The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1891-12-28
- AlJ In M.
Great Care Taken to Protect the
People from Accident.
A Well Regulated System aud Low
Mileage Rate-Small Percentage OF
Deaths from Accidents-A
Remarkable Record.

It appears that during the year 1890
only 455 persons were killed and 775 IN
jurea upon the East India railways,
while only one passenger met his death
by an accident to a regular passenger
train, being one in the 120,000,00O car
ried during the year.
One hundred and fifty-one railway
servants were killed, and the rest of
the deaths were those of persons other
than passengers or servants, there be-
ing GA cases of suicide and 1SS killed
while trespassing on the track.
This record is remarkable, when it is
remembered that the railway system of
India extends from Peshawar to Cape
Comorin, and from Bombay to Calcutta
and Madras, and, with the exception of
the engine drivers and guards, the Of
fcials are, for the most part, natives of
the country. 1t is true that very many
of the railroads are single tracks, and
that on nearly all the lines of railroad
the rate of speed is slow. Still the
statistics which appear in the Govern
ment Gazette show remarkable de-
gree of discipline in the railway system
VI Jlld6 great empire.
Every railway track is protected by
an iron fencing, and level crossings are
comparatively few, which doubtless ac-
counts for the very small percentage OF
people killed by their own neglect.
1t would appear that the heather Hin
doc is a good signal man; and if we
must have foreign labor, it is ques-
ton whether it would not be better to
import it from Calcutta or Madras than
from Kilkenny or Firenze.
1t is a curious circumstance that not
withstanding the apparent efficient
service of the native in railway traffic,
the companies do not seem disposed to
intrust him with either the engine driv-
ing or the conductorship of train. Ii
is said the men lack nerve
The India railway trains have -four
classes. First, second, intermediate
and third, the natives of the country
usually travelling third class. The first
class carriages are luxurious and pro-
vided with every convenience, and dur
ing the hot weather are kept cool by
thermantidotes. A first class compart
ment, taking half of the whole carriage.
is not intended to carry more than foui
passengers and the sleeping coaches
fold up in the daytime SO as to form
comfortable seats. Some first class car
riages have a second class compartment
adjoinining for the accommodation OF
servants, and as the journey from Pcsh-
awar to Bombay or Calcutta occupies al
least four days this arrangement add.
much to- the comfort of first class trav.
cling in India
The rates of passenger traffic are
Third class, half a cent; intermediate, |
one cent; second class, one and half |
cents; first class. two and half cents
per mile.
The number of miles open for railway
traffic IN India Is seventeen thousano
five hundred miles and about two thou
sand miles more are under construc-
tion.. The English railway will shortly
run as far as the city of Kandahar, and
it is not improbable that the State line,
now open to Peshawar, within nine
miles of the Khyber pass. viii be ex-
tended to the city of Cabul and eventu-
ally meet the Russian railway at fash
1end or Samarkand.
The government of Kashmir is now in
,reaty with the British government for
he construction OF line OF railway
rom Hasan Abdal to Sirinagar, a route
,amiliar to the English reader as that
travelled by Lalla Roolh in the imperial /
lays of the Moghul rule.