Romance of railroad: The ever-expanding Indian Railways

The railways have run into fields as diverse as engineering, metallurgy, science, history, geography, economics, geopolitics, literature, movies, romance, crime, and, inevitably, social media. Vande Bharat Express. PTI.

The impressive $100 billion layout for the Indian Railways, which onboards 7000 local trains, 400 Vande Bharat trains, 24 bullet trains, 50 metros, and 50,000 kilometres of new railway lines over the next few years, re-asserts that our timetable with trains is quite on track. As children would, we adults are fascinated by the magnificence of these steel horses whooshing and whistling in rhythm with nature herself.

Sea voyages and road travel in ancient times were mostly for military and trade purposes. Common people could not move from place to place. Today, although aeroplanes are faster and cars more convenient, there is a quaint and innocent charm to trains.

From the bustling platforms that bear mute witness to fond farewells, to the glorious absence of endless security queues and suffocating seat belts, to the sneaky luxury of being rocked to sleep even during the daytime, trains are the legitimate stuff of romance! Not to forget the elaborate dining experience afforded by pantry cars and the panoramic views that make for truly enjoyable travel.

The railways have run into fields as diverse as engineering, metallurgy, science, history, geography, economics, geopolitics, literature, movies, romance, crime, and, inevitably, social media. It is indeed a great railway bazaar. I mean, how many movies can one remember about cars or buses? Mention trains, and I can immediately name my favourites—North by Northwest, Chennai Express, and Octopussy—although I daresay I could come up with another list tomorrow.

When trains first chugged into existence in 1814, they miraculously shrank distance and time, and economic activity changed in ways hitherto unimaginable. Most people, until then, had rarely ventured beyond their homes throughout their lives. Trains really impelled the mass movement of people across Europe from rural to new urban areas, which galvanised the Industrial Revolution.

The simultaneous colonial expansion of these countries extended the railways into far-flung areas of the world. By 1853, trains had come to India, and the history of the British in India from 1853–1947 ran parallel to the development of railways in India.

It is no exaggeration to say that the railways were the most important factor in the British consolidation of India. Trains moved the military and its equipment efficiently across our vast sub-continent on the unique 5’6” broad gauge tracks that connected the presidency cities and those on the Grand Trunk Road from Chittagong to Peshawar. The movement of people was an added extra, although by no means a priority for the British.

Spur lines were strategically placed so that soldiers could quickly be moved into the princely states in case of ‘problems’. These princely states opted for the cheaper metre-gauge lines—how many of us know that until the late 1980s one could travel all over the country exclusively on these narrow-gauge trains? I recollect journeys from Bombay to Mysore in the 1960s, when one had quite literally to change platforms and trains at a tiny station called Guntakal, hopping from the fast broad gauge train from Bombay into what literally looked like a toy train of the metre gauge line that took nearly 24 hours and yet another train change at Bangalore to go to Mysore, a distance of a mere 450 kilometres.

The Indian Railways saw tragedy during partition, when the ‘Trains to Pakistan’ and the ‘Trains to India’ spilled over with the bodies of victims of the mindless violence during the mindless vivisection of the subcontinent.

Vital rail links in undivided Punjab and Sind were sundered, and one can see now, on old video footage, how some of these links, like the ones from Lahore to Ferozepur or from Sialkot to Jammu, have become ghost tracks to nowhere, quite literally buried under soil; earth on which people cycle, buffaloes snooze, and crops sprout.

Other footage from our ‘favourite’ humsaya offers us glimpses of life on the other side, and when one ‘travels’ from Quetta to Chaman, Karachi to Multan, or Lahore to Rawalpindi through these videos, one sees a level of chaos, squalor, disorganisation, and inefficiency that one does not associate with the Indian Railways. As links snap, new ones appear, and the magnificent new bridge that rises above the Chenab at a height above that of the Eiffel Tower will soon connect the Jammu and Kashmir Divisions of the Union Territory, bringing together two parts of Bhārat that have been geographically, culturally, and denominationally divided for a very long time.

Trains offer a direct edict of a country’s economy and quality of life—bullet trains like Japan’s Shinkansen, France’s TGV, Germany’s ICE, Spain’s Talgo, and China’s enormous fleet remind us that we have only just entered this game; it is depressing that politicians in Maharashtra have actually blocked this bullet train initiative once.

The shrinking of distance and time scales continues with the Maglev and Turbo Loop, which see us moving into a “trackless” and “trainless” type of train travel. Different types of speeds allow for different types of economic, social, and cultural activity.

Why are we fascinated by trains? I venture to suggest that it is the only means of mass transport where one gets to observe otherwise unconnected people at close quarters for more extended periods of time. Again, one does not need to travel for days on end on the Trans-Siberian railway to appreciate geography.

A much shorter train journey that I have undertaken many times between Hyderabad and Bangalore has shown me how to appreciate these very different cities—whether one considers climate, vegetation, greenery or the lack thereof, language, diet, and the attire and manners of people. One can perform the same journey by boarding an aeroplane in a snazzy terminal and alighting in an identical one in an hour. Just because the two terminals look alike and the journey lasts a mere hour, Bangalore and Hyderabad are not two peas in a pod. They are not.

While tremendous strides have been made with regard to feats of engineering that have made trains what they are now, it is instructive to also think of some lesser-known facts in the development of train travel. How many know that the earliest trains had wheels with rims that had to be welded into a circle and that the welded point was the weak link that would break? It took the ingenuity of a German called Alfred Krupp, who figured out a clever way of avoiding this weld by pioneering the use of a single-piece cast steel wheel for railway engines.

Through such casting, he eliminated the need for welding and created a stronger, more reliable wheel. This innovation, apart from making the Krupp company a multinational giant, revolutionised railway engineering, providing a more durable and efficient solution for locomotive wheels. It is truly ironic that such wheels were used for the engines of the trains that carried millions of Jews and other unfortunate souls to the concentration camps in Krupp’s own country, even to a place we know now as Auschwitz, where Krupp’s descendants ran a huge slave labour camp for the German war machine.

How many of you have noticed that the familiar clickety-clack of trains has gradually reduced on Indian Railways? This beat is caused by small metal fishplates that join two sections of track together. They are typically bolted to the sides of the rails for a secure connection. Fishplates can be eliminated by continuously welded tracks. Without the old joints and fasteners of fishplates, the track provides a smoother ride and experiences less wear and tear, leading to lower maintenance requirements and costs. The absence of fishplates eliminates the risk of them coming loose or failing, or even the sabotage of the track by wilful removal, any of which can cause derailments or other accidents. Long sections of continuous welded rail are common in Europe and advanced countries. They will become almost mandatory in India if our Vande Bharat trains are to run at the maximum speed of 180 kmph for which they have been built.

From the Orient Express to the Frontier Mail or the Blue Train, the romance of the railroad is eternal.

The author is an Emeritus Professor in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and is the author of Bharat: India 2.0 published in 2021. He has an H-index of 104. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.