Indian Railways Repeals Consultation

We have identified some 38 Acts relating to the various railway companies which operated in the former British India (prior to independence in 1947) and in the wider East Indies. The Acts span nearly a century of railway enterprise, but all are now obsolete. They centred on the individual railway companies (which originated in England) and on the projects they were created to deliver within the Indian sub-continent. The first regular train service (between Mumbai and Thane) was established by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company in 1854 following the passing of an 1849 Act - which incorporated the company and gave it power to enter into contracts with the East India Company. At the other end of the spectrum, legislation from 1942 put into liquidation the Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway Company when its underlying purpose was finished and its operation had been sold to the government. Across those decades the railway endeavour stretched in its furthest reach from Pakistan in the west, through India and Bangladesh, into Myanmar in the east, and down to Sri Lanka in the south.

The East India Company (trading from 1600 to 1874) had significant influence and political power in British India, not least because it exercised quasi-governmental authority on behalf of the British Crown for all but its last 16 years. Having recognised the commercial and communication value of railways in England in the first half of the 19th century, the Company commissioned the development of a rail network in India. What followed was a surge of development, first financed in part by a guarantee system (benefiting the embryonic English companies), and later financed more directly by government.

The enabling Acts followed a similar pattern. They -

put the various railway companies on a statutory footing, giving them powers to raise capital moneys (by borrowing and by share issue), to enter into contracts, and to undertake construction works;
allowed the companies to operate services on their own and other companies' lines;
provided for company mergers and for sales of the undertakings to the government (often with deferred payment arrangements); and
made arrangements for the creation of annuities and sinking funds to facilitate company dissolution and the transition from private to public ownership,

and they remained functional until all the operations had passed into the hands of the various states. Today they have no practical use.

We hope that the interested parties will read and respond to our consultation paper, in particular to identify whether any of the Acts we propose to repeal hold any remaining value.

Consultation paper with proposals. The consultation closes on 3 November 2007. Please email us with your views.

A background note on repealing obsolete laws is available. Return to the Statute Law Revision page to find out about other proposals for repeal.