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On This Day Today, South India’s First Passenger Train With 300 People Ran From India’s Oldest Standing Railway Station

The Carnatic region boasts a fascinating connection to the earliest days of Indian railways.

by Nikitha Sebastian
On This Day Today, South India’s First Passenger Train With 300 People Ran From India’s Oldest Standing Railway Station

On a cloudy July 1, 1856, history unfolded at the Royapuram station in Madras (now Chennai). A brand new train, carrying over 300 passengers, embarked on a journey to Wallajah Road, marking the momentous occasion of South India’s first passenger train service.

South India’s First Passenger Train

Few are aware that Royapuram holds the distinction of being the oldest standing railway station building in all of India. Just three days prior to the inaugural train service, Lord Harris, the Governor of Madras at the time, officially opened the newly constructed station on June 28, 1856.

However, the building fell into disrepair over the years, becoming a dilapidated structure with overgrown vegetation. Thankfully, the Southern Railway recognised its historical significance and undertook renovations, reopening it to the public in 2005.

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168 Years Of History

Royapuram’s unique status lies in being the first station building constructed in the subcontinent before any train services even commenced. While Bombay witnessed the first train service in India back in April 1853, the iconic Victoria Terminus building wasn’t inaugurated by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway until 1888. Similarly, Howrah on the eastern coast only received its present-day station building in 1905. When the first train journey from Howrah to Hughli took place in 1854, the station consisted merely of a temporary tin shed.

The Carnatic region boasts a fascinating connection to the earliest days of Indian railways. Surprisingly, the first initiative to survey a potential rail line, stretching from Madras to Bangalore, dates back to 1828 – a mere three years after the Stockton-Darlington line became the world’s first operational passenger railway. Unfortunately, this early attempt seems to have yielded no concrete results.

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Interestingly, the pioneer of railway construction in India was a military engineer, Colonel Arthur Cotton, who ironically became a vocal opponent of extensive railway development, advocating instead for the promotion of inland water transportation. Around 1838, he laid a short stretch of track from Madras City towards the Red Hills, intended solely for transporting road materials. However, this endeavour cannot be considered the true beginning of Indian railways as it wasn’t designed for passenger or goods traffic.

Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

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