East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter XVII
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 XVII. THE KIDDERPORE DOCKS.
AT the time that General Strachey was appointed Chairman of the East Indian Railway Company, the Kidderpore Docks were being constructed and there was much discussion as to the rates that would be charged on traffic booked to and from the new terminus.
The Jubilee Bridge across the Hooghly River had been opened for traffic a short time before, and trains were running over it as far as the Chitpore and Sealdah termini of the Eastern Bengal Railway in Calcutta, a provisional arrangement having been come to, under which traffic carried to these stations should be charged the same as if carried to the East Indian Railway terminus of Howrah and vice versa.
It was agreed that no compulsion should be used to force ships into the docks, and therefore all facilities at Howrah, which in the course of years had become the established centre for the receipt and despatch of merchandise, had to be preserved intact. Beyond this the East Indian Railway was saddled with the interest on the cost of the Jubilee Bridge, for which until then it had received practically no compensation, while extensive alterations and additions had become necessary at Hooghly Junction, in order to enable the railway to make up full train loads for the termini on the Calcutta side of the river. Therefore the question of the rates to be charged on traffic hauled by East Indian Railway trains to the Kidderpore Docks was an important one.
The Government of India held the opinion that "there should not be any difference in freight charges on up-country through goods consigned to or from Calcutta, whether they are dealt with at Howrah or at Kidderpore", but the Eastern Bengal Railway Company, over which the trains had to be hauled to the docks, claimed a rate of two rupees per train mile on every East Indian Railway train passing Naihati Junction, and the Board could not see their way to paying so excessive a rate and at the same time making no additional charge to the public.
The Board, however, wished to do all in their power to assist the trade of the port, and therefore proposed to the Government that if for East Indian Railway trains running to Sealdah, Chitpore or the Kidderpore Docks the Eastern Bengal Railway Company would accept one rupee per train mile on the actual distance run, they on their part would be prepared to charge the public the same rate to any of these places as to Ho wrah.
Finally, a compromise was arrived at, the Eastern Bengal Railway Company agreed to reduce the train mile rate of two rupees on trains run to Chitpore and Sealdah to one rupee eight annas, and to accept a rate of twelve annas per train mile on trains run to the docks, charges to the public being the same in all cases as the charge on traffic for Howrah, and this arrangement, being agreed to by the East Indian Railway, has remained in force to the present day.
So much for the question of rates. The docks had been constructed mainly for the grain and seed traffic; there was no idea of coal being dealt with there; no idea, in fact, that an export coal trade would ever set in; but almost from the day of opening the coal trade forced itself upon the docks. Coal has now become the principal traffic consigned there. Coal berths have been constructed and added to, but still the accommodation is barely sufficient for the requirements of the trade and more additions are contemplated. It is only in recent seasons, however, that the grain and seed traffic has gone to the docks; for many years the sheds constructed to deal with this traffic lay empty and idle, the merchants preferring to work at Howrah, where their business had so long been established.
In 1898, or several years after the docks had been opened for traffic, General Strachey addressing the shareholders said:—
"No perceptible effect has yet been produced on the trade arrangements of Calcutta by the partial opening of the docks, to which very few vessels have hitherto resorted. Difficulties have arisen, that had not been foreseen, in inducing traders to modify the practice that has hitherto prevailed, as to loading and unloading ships, when lying at their moorings in the river, by means of lighters, and these have not yet been so far overcome as to bring about any general movement of the export trade to the docks, to meet which all requisite preliminary arrangements have been made. It is, however, hardly likely that an alteration of system can be very long delayed."
It was in 1898 that, in consequence of a block of wheat at Howrah, the traffic was for a few days diverted to the docks, only to block the shed accommodation there also; and in 1899 the docks actually declined to receive grain and seeds except under restrictions, as the authorities feared a repetition of their experience of the previous year, a fear that was shared by the merchants who had suffered from the resulting confusion.
The aversion on the part of the trade to utilising the accommodation at the docks was in no way due to the action of the East Indian Railway; on the contrary the East Indian Railway had done all in its power to promote the use of the sheds available there; but the mercantile community did little to overcome difficulties, although it was a matter of vital interest to them, for the trade of the port was burdened to provide means for paying the interest on the capital outlay and the cost of maintaining the docks, from which no advantage was being obtained.
"It is certainly difficult," the Chairman had said in 1893, "for any one like myself, not acquainted in detail with the circumstances of the case, not to feel surprise that the mercantile community, which would seem to be so greatly interested in this matter, should treat it with such apparent indifference."
General Strachey repeatedly advocated measures to assist the trade of Calcutta, by transferring the bulk of the export and import work to the docks, but it was years before the change was accomplished, and then more by the force of circumstances than by the action of those most interested. And in the meantime, year after year, as regularly as the season came round for exporting grain and seeds, the Howrah terminus became blocked and the East Indian Railway congested with traffic. For this the East Indian Railway management was invariably blamed, though it was repeatedly explained that the blocks of traffic were actually due to no fault on the part of the railway, but were caused by the consignees of goods being unable or unwilling to take de at Howrah, on the arrival of the wagons carrying the goods.
In 1899 General Sir Richard. Strachey remarked that "notwithstanding the efforts made to attract the export trade from Howrah to the docks the bulk of it is still dealt with at Howrah, partly because the dock charges are in many cases in excess of those incurred by shipping with boats from Howrah, but mainly owing to a large number of the up-country traders finding the Howrah terminus to be more convenient, as it offers facilities for certain classes of export produce changing hands, which the conditions of the trade require."
In 1901 a change came over the scene, only a small portion of the export produce passing through the docks, the Howrah terminus became, as usual, as full as it could be, and some measure of relief had to be decided upon. The Wheat and Seeds Association and the principal export firms were consulted, and with their assent it was decided to temporarily close Howrah to the receipt of linseed. The experiment proved successful, the linseed went to the docks, and ever since then the docks have been the chief centre for the export of linseed, while a considerable proportion of the wheat trade is also dealt with there.
During the year 1897 the total traffic crossing the Jubilee Bridge amounted to 2,040,686 tons; in 1901 the figures rose to 3,613,451, the proportions of coal and ordinary merchandise being:—
Coal. / Ordinary merchandise.
- 1897 1,582,557 / 458,129
- 1901 2,995,600 / 617,851
At the present time over 4.5 million tons of traffic cross the Jubilee Bridge yearly, of which more than two million tons consist of coal exported from the Kidderpore Docks, where there are eight coal-loading berths, one of which is provided with a mechanical loading appliance. An increase of three more coaling berths is now contemplated, and, judging by the continued growth of the trade, they will not be provided at all too soon. In other ways also the accommodation at the Kidderpore Docks has in recent years been vastly improved; generally speaking the docks are now on a level with trade requirements.
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