Electrical trains between Beach and
Tambaram began in 1931
This April, the city’s suburban
railways, as we know it, turns 83.
On April 2, 1931, the first
electrically-operated railway service between Madras Beach and Tambaram was
launched by Sir George Fredrick Stanley, the then governor of Madras.
The newly-inaugurated rail road
happened to be the earliest metre gauge to be electrified in the country. It
was only a month after the official inauguration that the service was opened to
the public on May 11, 1931.
The plan to electrify railway lines in
Madras however was not new. Sir Percy Rothera, an agent of the South Indian
Railways, had foreseen the need for such aservice way back in 1923.
With the city expanding, largely
agricultural areas such as Saidapet, St. Thomas Mount and Tambaram were fast
developing into residential quarters. It was only by 1931 that Rothera’s
proposal saw the light of day.
As part of the suburban remodelling
initiative of South Indian Railways, an ambitious plan was announced.
A new line between Beach and Egmore,
and two between Egmore and Tambaram, were proposed to be built.
The Madras Electricity Supply
Corporation which powered the railway lines was aided by sub-stations in Egmore
and Meenambakkam.
The city which, until then, had the
single steam rail line between Harbour and Tambaram, used by both passenger and
goods trains, was soon to have more options.
The number of trains shuttling
passengers was increased to 45 a day, running every 10 minutes at peak hours,
and every 30 minutes, otherwise.
The running time between Madras Beach
and Tambaram, which previously took 2 hours, was now covered in merely 49
minutes.
Moreover, commuters could avail of the
train service from 4 in the morning right up to 12 at night.
On December 27, 1930, the authorities
received their first consignment of 25 electric carriages from England. Painted
a dull green with a black wheel base, the new carriages were parked in Tambaram
station.
Boasting of wide sliding doors, a
well-designed seating arrangement, and thick glass fronts, the new trains
promised comfortable travel.
The governor, at the opening ceremony,
is reported to have said that the new service would transform ‘desolate south
Madras into burgeoning garden cities’.
Partially prophetic that: Chennai is
certainly burgeoning now, garden or not.
very good attempt
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