Train that changed fortune of Jagadhri town

Virender Singh Dhillon

The Railways in India is a colonial asset which is generally seen as a technological innovation that changed the discourse of the Indian history. For imperialists, it helped in unification of a vast and diverse land and laid a strong ground for pan-India feeling. On the other hand, nationalists termed it as drain of Indian resources for the benefits of the home government in London. On August 11, 1911, the first steam tramway on narrow gauge of 2 feet ran between the Jagadhri station (then Abdullapur, now Yamunanagar) to Jagadhri town. In the memory of the people of Jagadhri, this rail line till date is known as ‘Chhoti Line’. There is a ‘Rail Bazaar’ where once at the station of then steam tramway passengers and goods loaded and unloaded. It was built by Jagadhri Light Railway Company in the early decade of the twentieth century. It was a joint stock company initiated by the Raja of Jagadhri, Joti Prakash, (though the British had abolished Jagadhri Estate in 1867). The rail line was completed in almost 20 months with little halts in between due to the late arrival of some material from London. The total cost of laying the rail line was around Rs 1.20 lakh and its annual maintenance cost was Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. The whole profit went to Jagadhri Light Railway Company. The first ride on August 11, 1911, was free. 

Jagadhri, better known for its brassware and copper industry since ancient times, developed as the chief metal town of colonial Haryana. Archaeologist Suraj Bhan (1931-2010) while excavating the site of Sugh in 1964-65 found a flourishing metal industry in the region of Jagadhri in the early centuries of the Christian era. Brassware and copper artefacts manufactured at Jagadhri were exported to north-western provinces and other parts of Punjab. 

In 1853, W. Wynyard, the Settlement Officer of Cis-Satlug states, reported that the roads in the region were in a state of disrepair. He hinted the colonial government about the opening of the railways in the region. The first railway line between Delhi-Saharanpur-Jagadhri-Ludhiana was laid in 1870. The Jagadhri rail line was majorly laid for supply of war materials — men, grains, beast of burden and animals, arms and ammunition. The special obligations of the rail company were to provide conveyance to government mails, troops, police, high government officials and stores. 

In the early decades of the twentieth century, there was an acute shortage of manual labour in the Jagadhri region due to severe ravages of plague, malaria and influenza. So, the then British Deputy Commissioner of Ambala in handiness with local businessmen of the metal industry planned the project. For the local businessmen, it boosted their trade in metal artefacts and helped in mechanisation of the metal industry. So, for the Great War’s needs and development of modern metal industry, it was pertinent for the British to sanction a railway project. 

With the establishment of the Arya Samaj branch of Jagadhri in 1881 (50 members) and the Santan Dharam Sabha (16 members) in 1885, the freedom movement gained momentum in the region. It was the era of rising violent nationalism in Punjab where the Ghadar Party and the Kisan Kirti Party and young nationalists were striving to free India from the clutches of the colonial government. The survival of the British government largely depended on intelligence reports and telegraphic messages, which needed urgent delivery. So, to meet all these objectives the British implanted a local rail line from the Jagadhri station to Jagadhri town with the assistance of local businessmen. 

Post-Independence, the train lost its relevance with the introduction of motor transport and availability of cheap labour due to influx of migrants from Pakistan. It finally stopped operations from 1950.

(The writer teaches History at Maharaja Agrasen College, Jagadhri)