Er. Prabhat Kishore
The first railway in Asia ran from Shivaji Terminus (then Bori Bunder) to Thane in Mumbai on 16th April 1853 and 9 years later, on 8th February 1862, the foundation of Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop in Bihar was laid. This biggest railway workshop of Asia was established only 32 years after the beginning of first steam-powered railways in the world on 3rd May 1830 AD.
In fact, Jamalpur was very backward area in terms of basic requirements for a big factory such as raw material, water supply and transportation. There was neither a coal mine nearby, nor a store of iron or limestone etc. Its distance from Kolkata, the business center of the British Raj at that time, was also about 550 km. Despite this, the East India Company chose Jamalpur, which was surrounded by the beautiful Kharagpur hill of the Vindhyachal Mountain range on one side and the fertile green plains of the River Ganga on the other side. In those days, Munger was world famous for gun manufacturing, cigarette factory and skilled artisans of diamonds and jewels. These skills and qualities of the artisans were the deciding factors behind the selection of this place by the company.
Initially, Jamalpur Railway Factory used to repair or assembling railway engines imported by the East India Company. The first engine was repaired in February 1862, which was manufactured by Vulcan Foundry Limited in 1853. In the first 10 years of its establishment, this factory got the work of assembling 452 engines and supplying spare parts.
By 1890, this factory had spread over 50 acres where 3112 workers were working. Then its capacity was to assemble 576 engines. In 1896-97, when the work of the East India Company expanded rapidly, there was a need to expand the Jamalpur factory and it was decided to manufacture steam locomotive here. In 1901, on the suggestion of the then Locomotive Superintendent, Mr. A.W. Rundel, a 5 MVA captive power house was established for electrification of the factory.
From 1899 to 1923, this well-equipped and electrically operated factory manufactured a total of 216 engines. But in 1920, when the freedom movement gained momentum, the company abandoned the policy of indigenous engine manufacturing and finally in 1925, the Government of India acquired the Railway Company and completely stopped the work of rail engine and boiler manufacturing here.
During the Second World War, the British forced Indian production units to manufacture defence materials. Jamalpur factory also manufactured “shells” weighing up to 25 pounds (12 kg). Every year, about five thousand 91-cm “trench mortar bombs” and hundreds of molds, gauges and other war materials were manufactured. Large quantities of non-ferrous rods were produced which were used in the Ordnance Factory. The boring and milling machines for the war machine Trail Controller were also made here.
After independence, the employees of the newly formed Chittaranjan Rail Factory were trained in the Jamalpur factory itself. In 1950, the N Bill Block for Chittaranjan was cast here and in year 1955, 21 large gate forges for water drainage were made for the Damodar Valley Corporation. In the year 1956, 400 engines were remanufactured, which proved to be the highest production year in the history of this factory. On 31 August 1992, the last steam engine was remanufactured in this factory.
When diesel engines replaced steam engines in railways, the employees here adapted themselves to the times without any special training and handled the work of overhaling and repair of diesel engines of railways as well as public undertakings such as NTPC, Durgapur, Kolkata Port, etc. very well. At present, 7 engines are repaired here every month.
Apart from overhauling and repairing, diesel engine spare parts are also manufactured in this factory. Jamalpur factory has succeeded in manufacturing spare parts required for all types of engines like “Master Controller”, which were only imported from abroad. Along with this, many essential spare parts used in goods trains and other passenger train coaches are also being manufactured here.
The foundrymen of Jamalpur factory have mastered the art of making “brake blocks” fitted on each wheel. Along with other parts made of iron and brass, it is manufacturing one lakh brake blocks per month and 10 thousand Inserts made of malleable cast iron specially for joining modern concrete sleepers to the railway line. After the commencement of steel casting, wheels of narrow gauge trains was also manufactured here. This factory has successfully rebuilt the eight-wheeled BOX wagon along with the Jamalpur Jacks which are very useful in small accidents at a very low cost.
The railways had planned to import 2000 container flats from abroad to start the most modern door-to-door service, but the Jamalpur factory has done a commendable job by converting the useless wagons into container flats. Presently, production is being done here at the rate of 5 flats per month. After electrification in Indian Railways, the manufacture of “Tower Car” was started here in 1983 for the maintenance of overhead equipment and wires. 8 such tower cars are manufactured here every year.
In 1960, the country’s first steam-driven crane of 20 ton capacity was started to be manufactured here and till now 200 cranes of 2 to 140 ton capacity have been manufactured. A few years ago, with the help of Germany’s Gottwald Company, Jamalpur factory surprised everyone by manufacturing India’s first 140 ton capacity Diesel Hydraulic Break Down Crane.
This factory, spread over an area of 5746500 square meters, has an annual turnover of about 1 billion rupees and has made an invaluable contribution to the progress of the nation for the last 164 years. But today, due to the ill-will and neglect of the Central Government and the Railway Ministry, its renovation and expansion work is at a standstill.
Jamalpur Railway Factory has been serving the nation with all its heart and soul for about 164 years. This factory, which produces “Inserts” fitted in sleepers, “Brake Blocks” fitted on wheels, Engines fitted in coaches, BOX wagons, or diesel cranes etc., is the pride of the nation. But today, while renovation, modernization and training of employees was carried out in other railway workshops of Bharat, such as Diesel Locomotive Works (Kashi), Chittaranjan Locomotive Factory (Chittaranjan), Integral Coach Factory (Perumbudur), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), Wheel and Axle Plant (Bangalore), the anti-Bihar bureaucrats and politicians of the Railway Ministry are actively involved in a conspiracy to close down this factory by neglecting the renovation of Jamalpur Railway Workshop.
(The author is an engineer and educationist) |
