Dibru–Sadiya Railway (DSR) ( as, ডিব্রু-শদিয়া ৰেলৱে) was one of the pioneering railway companies in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and the first railway service of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

in north-east India.

History

This metre-gauge railway was owned by ''Assam Railways and Trading Company'' (AR&TC), which was incorporated by John Berry White for transportation of

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

and public in the rapid growth of the tea industry. The first section of the line opened in 1882 from Brahmaputra River steamer ghat, Dibrugarh eastward, 15 miles. First train service had come into operation on 1 May 1882 from Dibrugarh's Mohanamukh to Jaipur. A 40 miles track between

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam in ...

and

Makum Makum (IPA: mɑːkəm) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the Indian state of Assam. It should not be mistaken for Makum Pathar (the place near Digboi where, crude oil was first struck in Asia). It is the meeting point o ...

was opened to traffic on 16 July 1883. The first railway junction in Assam was Makum Junction on the railway line that opened in 1884 to Dihing bridge. The railway was further extended in 1910 to reach Saikhoa giving a total line length of 86 miles (140km) including the Makum Branch. On 1 January 1942, the working was taken over by the

Assam Bengal Railway The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British India. Headquartered in Chittagong, it functioned from 1892 to 1942. History Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in 1892 to serve British-owned tea plantat ...

. The railway was later merged with

North Eastern Railway zone The North Eastern Railway (abbreviated NER) is one of the 19 railway zones of Indian Railways in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur. Zonal Rail Training Institute (ZRTI) is established in district Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. North Eastern ...

in 1952.

Rolling stock

In 1936, the company owned 33 locomotives, 66 coaches and 1617 goods wagons.

Classification

It was labeled as a Class II railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.

Conversion to broad gauge

The railway network was converted to

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

in late 1990s.

References

External links

Indian rail club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibru-Sadiya Railway Metre gauge railways in India Defunct railway companies of India Rail transport in Assam Transport in Dibrugarh History of Assam