India's first railway (Bombay–Thane)
Primer ferrocarril de la India (Bombay–Thane)
- Date
- 16 de abril de 1853 · confidence high
- Place
- Bombay, Maharashtra, India
- Credited to
- Great Indian Peninsula Railway
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A 34 km line between Bori Bunder (Bombay) and Thane opened on 16 April 1853, with three steam locomotives. It began what became the largest colonial railway network in Asia, conceived to move cotton and goods to the port.
The line was a British initiative with British capital and engineers and Indian labour; the main benefit went to the colonial economy.
What it led to
- a railway network of over 60,000 km with economic and political effects
- integration of the domestic market and exports of cotton and tea
- railway industry and workshops in India