148 yrs ago, on this day, first train chugged into Secunderabad Station

HYDERABAD: October 9 (Sunday) marks a special moment in history for the Secunderabad Railway Station. Commissioned on October 9, 1874, the station saw its first train chugging in on this very day 148 years ago. The first train connected the Secunderabad station with the Wadi railway station in Karnataka. The Wadi-Secunderabad railway line was commissioned by Guaranteed State Railway. It has been 148 years today (Sunday, October 9, 2022) since the first train service started from Hyderabad.

HISTORY

The construction of the Secunderabad station was proposed in the year 1870. Then Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Mehboob Ali Khan Siddiqui gave his nod for the project aimed to connect the Hyderabad state with the rest of India through railways. The construction of the Secunderabad-Wadi line and the Secunderabad railway station was completed on October 9, 1874, introducing railways to Hyderabad.

The railway line, which would connect Hyderabad with the British Raj's Great Indian Peninsula Railway, with its main line at Wadi junction, was funded by the Nizam. The stations' main portico and concourse were influenced by Nizam-era architecture. In 1871, the Secunderabad station was connected to the Singareni Collieries Company by a 146-mile line.

The Secunderabad-Wadi line was later extended to the Vijayawada junction and was renamed the Vijayawada-wadi line in 1889. The railways emerged as the prime transport facility in Hyderabad. To regulate the traffic at Secunderabad railway station, the Kachiguda railway station was constructed in 1916.

NATIONALISATION OF RAILWAYS

Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway (NSGR) was nationalized by the Government of India on November 5, 1951. The Secunderabad station was assigned to the Central Railway Zone. In February 1978, the Secunderabad Division was split into two divisions: Secunderabad and Hyderabad.

Currently, Secunderabad station is one of the busiest and largest railway stations in India. The station is also the zone headquarters of the South-Central Railway and the second-largest junction, after Vijayawada.