Ever since the steam-powered locomotives have marked the landscape of nineteenth century, railways have remained at the heart of military logistics over land. The design decisions have therefore been influenced by the national defence considerations. One such design element is track gauge or width of the gauge.
Fearing a possible invasion from France, Spain adopted a wider rail track than the French one so that French trains would not be able to run on the Spainish rail network. This perhaps was in part due to the occupation of Spain by the French during the Napoleonic times. Now this gauge is known as Iberian gauge.
Similarly Russia adopted a different (read wider) track gauge to that of Germany (or Prussia) and this decision paid off in the Second World War. During Operation Barbarossa (German Invasion of Russia in June 1941), logistics were hampered by the fact that engineers had to modify the tracks for supply trains. This track gauge is called Russian Gauge.
When the British decided to build a rail network in India, they designed it different to all existing designs in Asia and Europe. The wider rail track that they adopted is called Indian Gauge. It is usually mentioned that the reason for a wider track in India was strong winds and steep gradients. But it must have included a defence consideration too.
Burma is adjacent to India and the logic of winds and gradients should also have applied there. But there the British adopted a narrower track (meter gauge). It is evident that British did not want a direct rail connection between Burma and India.
It is interesting to note that during the Second World War (1939-1945) Japan occupied Burma and Thailand and if we compare the rail track gauges of the three countries, they are almost identical (1.067 meter of Japan and 1 meter for Myanmar and Thailand). The same rail track gauge must have been a convenience and thats why Japan had plans for building a railway line from Thailand to Burma.
The result of this different Indian Gauge is that unlike PIA and Merchant Navy of Pakistan, Pakistan Railways can't buy or lease second-hand locomotives (without heavy modifications). It must be the same for India. Locomotive, different cargo carriages and passenger carriages have to be specially designed for South-Asia. This is also a blessing in disguise in that SAARC countries have a common ground for regional co-operation.
For information, different rail track gauges referred to in the article are given below:
Standard Gauge : 1.435 meters
Indian Gauge : 1.676 meters (Wide Gauge)
Russian Gauge : 1.520 meters (Wide Gauge)
Iberian Gauge : 1.668 meters (Wide Gauge)
Myanmar Gauge : 1 meter (Narrow Gauge)
Japan Gauge : 1.067 meters (Narrow Gauge)
Thailand Gauge : 1 meter (Narrow Gauge)
No comments:
Post a Comment