RailEnquiry

ALLAHABAD: The illustrious trajectory on which the Indian Railways has been chugging for the past 160 years across the length and breadth of the country would be vividly captured in a photo exhibition to be organised at Allahabad in the last week of August. The exhibition would display rare photographs of Indian Railways and North Central Railway.

History is witness to the fact that Indian railways has united the nation and cannot be separated from its social fabric. Indian Railways has grown with India and has not only bequeathed the country its vast architectural heritage in the form of station buildings and other structures but has also pivoted the nation's economy.

While the Railways is moving steadily towards the future, it is imperative to remember the very foundations on which it is built. It is time to reclaim the past which may be getting lost in the annals of time. This is the reason for organizing the railway exhibition, said CPRO of NCR Sandeep Mathur. He further said that the exhibition would also showcase historical buildings of Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra Fort, Agra Cantt, Gwalior and Jhansi stations.

The photo exhibition would cull out interesting moments of organisation's life concentrating primarily on the first 100 years of its existence which was a period of great turbulence for the Railways as well as the world. It seeks to bring the railways back into the forefront of public consciousness.

The photo exhibition does not trace the history of Indian Railways sequentially from 1853 to the present. It is a thematic portrayal of the many facets of the organization. Through many rare photographs sourced from railway archives, Press Information Bureau, Railway Museum, the importance of the Railways in the lives of the people, its role as an integrating force, as a catalyst of history and as a mute spectator to the unfolding of historical events would be showcased.

The photographs, encompassing all fundamental aspects of the railways are evocative of an era long gone by but that has shaped the present. The 'personalities' section will be of special attention as it reveals the views of some eminent leaders on the Railways. Similarly, the section on the 'station architecture' will speak of the time in history of their construction. The interiors are reflections of the society, the social stratification, while their exteriors present a larger picture of the developmental stage of the town and the city.

A section has been dedicated to the workmen, who are solely responsible for the running of the railways. The photographs reflect the hard labour put in to transport millions of people across thousands of kilometres marking practices most of which are still fundamental to railway's working today.