Railways, Post and Telegraph, Roads and Irrigation

Railways, the telegraph, post and canals were the "modernising" side of British rule, but they were built mainly to serve British trade, administration and military needs.

Railways

• First line: Bombay to Thane (16 April 1853), 34 km, during Dalhousie's time. Dalhousie is called the "Father of Indian Railways". Then Howrah to Hooghly (1854) and Madras (1856).
• Guarantee system: private British companies built lines with a guaranteed 5 per cent return on investment, paid from Indian revenues. This was a heavy burden.
• Why built: to carry cotton and raw material to ports, to carry British goods inland, for quick troop movement (after 1857) and to meet famine needs.
• Effects: unified markets, helped migration and nationalism (leaders could travel), but freight rates favoured exports, jobs for skilled work went to Britons, and most profit left India.
• Acworth Committee (1921): separation of the railway budget from the general budget (done in 1924). The Railway Board was set up in 1905 (Curzon).

Post and telegraph

• Post Office Act 1854: uniform postal rates across India (half anna a letter), and a Director-General. Telegraph: an experimental line was laid near Calcutta in 1851 by O'Shaughnessy; the first major line was Calcutta to Agra (1854).
• The telegraph helped the British put down the Revolt of 1857.

Roads and irrigation

• Grand Trunk Road was repaired and extended. The Ganga Canal was opened in 1854. Later canal colonies developed in the Punjab. The Irrigation Commission (1901) under Scott-Moncrieff advised more works.
• Public Works Department (PWD) was set up in 1854 (Dalhousie).