#RailwayHistory - Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
Indian railways saw many routes disappearing during the second world war. Many of these lines were marginally profitable or loss-making lines that were scrapped during the war to use the rails for constructing access railways for the allies' troops. Post independence, some of these routes were reopened, like the Shoranur- Nilambur, Madurai - Bodinayakkanur, Dharmapuri-Hosur routes, while some still remain abandoned like the Krishnagiri - Tiruppur route. This is the history of one of the lucky routes to be re-opened by the Indian railways, the Kakinada Kotipalli line branching from the Port city of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
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While demands for re-opening of the line were floated from the 1970's, it took the efforts of ex-BJP speaker, the Late Sri G.M.C. Balayogi to get the project started. The line was re-opened on November 13th, 2004. The line started off with great expectations, with a 3 coach passenger train soon becoming a regular sight on the route. Gradually, due to poor planning in the station locations, and the stalling of the Kotipalli- Narsapur connection, the line became a loss-making line. Situation deteriorated to the point that all the staff on the route including the level crossing operators were moved to other places. A diesel railbus now operates on the route, with a single trip everyday. A single staff member travels with the train and gets down at the level crossings to operate them.
While this may seem to be a outcome of poor planning and delay in executing the extension to Narsapur, for the senior citizens of the city who were privy to experience the route in their childhood, the current situation of this line is an exact replica of what happened to the line when it operated before the second world war.
This line was originally planned to be a Meter gauge route between Kakinada and Kotipalli, with a branch line (with a reversal at Kotipalli) to the French settlement at Yanam ( now under the jurisdiction of Pondicherry). Surveys were sanctioned in 1915. The eventual construction of the route started in 1927. By this time, the Yanam branch line idea was scrapped, as it was deemed unprofitable due to the circuitous route. The line was also constructed as a broad gauge route instead of Meter gauge. The line was opened for operations in 1929.
Initially, a steam train with three coaches used to operate on the route with 7 halts, at Karapa, Aratlakatta, Velangi in the Cocanada ( now Kakinada) taluk and Ramachandrapuram, Draksharamam, Gangavaram and Somagundam. The Kotipalli village of that era was relocated to the present day location following floods in the Godavari river. The railway timetable used to refer to this route as Cocanada - Somagundam route. The steam train used to take 99 minutes ( 1 hour 39 minutes) to complete the trip.
Many of the stations were located about a mile from the villages and as a result, patronage for the train was not satisfactory. The British authorities expected the villages to shift their business activities closer to the railway. However, the abundance of navigable canals and water transport foiled this plan and many of the farmers still preferred the canals to move their produce, thereby impacting the earnings of the route which remained only marginally profitable. ( Occasionally running into losses).
8 Years after the opening, the authorities considered optimizing the operations on the route to reduce the operating expenses and improve the profits from the route ( Just like today). As a result, they brought in six 110 HP Armstrong- Whitworth diesel rail cars to replace the steam train fleet in 1937. The rail cars reduced the run time from 99 minutes to 87 minutes and were also able to add 7 additional halts ( a total of 14 halts ). This move proved beneficial as the railcars considerably decreased the expenses and also added more passengers due to the additional halts.
The main train from Kakinada in those days was a slip coach service running to the Howrah-Madras mail. 3 coaches (more, depending on the demand) would connect to the Howrah-Madras mail at Samalkot (in both directions) and continue to Madras (Also to Howrah?). The rail cars used to operate twice a day, acting as perfect connecting trains to the Madras slip coaches at Kakinada.
The rail cars were maintained at Kakinada Port station, which had a dedicated pit line and a maintenance shed to handle maintenance of the rail cars (The main facilities were at Perambur in Madras). In later years, a new set of rail cars from Comeng operated on the Kakinada - Samalkot -Tuni/Rajahmundry routes. These more-advanced rail cars replaced the Armstrong-Whitworth rail cars. At one point, Southern Railway conducted experiments in connecting ICF coaches to the rail cars by equipping the coaches with air-brakes ( The rail cars were air braked, while the coaches were vacuum braked). By doing this, they planned to use the rail cars for moving the slip coaches between Kakinada and Samalkot and completely eliminate steam traction for passenger traffic on the route.
The Kotipalli route was finally closed in 1942, along with several other unfortunate routes. The line's evolution in the present avatar is literally an exact replica of it's first avatar. However, this time, thanks to the government's decision to go ahead with the Kotipalli-Narsapur railway link, the future looks bright for this 50 km route, running through one of the most fertile agricultural lands in the entire country.
Photos : 1) Armstrong Whitworth rail car from 1932, somewhere in England ( This is NOT a picture from this route, but the rail car in this picture is of a similar model as the 110HP model that operated in the Kakinada route) Source : click here
2) The Kakinada - Kotipalli rail bus in the present day. Source : click here