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Great Western Coffee Shop > All across the Great Western territory > Media about railways, and other means of transport > John Sergeant on Tracks of Empire - available on BBC iPlayer until 17 Sep 2010
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Author Topic: John Sergeant on Tracks of Empire - available on BBC iPlayer until 17 Sep 2010  (Read 3257 times)
Chris from Nailsea
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« on: September 04, 2010, 11:54:47 »
From the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Quote
John Sergeant embarks on a unique 3,000 mile journey through the history of the greatest legacy the British left to India - its rail network. The biggest in Asia, it runs on 40,000 miles of track and reaches every corner of the subcontinent. Proposed in 1853 by Governor General Lord Dalhousie, it would become the biggest engineering project of its time and instrumental in every chapter of India's history.

Starting in Kolkata, Sergeant traverses India from east to west, travels through turbulent Bihar state, visits the Victorian railway town of Jamalpur, and discovers why the construction of the Dufferin Bridge at Varanasi resulted in Victorian technology and ingenuity clashing with ancient religion, before ending his journey at the border with Pakistan.

Even though Mahatma Gandhi denounced the railways as evil, Sergeant reveals how it became a civil engineering triumph that united the country and played a crucial role when India became independent in 1947.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2010, 17:24:44 by chris from nailsea » Logged
William Huskisson MP▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2010, 17:23:57 »
Part 2 - from the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

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John Sergeant continues his 3,000 mile journey along India's rail tracks, travelling north to south to discover how the railways not only shaped its history but also its future.

Starting in New Delhi, John reveals how the railways' extraordinary construction story began with locomotives and track being shipped from British shipyards. He visits Gwalior to discover the extent of collusion between the privileged maharajahs and the British Empire, and at Victoria Terminus he reveals the politics and the power behind its grand design.

But it is at Bhore Ghat - just outside Mumbai - where John discovers the 19th century British engineers' crowning construction achievement and the extraordinary human cost that made it all possible. He concludes that today it is India's railways that continue to change the lives of its one billion people in ways that would have delighted its colonial architects.
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William Huskisson MP▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
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