Short History of Indian Railways - Paperback

by Rajendra B. Aklekar (Author)

Did you know that India's first steam engine never ran on tracks and was actually used to run driving mills in a factory? That the maximum speed of the first commercial train in India was 4.5 miles/hour? That the country's first-ever steam locomotive could never be introduced commercially since it was destroyed in a factory blast? That the locomotive engine for the maiden rail run between Bombay and Thane was pulled by 200 coolies on streets? That there actually was a plan to build a rail network from the English Channel all the way to the river Indus? This is a people's history of Indian Railways. Anecdotes and stories are curated from the time the first wagon rolled in India, up to the advent of bullet trains.

Author Biography

RAJENDRA B. AKLEKAR (born 1974) is an Indian journalist with more than two decades of experience. He is presently with Mid-Day, Mumbai, as Senior Assistant Editor. Rajendra is the bestselling author of Halt Station India and India's Railways Man: A Biography of E. Sreedharan.