जी. आय. पी. रेल्वे The G.I.P. Railway (India's First Train)

मुंबईत रेल्वे असावी अशी मागणी सर्वप्रथम सर जमशेटजी जिजीभाई आणि नाना शंकरशेट यांनी केली. अनेक श्रीमंत व्यापाऱ्यांनी त्यांना पाठिंबा दिला. सन १८५३ मध्ये मुंबई ते ठाणे असा पहिला छोटा रेल्वेमार्ग तयार झाला. लोखंडी रुळांवरून इंग्रज आगगाडी चालवणार, ही कल्पनाच लोकांना विलक्षण वाटली.

The author explains that the demand for a railway in the Bombay Presidency was first raised by Sir Jamshetji Jijibhai and Jagannath alias Nana Shankarshet. Many renowned merchants such as Muljee Jetha, Adamji Peerbhoy and David Sassoon lent their support. From this effort, in 1853 the Great Indian Peninsula Railway's first single-track line between Bombay and Thane was built. The very idea of the English running a train on iron rails struck people as a great wonder.

१८ एप्रिल १८५३ रोजी संध्याकाळी पहिली आगगाडी मुंबईहून निघाली. डबे फुलांच्या हारांनी सजवलेले होते, इंजिनावर इंग्रजांचा झेंडा फडकत होता आणि रेल्वेचे अधिकारी व नगरशेट डब्यांत बसलेले होते. काठोकाठ गर्दी करून लाखो लोक हा चमत्कार पाहायला जमले होते.

At last the auspicious day was fixed. On Monday, 18 April 1853, at five in the evening, the first train left Bombay. Ten large carriages were decorated with garlands of flowers, festoons and flags. The English flag fluttered on the engine, and inside sat the railway's directors along with Sir Jamshetji Jijibhai, Nana Shankarshet and other merchant-notables. As the train whistled and moved off, lakhs of people lined both sides of the Bombay-Thane route to witness this astonishing spectacle. With neither ox nor horse pulling it, yet moving by the power of steam, the sight of ten carriages chugging along the iron rails filled people with wonder.

पहिली गाडी सुखरूप परत आली, तरी लोकांना त्यात बसायचे धाडस होईना. वाफेची गाडी हे इंग्रजांचे भूत आहे, नव्या इमारतींच्या पायात माणसे गाडण्यासाठी फसवून नेले जाते, अशा अनेक अफवा पसरल्या होत्या. सरकारी कारकून व व्यापाऱ्यांच्या गुमास्त्यांना आधी प्रवास घडवून लोकांना खात्री देण्याचा प्रयत्न झाला, तरी लोकांचे समाधान होईना.

Although the inaugural train travelled safely to Thane and back, ordinary people still had no courage to board the steam-powered coach. The railway officials tried hard to convince people that train travel was not dangerous, but many rumours had spread. It was whispered that the steam engine was a foreign ghost of the English, and that the new buildings and bridges being built required living people to be buried in their foundations, and that the train was a deceitful trap for capturing people. Government clerks and merchants' agents were taken on a trial ride and brought back to share their experience, yet people still remained unconvinced.

लोकांना रेल्वेत बसायला उद्युक्त करण्यासाठी प्रवाशांना बक्षीस देण्याची योजना सुरू करण्यात आली. सुरुवातीला एक रुपया, नंतर आठ आणे व मग चार आणे बक्षीस दिले गेले. लोकांची भीती कमी झाल्यावर बक्षिसे बंद करून तिकीट पद्धत सुरू करण्यात आली. आधी एक दिवस लागणारा प्रवास आता सव्वा तासात होऊ लागला, त्यामुळे प्रवाशांची गर्दी वाढू लागली.

Finally the railway announced a reward of one rupee along with free travel for each passenger. Lured by money, some people began travelling by train, though their families would weep with fear at home. Once passengers returned safely, crowds would gather to hear about their experience. Gradually the reward was reduced from one rupee to eight annas and then to four annas, and eventually the rewards were stopped altogether and regular ticketing began. Earlier, the bullock-cart journey between Thane and Bombay took a full day, but the railway completed the same journey in just an hour and a quarter, and soon crowds of passengers began to flock to it.

बोरघाट पोखरण्याचे काम चालू असतानाच खंडाळा ते पुणे हा सपाटीचा रेल्वेमार्ग १८५८ मध्ये पूर्ण झाला. तोपर्यंत पुण्याहून येणाऱ्या प्रवाशांना खंडाळ्याला उतरून पालख्या, बैलगाड्यांतून घाट उतरवून खोपोलीला नेले जाई आणि तिथून पुन्हा आगगाडीने मुंबईला नेले जाई. या घाट-उतरणीच्या व्यवस्थेचे कंत्राट मुंबईच्या करसेटजी जमशेटजी या व्यापाऱ्याने घेतले होते.

While engineers were planning to tunnel through the Bor Ghat from Karjat-Palasdhari, the flat stretch of railway from Khandala to Pune was completed in February 1858 and inaugurated with great ceremony. This route had only two stations, Khadki and Talegaon, and was single-tracked. Even while work on the Bor Ghat continued, the Bombay-Pune rail journey had begun; when the train from Pune reached Khandala, all passengers were carried down the ghat in palanquins, sedan chairs and bullock carts to Khopoli, from where they boarded the train again for Bombay. The contract for this comfortable descent down the ghat was held by a Bombay merchant named Karsetji Jamshetji. With this whole arrangement, the Pune-Bombay journey took only eighteen hours, which people found remarkable.