THE SHAHDARA SAHARANPUR LIGHT RAILWAY – MARTIN’S BIGGEST NARROW GAUGE RAIL NETWORK

THE SHAHDARA SAHARANPUR LIGHT RAILWAY – MARTIN’S BIGGEST NARROW GAUGE RAIL NETWORK

By VIDYUT PRAKASH MAURYA -  ( IHC Mem No. LM 2395)

The Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway (SSLR) was a 2ft 6 inch ( 762mm)  narrow gauge (NG) privately owned rail network. It was the longest NG rail network of Martin’s Light Railways. The SSLR was distinguished as the first and only narrow gauge line that originates from Delhi. The SSLR was one of several small narrow gauge concerns owned and worked by Martin's Light Railways, a management company based in Calcutta ( Now Kolkata) . The line closed in 1970 but was later taken over by Indian Railways, the line being converted to broad gauge and re-opened to traffic in 1973. This was only NG line that was converted into broad gauge in just two years due to political pressure and high demand of local people.

MARTIN’S NARROW GAUGE RAIL

If, in terms of length, it was the longest network in the Narrow Gauge railway run by the private company Martin & Burn. All of Martin's rail services operated in Bengal were smaller than the length of SSLR. If we say that it was Martin's longest and biggest project then it would not be wrong.

Martin & Company was operating a total of eight light railways. It was the only railway line operated by Martin in Uttar Pradesh (then United Provinces).

Shahdara-Saharanpur rail line was the longest network in this region. Martin was operating four NG network in Bengal, Howrah-Amta (70.3 km), Howrah-Shikhalla Rail Line (27.1 km), Barasat-Bashirghat Light Railway (53 km) and Shantipur-Krishnagar-Nawadweep Light Railway (45 km).

Three NG lines were running in Bihar. Bakhtiyarpur-Bihar Light Railway (53 km), Fatwa-Islampur Light Railway (64 km) and Arrah Sasaram Light Railway (111 km) were operating in Bihar.

Martin was pioneer in running narrow gauge rail system in British India. The Shahdara (Delhi)-Saharanpur Light Railway Company had been formed in 1905. The Shahdara (Delhi) - Saharanpur Light Railway Co Ltd is a Public incorporated on 28 November 1905. It was registered as a tramway company.

 It is classified as Non-govt company and is registered at Registrar of Companies, Kolkata. Its authorized share capital is Rs. 3,900,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 1,500,000.It is inolved in Production , collection and distribution of electricity.

The Shahdara (Delhi)-Saharanpur Light Railway Co Ltd's Annual General Meeting (AGM) was last held on 01 April 2006 and as per records from Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), its balance sheet was last filed on 31 March 2006. The Shahdara (Delhi)-Saharanpur Light Railway Co Ltd's Corporate Identification Number is (CIN) L40109WB1905PLC001636 and its registration number is 1636. its registered address is 9, LAL BAZAR STREET, KOLKATA WB 700001 INDIA.

A contract was signed between the United Provinces government and the company for the construction of the railroad. Although no guarantee was given to the railway company on behalf of the government but the land for the construction of railway line was provided free of cost. It was a land of superior quality of agriculture in western Uttar Pradesh, which was in a canal-laden area. Martin & Company laid a total of 92.63 miles long railway line. The task of laying this line was done at a very fast pace in just two years.

On May 7, 1907, the railway section of the railway line of about 100 km was started on this railway route between Shahdara and Shamli. After this, rail traffic on Shamli- Saharanpur section was started on 15th October 1907 on this year.

ROUTE  AND ROLLING STOCK

Total length of SSLR line was 92 miles ( 165 Kilometers ) when it was completed in 1907.  The SSLR line was running north from Shahdara, one of the north-eastern suburbs of Delhi, to Saharanpur, a junction on the Meerut to Ambala section of the North Western Railway. It was part of Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway.

Initially, the services of eight locomotives were taken on this railway route. A total of 35 coaches were provided for carrying passengers. At the same time, total 189 wagons were available on freight train.

The first eight locomotives of the SSLR were the 2-6-2 model steam locomotive, which was supplied by Hunslet, a locomotive company of England in 1907. After this, locomotives of 2 – 6-4  Shada class were erected. These were also manufactured by Hanslet. At the same time two locomotives of this class were manufactured in Saharanpur in 1945-46. Spare and frames were imported from Hunslet for these locmotives.

Two locomotives on Shahradra Saharanpur rail were also brought from another network of Martin’s rail. In this order, the 0-8-0 range tank engine was supplied from the Bashirhat Light Railway in Bengal in 1941. But it got out of operation in 1948.

When the operation of the Bakhtiyarpur-Bihar Light Railway was closed in 1962-63, a locomotive built in the 0-6-2 category was brought here. In the year 1967, SSLR also bought second hand engine KC 524 from Kalka Shimla Network. During its 63-year service cycle, SSLR had 22 such steam locomotives in this route. Apart from this the network also had three rail cars.

Light railways had considerable assets in Saharanpur. There were railway buildings, children's parks, a canteen, a dispensary, administrative office, rest house, outhouse, residence of officers etc. The railway company was fixed by the District Municipal Board for these buildings for Rs. 3957.75 per annum. There was also litigation for recovery.

SSLR – CARRYING 12 THOUSAND PEOPLE DAILY

In the year 1970, 12 thousand people were traveling on the Shahdara Saharanpur Light railway network before its closer time. It is a different matter that the rail network had then come to the deficit.

By the year 1911, the SSLR railway network had reached a running distance of 1 lacs 37 thousand miles. In the same way in 1912 total 9 lakh 94 thousand 100 people had traveled on this network. In the year 1912, a total of 1 lakh 6 thousand tonnes of goods had been transported. In the year 1913, the SSLR network was carrying 10 million passengers each year. There was an annual cargo of more than one lakh tons of goods. On this railway network, the main earning of the Railways was through freight transport, Which was growing every year.

Passenger trains and freight trains both were operated on this route. Mainly sugarcane and sugar was transported from the cargoes. The operation office of the SSLR network was mainly located in the city of Saharanpur. Martin and Bern was headquartered in Calcutta. One operational office was also in Pyare Lal Bhawan on Janpath Marg of Delhi. Then Indian Tobacco Company was also running its business in Saharanpur. In the 1930s, Martin & Co. was a large company employing people in small town Saharanpur.

Shamli an Important Railway Station - Shamli, 100 kilometers ahead of Delhi, was the main railway station of this route. It had strategic importance due to the fact that sugarcane was found in Shamli. It used to be a big railway station between Shahradra and Saharanpur. Passenger trains were a big halt here. A center for maintenance for the coach and locomotive was also made here.

SHAHDARA SAHARANPUR  - RAILWAY LINE OF MILK MAN

In Bagpat, Baraut area of western Uttar Pradesh, has been quite fertile in terms of cultivation. This was a large scale sugarcane farming area. At the same time milk production was also on large scale. Therefore, the work of distributing sugarcane to sugar mills on Shahdhara Saharanpur rail route was in main course. But this line was popular among milkmen of this area, who were using to commute daily by this NG rail network with their milk cans. They use to go Delhi to sell milk of Delhi.

On the Shahadra Saharanpur rail section, daily passenger trains running between Saharanpur and Delhi, you can find a large number of people coming to Delhi with the canton of milk. The journey of milkers has been coming from the times of Narrow gauge age.

Shamli area has always been a big cane producing area. Shahdara Saharanpur Light Railway used to transport sugarcane for Upper Doab Sugar Mills Limited (now Sir Shadi Lal Sugar Mills Limited) located in Shamli.

A trial in the Railway Ratings Tribunal in 1962 shows that the Sugar Mill complained on its behalf if it did not get the correct rate of cane transportation on the SSLR. The company was annoyed by the increase in rates of sugarcane in 1960 by SSLR. Although the tribunal did not agree with the arguments of the sugar mill company.

Vijay Kumar Dixit, a resident of Teetari Mandi near Bagpat Road railway station, who is associated with the famous sweet shop Bhagatji Sweets, remembers the journey of the SSLR Narrow Gauge. He explains that in 1970, I was 18 when the railway line was going to close. On that small line, I used to go to Delhi by buying 80 paise tickets.  After day work and shopping I use to return my home in the evening.

The market is known as the Teetari Mandi or Agarwal Mandi near the Baghpat Road Railway Station, and is known as the British market. At some point it used to be the famous market of the area. Then the shopkeepers of Mandi used to this light railway to go to Delhi.

Writer R. Sivaramakrishnan on Railway, presented an interesting and vibrant account of his visit to Shahradra Saharanpur Light Railway in June 1968 in one of his articles.

He wrote- June 1968: During a brief vist to Delhi, I took a day off to travel by this railway.He wrote about Shahdra - The platform had two tracks on either side, with sidings, goods shed, tranfer yard, loco shed and turn-table to the E, beyond which the line curved into N. At 07:05 a 0-6-2 tank engine was attached to the train, which was to run through to Saharanpur, but had to await the arrival of a down number.

I had got into one of two carriages in the front meant for milk vendors. There was a crowd of them, with large cans, returning to their villages after having delivered the morning milk to the suburbs around Shahdara. Finding me a stranger, they started posing questions.

As the train started at 07:28, some of them burst into a folk song, and one of them, to my horror, lighted up a pressure stove on the wooden floor of the carriage. He boiled milk and made a thick tea, sweetened it with jaggery and forced on me a big lota of it, which I could scarecely consume. They got off in batches at the various stations from Noli (10 km) onwards and were mostly gone by Baghpat Road (32 km), where the tender was watered - water was filled in at three more stations, 49 Baraut, 88 Shamli and 119 Nanauta. More people got in and so the train was still packed.

People were climbing on to the roofs of these carriages and I too clambered atop one. The smooth roof was curving down towards the edges and there was nothing to hold on to. But I was hemmed in by men who were obviously accustomed to roof travel and after some initial trepidation, and being assured that there was no bridge or girder ahead to get my head smashed by, I braced myself for the ride. Truly upper class.

The vista remained much the same: flat, bare fields, occasionally some green crops, with the soil now a shade reddish, punctuated by short trees and clusters of houses. Shamli was the largest station between the termini, with sidings beyond a sizeable goods shed. Many stations had two loops and even some of the halts had a loop. Apart from the curve to the N out of Shahdara, and a gentle one, past a factory, the NG loco shed and turn-table, just approaching Saharanpur (149 km, a 15:49), there was no curve to speak of. The NG terminated at a wall, past which was the BG loco shed of the junction.

LIGHT RAIL - TRAVEL FROM SHAHDARA TO SAHARANPUR

There were a total of 32 railway stations and halts on the narrow Gauge network between Shahadra and Saharanpur. Shahadra wasthe first station of broad gauge railway across the Yamuna river, 6 kilometers ahead of Delhi. On the left side of the Broad gauge line, the line of narrow gauge was found. But there was a great difference in the height between the NG track and broad gauge. NG line was located in Shahdara's Ramnagar mohalla.

Shahadra, in the beginning of the twentieth century, when the light railway started, there was a separate town from Delhi, where there used to be big market and mandi.

1. Delhi Shahadara (code-DSA) - Delhi railway station, six kilometers away from Old Delhi. It was the only station of the SSL that fell in Delhi. After this the railway route enters Uttar Pradesh.

2. Behta Hajipur (12 km) – in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh is a small stoppage.

3. Noli (15 km) - The name of this city is Loni, but the name of the station is Noli. Now it is a tehsil of Ghaziabad district and it is the city coming to Delhi NCR.

4. Nurastabad (18 km) 5. Gotra (22 km) 6. Fakrpur Halt (25 km)

7. Khekda (28 km) 8. Ahera (35 km)

9. Bagpat Road (38 km) - Distance from railway station to Baghpat city is 5 kilometers.  Railway station is near to Agarwal Mandi.

10. Sujra (at 44 km) 11. Alawalpur Idreespur (48 km)12. Barka Halt (51 km)

13. BRAUT (54 km) - BRAUT is the main railway station and big city of this route.

14 Bawli Halt (59 km) 15. Kasimpur Khedi (63 km) 16 Bhudpur (67 km)

17. Asara Halt (71 km) 18. Elm Halt (73 km) 19. Kandla (79 km)

 20. Khandravali Halt (86 km) 21. Gujran Balwa (89 km)

22. Shamli (93 km) - The biggest stop over of the NG rail route. With the district headquarters being the old industrial city. There was also a provision for water for the steam engine.

23. Silavar (100 km) 24. Heind (104 km)

25. Haher Fatehpur (108 km) 26. Thanabhan (113 km)

27. Nanda (129 km) 28. Sona Arjunpur (132)

29. Rampur Maniharan (136 km) 30. Bhanukala Halt (141 km)

31. Manani (146 km) 32. Saharanpur (Station Code - SRE)

LOSS AND CLOSER OF SSLR NETWORK

In the last days of the sixties, the SSLR was experiencing considerable losses in operations. Therefore, the company gave notice to the Indian government to close the railway line. Shahdara Saharanpur Light Railway made its last train on 01 September 1970. This year Martin's two more railway lines were closed due to operational losses.

Howrah Amta and Howrah Shialkhalla lines were also closed in Bengal this year. The main reason for the closure was that Martin & Co had to be consistently deficit with these lines. Martin's management announced that due to losses year after year the companies had to be forced to lock in. During this period, there was tremendous competition from road transport in these areas.

The rolling stock, tracks and other assets of these railroads were also not being maintained properly. His condition was very bad and he needed a fair enough expenditure for his maintenance. The level of passenger amenities on these light railways was also very weak compared to the Indian Railways.

SSLR – CONVERTED TO BROAD GAUGE

After the closure of the light railway in 1970 there was a lot of debate about the future course of action. Especially issue of the unemployed staff working on this railway track and the availability of alternative transportation for millions of people raised by local leaders. After the closure of the railroad, questions were asked in Parliament. In 1970, Jan Sangh MP Beni Shankar Burma raised this issue in the Lok Sabha.

 

Trade union leaders associated with industries of Saharanpur demanded the nationalization of the Shahradra Saharanpur line and also start it soon. If there is no nationalization, then it has also been considered to have a cooperative committee and run a railway line. Besides, it was also demanded to take appropriate action on the company to not give the employees' dues.

A local leader from Saharanpur JD Kaushal Sain says, Shahadra Saharanpur Light Railway, which was closed before the fifth Lok Sabha election in early 1971, became a big politcal issue of this area. Ramchandra Vikal, leader of the popular Gujjar Samaj and Congress candidate from Baghpat, promised during the election campaign to the people of the area that he would be able to convert the SSLR into a broad gauge line.

The proposal for revival as a broad gauge line was strongly backed by Ram Chandra Vikal, after winning Lok Sabha elections from Bagpat. He raised the issue  to Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India in 1970. With the efforts of the then Congress Member of Parliament Ramchandra Vikal of Bagpat, this line changed to the Broad Gauge soon after the shut down of the Narrow Gauge line. Finally it was later reopened in the 1973 after conversion to broad gauge. Now this line is part of Northern Railway of Indian Railway.

 Although the broad gauge largely follows the same track bed and alignment as the erstwhile narrow gauge, there is a minor deviation near Saharanpur. The broad gauge line takes off south towards Delhi from Tapri on the main line, while the narrow gauge line did not touch Tapri at all. Other than that, the stations are the same as before.

Due to the political importance of Bagpat, Baraut and Shamli area, this railway line was swiftly implemented. On conversion of this railway line to broad gauge, Vivek Devaray writes - If Bagpat parliamentary constituency is not so important in the 1970s, then the work of converting this line to a Broad gauge is rarely started at that time. In fact this was not a commercial decision of any railway.

On February 20, 1973, the then Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra presented the Railway Budget of 1973-74. In his speech, the he had kept a complete portion of budget for light railway separately. But this could not be implemented.

Earlier, in the interim rail budget presented in 1972, there was considerable talk on light railways. It was said in the budget speech that three Railway Networks which were closed in 1970 by Martin & Co. were in losses of Rs 36 lakh, in which Shahdara Saharanpur network was also one. But this is only single  network that was converted to Broad gauge.

In 2016 the Railways decided to convert this route into double line. Now the BG line between Shahdara and Saharanpur,when it wil ldouble and electrified, it can be a good alternative route from Delhi to UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Punjab to run more trains.

SSLR HIGHLIGHTS –

TOTAL LENGTH – 165 KM , TRACK – 762 MM, 

START – 07 MAY 1907, CLOSER– 1 SEPT 1970  

DAILY PASSENGERS - 12,000  ( NG ), CONVERSION TO BG – 1973

REFRENCES -

1 http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history3.html

2 http://www.irfca.org/steam/sslr.html

3 https://www.zaubacorp.com/company/THE-SHAHDARA-DELHI-SAHARANPUR-LIGHT-RAILWAY-CO-LTD/L40109WB1905PLC001636

4 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1796745/

5.https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Delhi%E2%80%93Shamli%E2%80%93Saharanpur_line.html

6. Article by Vivek Devrai - http://hindi.business-standard.com/storypage.php?autono=130425

7. BOOK - The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise – (Page- 216)

8 . BOOK - History of Indian Railways: Constructed and in Progress – (page - 233 )

9 .Book - Lok Sabha Debates, Volume 46, Issues 16-20, Contributor-India. Parliament. Lok Sabha. Secretariat, Publisher, Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1970

10. BOOK- Indian Railways: The Weaving of a National Tapestry, By Bibek Debroy, Sanjay Chadha, Vidya Krishnamurthi

11. https://indiankanoon.org/doc/875816/

12. https://abn397.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/the-non-government-railways-of-india-in-1964-and-what-happened-to-them/

13. Indian Railways Budget Speech 1971-72 (Interim) by k Hanumanthappa  -  23 MAR 1971

14. The Economic Weekly - Feb 1965 - Annual Number.

Author  – Vidyut Prakash Maurya

M.A (History) BHU 1995: MA Mass Communication (GJU,Hisar), UGC NET Quilified.

Working as Journalist in Hindustan Hindi Daily. ( DELHI )

 Email- vidyutp@gmail.com 
( Presented at Indian History Congress held at  RCVP BHOPAL  held - 28-30 Feb 2019 )