead of thanked, and the public, thinking no doubt that competition would lead to further reductions in rates, clamoured for the admission to the field of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. The Government allowed this other line in, to compete for the traffic of the Jherriah collieries, created by the enterprise of the East Indian Railway alone. But after this was accomplished the Bengal-Nagpur Railway found that it could not compete for the important Calcutta traffic because of its longer lead to that port, and because of the fact that the Government would not allow it to quote rates for the traffic below the sanctioned minimum, such rates being necessary to equalize with the low charges made, before its entry, by the East Indian Railway. So far as the Government, the Bengal-Nagpur Railway and the public were concerned, the entry of this line into the Jherriah coal-field was more or less a fiasco and matters were at a dead-lock, when the East Indian Railway Company, following its usual liberal policy, came to the rescue, and induced the Government to allow the Bengal-Nagpur Railway to quote equal rates with it, and so participate in a share of the Calcutta traffic, which undoubtedly belonged to them alone.
Such in brief is the history of the Jherriah coal-field, and a few figures of the traffic derived from it will suffice to prove its great importance.
COAL TRAFFIC FROM JHERRIAH BRANCH.
- 1894 - 88,831 Tons.
- 1899 - 1,310,397 Tons.
- 1905 - 2,827,725 Tons.
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