East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter XXIV
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 XXIV. GENERAL GROWTH OF TRAFFIC.
IN the year 1889 the total receipts from all sources of traffic amounted to Rs. 458,79,405; in 1894 they were Rs. 543,33,171; by 1899 they had gone up to Rs. 655,07,440, and during 1905 they were no less than Rs. 779,45,988.
In 1889 the percentage of working expenses to gross receipts were 34.63, in 1894 30.64, in 1899 32.52, and in 1905 35-31.
Nothing could speak more eloquently than these figures of the management of the East Indian Railway; with a great expansion of traffic there has continued a marked economy in working, and it was this result that General Sir Richard Strachey set himself to achieve from the moment he assumed the Chairmanship. Addressing the shareholders in 1890, he said: "It was my aim, while in India to inculcate the absolute necessity for seeking better results ..... so that while the greatest practical economy was ensured, the varied interests, connected both with the passenger and goods service of the railway, should be constantly respected and their reasonable demands complied with."
Eight years later he comments on what had by then been accomplished in the following terms:— "The careful attention given to administrative measures has reduced the working expenses below the amount at which they stood twelve years ago, although the passenger traffic has increased more than 75 per cent, and the goods traffic nearly 50 per cent., and it may confidently be affirmed that this has been accomplished in conjunction with a greatly improved condition of the permanent way, works and rolling stock, and increased efficiency in every branch of the service."
The exceptional position of the East Indian Railway Company in relation to other Indian Railways and the economical way in which it is worked, compared either with Indian or English lines, has often formed a theme of comment in Sir Richard Strachey's addresses to the shareholders, but we need only quote one instance here - in 1897 he said: "It will, I think, be useful again to point out, as I have done on former occasions, the relative great importance of the East Indian Railway, in respect of the traffic with which it has to deal, compared to other Indian Railways, and from which you will better be able to judge of the nature of the responsibility which the Company accepts with the management of the undertaking. During the last four months for which we have returns of the traffic, it appears that the gross receipts of the East Indian Railway, the length worked being 1,833 miles, amounted to 187.5 lakhs of rupees. During the same period, the aggregate receipts of the Great Indian Peninsular, the Indian Midland, the Bombay and Baroda, the Rajputana-Malwa and Bengal-Nagpur Railways, the total length worked on which was 5,399 miles, amounted in all to 188.75 lakhs of rupees."
The traffic of the East Indian Railway has continued to give results immeasurably beyond that of any other railway in India, and although this is in a large degree due to the enormous coal traffic carried, still the expansion of other branches of traffic has also been very considerable. Allowing for variations in the wheat, grain and seed trade, due to the nature of the export demand or to famine or other cause, there has been continuous and marked development in practically all classes and kinds of traffic, and this is a most satisfactory feature, as it is on the growth of the general traffic, in all its branches, that the Company must rely for its continued progress and prosperity, rather than on the expansion of any particular items.
In the interval between the years 1895 and 1900, there were increases under the head of passengers amounting to two millions in number; under merchandise to a little more than one million tons; and under coal to more than two million tons, but, although it is necessary to found a review of the working of the railway upon figures indicating numbers of passengers and quantities of goods carried, as well as the amount of rupees earned and spent in the process, yet this does not truly indicate the value or importance of the work done by the railway for the country.
"To appreciate this," General Strachey remarked in 1901, "we must bear in mind the enormous advantages given a vast population, by the increasing facilities for travelling over great distances which otherwise would have been practically impossible. The extent of this convenience is indicated by the fact that in the past half-year more than eleven million persons have travelled on the railway, ten millions of whom were of the less affluent classes. Similar considerations apply to the effect produced on the trade and material progress of the country. The protection against the worst results of drought has been complete and could have been obtained by no other means. The facilities for the transport of goods over considerable distances must have increased the potential wealth of the people by several millions sterling yearly, through giving the means of carriage, at very low rates, and opening markets that would otherwise have been inaccessible, thus greatly stimulating and supporting internal as well as export trade."
The growth of traffic on the East Indian Railway has in a large measure been due to attention to detail, and to the means taken to stimulate the internal as well as the export trade of the country. Changes in the habits of the people have also had their effect on the traffic of the railway, or to put it in another way, the railway has enabled the population to adopt measures or to alter customs which, but for the railway, would never have been thought of. This we see in many directions, but to take one illustration only; in the early eighties vegetable oil, locally manufactured, was the only illuminant used by the masses; a wagon load of kerosene oil was unknown, and only a few cases, for the use of Europeans and the more wealthy natives, were carried. Railway rates were reduced, and in 1889 the East Indian railway carried a traffic of 24,376 tons - further reduction followed and, in 1905, the year's traffic in kerosene oil amounted to no less than 88,751 tons, a considerable portion of which was carried in bulk, for the carriage of which the Company had in the meantime constructed special stock. Nowadays kerosene oil may be purchased in any village in India, and the people burn practically nothing else.
Similar remarks might be made in respect to other details, and speaking of the great growth of traffic since the formation of the line, the money returns of the East Indian Railway having during 40 years increased more than a hundredfold, General Strachey remarked in 1896 "when it is remembered that the line with which we are concerned is no longer, as it was in 1855, the only, or almost the only, railway in India, but one out of many, we are enabled to form some idea of the great changes in the habits of the people, the surprising expansion of trade, the rapid development of the resources of the country and our immense strengthening of our hold of India which are due to the introduction of railways."
The following table shows the growth of traffic earnings, in periods of ten years, since the opening of the line:—
Gross earnings of the East Indian Railway system during the following years.
Coaching.(Rs.)... Goods and minerals.(Rs.)... Sundries.(Rs.)... Total.(Rs.)
- 15th August to 31st December 1854 ... 87,962 ... 3,651 ... 1,767 ... 93,280
- 1864 ... 60,18,053 ... 77,43,271 ... 1,69,806 ... 1,39,31,130
- 1874 ... 88,48,497 ... 2,70,77,403 ... 14,12,461 ... 3,73,38,381
- 1884 ... 1,30,65,845 ... 2,99,88,895 ... 7,83,973 ... 4,38,38,713
- 1894 ... 1,81,50,604 ... 3,53,55,879 ... 8,26,688 ... 5,43,33,171
- 1904 ... 2,33,48,816 ... 5,41,10 968 ... 12,68,238 ... 7,87,26,012
Number of passengers and tons of goods carried.
No. of passengers ... Tons of goods of all descriptions.
- 15th August to 31st December 1854 ... 141,161 ... Not available.
- 1864 ... 4,014,171 ... 660,571
- 1874 ... 6,038,191 ... 2,330,907
- 1884 ... 11,126,560 ... 4,313,086
- 1894 ... 17,269,825 ... 6,133,732
- 1904 ... 23,585,686 ... 12,233.188
See Also
Sources of Information