Category Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies

200 Years of Passenger Rail Travel: A Call for India to Upgrade Its Tracks

The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of passenger travel by rail. While horses used to drag heavy loads along parallel rails, initially of wood and later of steel, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the arrival of steam locomotives changed transportation forever. On September 27, 1825, a locomotive built by George Stephenson pulled 11 wagons of people and 20 wagons of coal a distance of some 26 miles from Darlington to Stockton along steel tracks (these places are about two hours by car from Manchester). That inaugurated travel by rail.

India Today: Shaped by the Visionary Ideas of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

I have a vivid memory of a gleeful and beaming laugh of the great statesman and leader, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was born on this day in 1924 in Gwalior. An affable personality, Vajpayee would express his love for Mithila’s Rohu and his appreciation for Maithili language. As renowned he was for his eloquence and poetry, his presence would draw the masses as well as reassure those in high offices. His poem ‘Kadam mila ke chalna hoga’ symbolised his approach in life about collaborative endeavours for nation building. His poems would often describe India as a nation of cultural pluralism and synthesis.

Talk to Us