Cawnpore’s economic growth was hampered by the events of 1857 but after that is development was phenomenal and it was mainly due to Railways. In 1859 first steam engine of East Indian Railway shuttled between Allahabad and Cawnpore. This was the real BIG leap towards Cawnpore’s industrial development.
The Railway’s which established their connection with the city were:
East Indian Railway: In 1845 Mr. R.M.Stephenson proposed to build a railway line from Calcutta to Delhi via Kanpur. Mr. Stephenson had ample faith that a railway line running parallel to Ganga and Yamuna would be very useful to trade and commerce of the Region, but authorities declined it. After repetitive requests in 1850 the Authorities agreed on construction of railway line from Raniganj to Calcutta on an experimental basis. In 1850 R.M.Stephenson started work on his ambitious project, 1854 First railway engine came to India, and on 15th august rail ran from Howra to Hoogli. By 1855 line was prepared till Raniganj & coal was sent to Calcutta from there. It was a success and Mr. Stephenson was granted permission to build the complete project. Upper part of the project began from Allahabad, but events of 1857 made the railway construction sufferer losses of more than 40 laky pound. Despite all this First engine steamed from Allahabad to Cawnpore on 3rd March 1859 and the whole project was completed in 1864. But due to no bridge on Yamuna of Allahabad, direct connection was not possible from Delhi to Calcutta. The bridge was constructed in 1866.
Awadh Rohailkhand Railways came to the city in 1867, but due to no bridge on Ganga line ended on the left side of the Ganga. After the construction of the bridge in 1875, direct connection was possible. Great Indian Peninsula Railway came to Juhi in 1886; this established our connection with industrial capital of India….Bombay. Bombay Baroda and Central Railways opened its line in 1892. Awadh & Tihiruth Railways (Old name: Bengal & North Western Railways) connected the city to upper Bihar.
By establishment of Railways import and export the goods could be easily done. The area was also known as Cotton producing belt, cotton was exported from here but by river route it took a lot of time. During American Civil War demand of Indian cotton grew in the international markets, cotton produced by neighboring areas like (Bundelkhand) was sent to Calcutta for exports via Cawnpore railways. During this period lanes of the city were filled with cotton bales, and officers had to make special arrangements for the purpose. In the year 1907 the Ganga canal was flattened to make a huge godwon from Collecterganj to Juhi. But till this time each Railway had a different station, in 1930 on 27march a new station building was built and a new ware house was created at Juhi.
Development of Railway gave a new dimension to the whole development process. It was only after this that the real Industrialization kicked off. It connected Cawnpore with the top industrial cities like Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, Ahemdabad, Karachi, Nagpur, Tatanagar and many of the Ports as well. East Indian Railways had its line into the mills also. Still it’s a big junction and many trains pass through it daily, without the establishment of Railway’s it wouldn’t have been possible for Kanpur to get industrialized.
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