Rambles on Railways

by Sir Cusack P. Roney

Several miles of steel rails have been sent from England during 1866. Their first cost is, of course, much greater than that of iron; but, irrespective of any other advantages, if we take into consideration the cost that is always incurred in sending materials from Great Britain—a cost which, in some cases, where the inland carriage is of considerable length, almost doubles the original price of the rails—it is certainly worth while, within certain limits, to ship steel rails in the first instance.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the fuel question.[102] Cheap or dear fuel may, in many instances, on Indian railways, be translated into complete success or very nearly total failure. Even at the commencement of the present year, before freights had risen so much in consequence of the Abyssinian expedition, the value of coal and coke before it was landed in India was about 50s. a ton. When the landing charges and the cost of conveyance along the lines are added, the average price of coal for the railways on the western and southern sides of India becomes about 60s. a ton. It is a fortunate circumstance for the East India Railway that its line runs through the finest portion of the Raneegunge coal-field,[103] thereby reducing its cost of fuel to 3¼d. per ton, and also affording it the opportunity of having a large coal traffic. Nor will this be the only source from which the railway can be supplied with coal, for the chord line between Raneegunge and Luckieserai passes through another coal bed, that of Kurhurbali. The coal of this field is described as excellent, although it does not exist in as large quantity as at Raneegunge. On the other hand, the Great Indian Peninsular Company, not having entered into arrangements with the Nerbudda Coal Company, its fuel cost was 1s. 6¼d. per train mile in 1866, the estimated average cost of coal over the whole line being £3 per ton, of coke £3. 12s., and of “Patent Fuel” £3. 8s.

Mr. Oldham, Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, does not speak encouragingly as regards the prospect of coal being found in parts of India where it would be of great value to the railways. “Extensive coal-fields do occur,” says Mr. Oldham; “but they are not distributed generally over the districts of the Indian empire, but are almost entirely concentrated in one (a double) band of coal yielding deposits which, with large interruptions, extends more than half across India, from near Calcutta towards Bombay.” He, however, adds, that much still remains to be surveyed, and, until careful mapping has been carried out, of all the fields, any estimate of the coal resources of British India must be defective.

In the meantime coal from Labuan and from Australia are in course of being tried. Much must not be expected from the former; but there are great hopes that the latter will be largely available for India. But all persons who have written upon, or are interested in, the subject, come to the same conclusion, which is that the railways must mainly look to wood for their fuel. We are happy to perceive that the subject is engaging the most serious attention of the Governments both at home and in India; and there is no doubt but that an extensive system of planting timber suitable for fuel purposes will be immediately carried into operation, all the more necessary when it is borne in mind that a plantation of twenty acres will be the average proportion necessary for the requirements of every mile of railway.

The working expenses of the railways exhibit very great differences both as respects actual amounts and their per centage proportions to traffic. Thus, for instance, on the Great Southern of India Line they were for the year 1865 2s. 7½d. a mile, and only 2s. 3d. a mile in 1866; yet the fuel cost was £2. 18s. a ton; exactly the same price as on the Bombay and Baroda line, the working expenses of which were 8s. 1¾d. in 1865 per train mile. In 1866 they had fallen to 6s. 8d.; so that the difference between these two amounts is exactly two-thirds of the total working cost per train mile of the Great Southern Company. The East Indian was 3s. 8d. per train mile in both 1865 and 1866. But the Madras cost was only 2s. 10¾d. per train mile in 1865. It went up, however, 3¼d. in 1866, being 3s. 2d. Yet the average price it pays for coal is the same as that paid by the Great Indian Peninsular, the cost per train mile of which in 1865 was 6s. 2d., in 1866, 6s. 4½d. No doubt the two Ghaut inclines add heavily both to locomotive and to permanent way charges, but they do not explain why the working cost per train mile should be double that on the Madras Line. It is a remarkable fact also, and it is one which should be recorded to the honour of the Madras management, that, although its traffic receipts per mile are almost the lowest on the whole system of East Indian railways—£13 a mile a week—its per centage of working expenses is actually the lowest, 43½.[104] The per centage of the East Indian, with a weekly mileage receipt of £43, is 44½. The Great Indian Peninsular, the weekly receipt per mile of which is £48, is 59¾; and on the Bombay and Baroda the weekly receipt per mile is £29, the working expenses being 64½ per cent. The Scinde working expenses were 85½ per cent. of the receipts; but the unlucky Calcutta and South-Eastern spends £109. 10s. for every £100 it earns.

Accidents have hitherto been rather numerous on Indian railways. The returns for 1866 were not complete at the time of Mr. Juland Danvers’ last report. In 1864 there were 345 accidents on an average of 2,699 miles of railway open, and the number had fallen to 284 on an average of 3,153 miles open in 1865. The Madras line, on the whole, has had fewer accidents than any other company—only five in 1865. Accidents by fire are rather numerous, especially in those districts where wood is used as fuel. This is, perhaps, also to be expected, in consequence of the conveyance of cotton forming so important a portion of the business of the two companies having their termini at Bombay. Accidents from fire, however, sensibly diminished in 1865, which is ascribed to the extended introduction of covered waggons for carrying cotton, to the greatly increased use of coke, which gives out less sparks, and to the custom that prevails now of invariably placing several waggons (even running empties for the purpose, if none others are available) between the engine and cotton waggons.

But although the number of accidents was less in 1865 than in 1864, they were more destructive in their character in the former year, 316 persons having been killed or injured in 1865, as against 256 in 1864. But in these numbers are included the persons injured through their own fault or imprudence. It deserves to be recorded that in eleven years the Madras Railway has carried nearly twelve millions of passengers, hitherto without a case of injury to any of them. But, on the other hand, owing to two serious collisions on the line, a large number of the company’s servants have been fatally or seriously injured. Native passengers are reckless; but native servants are especially so, for out of 49,398 employed on all lines in 1865, 96 were killed and 97 injured, or 193 in all, against 147 in 1864, with about the same number of servants. Of these casualties, 136, or 1 in 363, occurred in 1865 through incaution or misconduct; 42 were killed or injured in attempting to get upon or off, or falling from, engines or carriages in motion; and 52 were run over or struck whilst incautiously crossing, standing, or walking upon the line.

Reference to page 176 will enable the reader to compare the number and character of Indian railway accidents with those on the railways of the United Kingdom.

There is one more subject connected with the working expenses of railways in India to which reference must be made—the staff. It is quite evident that on railways, as in every other department of Anglo-Indian service, whether it be governmental or corporate, all the persons in leading positions—not only those to direct and command, but those in the scale some degrees subordinate to them—must be European British subjects; not merely of European descent, but of actual birth as such. Without them the great railway system of India can never be efficiently worked. The returns of persons employed on the lines in 1866 show this fact very clearly, for whilst “native” servants were (excluding the Southern of India, which has not sent in any return of its staff) 30,838, the Europeans and East Indians were only 2,736. All the highest appointments were filled by Europeans. East Indians could rise to the class of station-masters; so could the natives, in an inferior degree, but these last constituted the whole of the humblest classes of servants. On the East Indian Railway the comparative estimation of the three nativities for the appointments of station-masters was thus shown:—Out of 114, 35 are Europeans, who receive salaries the lowest of which (irrespective of ample lodging accommodation) is £180, and they range up to £420 a year. Five East Indians, very choice and exceptionally superior men, have from £180 to £300 a year; whilst the salaries of the 74 natives vary from a minimum of £25 to a maximum of £250 a year.

It will always he necessary to recruit the upper ranks of railway officials in India from amongst the railway officials of Great Britain; and up to now, as far as our knowledge and acquaintance extend, no gentleman has left this country to fill a railway appointment in India at much less increase than three times his English emoluments. It is possible that efficient gentlemen may henceforth be obtained at smaller comparative salaries; but we doubt that such will be the fact. The character of the climate of India, so telling, as a rule, upon Europeans, but especially upon those who do not go to it when very young, and who are liable to exposure out of doors in the broiling hours of the day, and during the down-pours of the deluging rain torrents every year, and the necessary separation of a man and his wife from their children during the period of their education, must naturally deter officials from leaving comfortable appointments in England, except under the influence of strong pecuniary temptations. The risk of health-failure is also accompanied by knowledge of the fact that men cannot insure their lives, except upon payment of very high annual premiums.