Engines of Change: The Railroads That Made India (Moving through History: Transportation and Society)

The former Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire, India remains, by any measure, a major economic and political actor on the world scene. Without her extensive railway network—completed against all odds by her British colonial masters—it is impossible to imagine what might have become of the diverse lands and peoples of the subcontinent. These railway networks brought them together as a colony; these networks fostered the nationalism that would be Britain's downfall. This rail network both remade the physical landscape and brought social-cultural cohesion to a diverse and wide-ranging populace. It would be common rail travel that Gandhi would employ to reach the masses. From its romantic mystique to its dangerous reality, it is rail travel today that keeps vital social, cultural, economic and political forces moving. India's railroad history serves as a unique lens to her larger story of triumph over adversity. By 1905, India had the world's fourth largest railway network—a position it retains in the early 21st century. The railroads were at the organizational and technological center of many of the inter-related economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological transformations that produced modern India through, and out of, its colonial past. In addition to this vast technical achievement, and (in keeping with the series focus), there is an equally important and wide-sweeping human-interest tale to be told with evocative vignettes of the triumph of the human spirit (one billion strong!) in the face of great adversity. The former Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire, India remains, by any measure, a major economic and political actor on the world scene. Without her extensive railway networkcompleted against all odds by her British colonial mastersit is impossible to imagine what might have become of the diverse lands and peoples of the subcontinent. These railway networks brought them together as a colony; these networks fostered the nationalism that would be Britain's downfall. This rail network both remade the physical landscape and brought social-cultural cohesion to a diverse and wide-ranging populace. It would be common rail travel that Gandhi would employ to reach the masses. From its romantic mystique to its dangerous reality, it is rail travel today that keeps vital social, cultural, economic and political forces moving. India's railroad history serves as a unique lens to her larger story of triumph over adversity. By 1905, India had the world's fourth largest railway networka position it retains in the early 21st century. The railroads were at the organizational and technological center of many of the inter-related economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological transformations that produced modern India through, and out of, its colonial past. In addition to this vast technical achievement, and (in keeping with the series focus), there is an equally important and wide-sweeping human-interest tale to be told with evocative vignettes of the triumph of the human spirit (one billion strong!) in the face of great adversity. "India's railroad history, as related here, offers a unique lens on a larger story of triumph over adversity. By 1905, India had the world's fourth largest railway network - a position it retains in the early 21st century. The railroads were at the organizational and technological center of many of the inter-related economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological transformations that produced modern India through, and out of, its colonial past. In addition to this vast technical achievement there is an equally important and wide-sweeping human-interest tale to be told with vignettes of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of great adversity."--Jacket The Former Jewel In The Crown Of The British Empire, India Remains By Any Measure A Major Economic And Political Actor On The World Scene. Kerr Recounts The Importance Of This Extensive Railway Network--completed Against All Odds By Her British Colonial Masters--to The Diverse Lands And Peoples Of The Subcontinent. Railway Networks Brought Them Together As A Colony And Fostered The Nationalism That Would Be Britain's Downfall. Common Rail Travel Enabled Gandhi To Reach The Masses. From Its Romantic Mystique To Its Dangerous Reality, It Is India's Rail Travel That Keeps Vital Social, Cultural, Economic And Political Forces Moving Today. The gripping story of a nation that was the top Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire, transformed from a patchwork of lands and peoples by a railway system completed against all odds, told through they eyes of British engineers and financiers; Indian laborers and merchants; nationalists and politicians; and the modern tourist Introduction The pioneering decades, ca. 1853 to ca. 1870 Construction, 1850-2003 1870-1905, overview Taking stock, ca. 1905 "Nationalizing" the railroads, 1905-1947 Partition and a railroad network sundered To serve the nation : railroads in independent India, 1947-2005.