The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-01
RAILWAYS In INDIA.
Great Caro- Taken to Protect the
People from Accident.
We'll Regulated System aud a Low
Mileage satc-Smnn Percentage of
Deaths from Accidents-A
Remarkable Record.


1t appears that during the year 1890
only $50 persons were killed and 775 in
]ured upon the East India railways,
while only one passenger met his death
by an accident to 4 regular passenger
train, being one in the l2o, 900 car
ricd 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 eases of suicide and lSS killed
while trcspassing on the track.
This record is remarkable, when it is
remembered that the railway system of
India extends from Pcshawar to Cape
Comorin, and from bombay to Calcutta
and Madras, and, with the exception of
the engine drivers and guards, the Of
hcials 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 Il remarkable de-
gree of discipline in the railway system
of that 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 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 a train. 1t
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
thermantidotcs. A first class compart-
ment, taking half of the whole carriage,
is not intended to carry more than four
passengers and the sleeping coaches
fold up in the daytime so as to form
comfortable seats. Some first class car
riages have Il second class compartment
adjoining for the accommodation of
servants, and as the journey from Pesh-
awar to bombay or Calcutta occupies at
least four days, this arrangement adds
much to the comfort of first class trav-
cling in India.
The rates of passenger traffic are:
Third class, half n cent; intermediate.
one cent; second class, one and half
cents; first class. two and q half cents
per mile.
The number of miles open for railway
traffic in India is seventeen thousand
five hundred miles and about two thou
sand miles more are under construc-
ton. 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 Pcshawar, within nine
miles of the Khy Der pass, will be ex-
tended to the city of Cabul and eventu-
ally meet the Russian railway ut lash
llcnd or Samarlland.
The government of Kashmir is now in
treaty with the British government for
the construction of line of railway
from lIasan Abdal to Sirinagar, q route
familiar to the English reader rs that
Travelled by Lalla Roolih in the imperial
days of the MoGhul rule.