JOIN USTo commemorate 150 years of the first train chugging off from the City putting Bengaluru on the railway map of India, a photo exhibition has been put up at the City Railway Station.
The exhibition has pictures depicting some of the firsts in the history of Railways. Railways officials say that it was on August 1, 1864 that Jolarpet was connected to Bangalore Cantonment.
According to South Western Railway officials, the first train journey in South India dates back to May 28, 1856 from Royapuram to Wallajah Road (Chennai). Eight years later, Madras Railway Company opened the Jolarpettai-Bangalore Cantonment branch line. The Madras-Bangalore Mail was launched the same year.
As per the trivia, in 1862, the line reached Renigunta and then Raichur in 1871 while the Yeshwanthpur-Doddaballapur Meter Gauge line was opened in 1892.
The City’s first train, aptly called Bangalore Mail, was run by Madras Railway Company and the train covered a distance of 149 kilometre connecting Madras with Bangalore City. The train had first, second and third class coaches.
In 1944, the rail network was nationalised. On April 14, 1951, the three major networks administered by the erstwhile Madras and Southern Maratha Railway, the Southern Indian Railway and Mysore State Railway were merged to form Southern Railway.
Due to historical reasons, the headquarters of the erstwhile Mysore State Railway was located in Mysore though Bangalore was the hub of operations. To improve administration and enhance monitoring, Bangalore Division was carved out on July 27, 1981.
The pictures on display depict some of these epoch-making moments. However, the Railways is yet to estalish locations in case of some old pictures.