Cherra Companyganj State Railways (CCSR) was anarrow gaugemountain railway that existed inBritish India.[1][2][3]
The Cherra Companyganj State Railway was conceptualized by Hubert Kench, the British Executive Engineer of Khasi and Jaintia Hills Division, as there was need to connectShillong, capital of province toCalcutta, then the capital of British India by rail.[1] The CCSR in Meghalaya was opened to traffic on 6 June 1886. CCSR was a2 ft 6 in (762 mm)narrow gauge[4] tramway and the railway operated between Tharia, a mining town inMeghalaya and Companyganj, now inSylhet District ofBangladesh, for a distance of 7.5 miles (12.1 km). Seven gradients were worked by rope mechanisms. It was built at a cost of eightlakhs, which was incurred by erstwhile Provincial Government of Assam.[5] An extension of railway link up toSylhet andGoalundo was in plan from where railway link toCalcutta already existed[1] but plans never materialised.
The railway continued to run between Tharia and Companyganj until theAssam earthquake of 1897 in which the tracks were completely destroyed.[5] The tracks were not repaired after that[5] and the railway finally closed in 1900.[6]
The Cherra-Companyganj State Railway ',(Ab'ssam) was finally closed on the 15th October 1900, as since the earthquake it had ceased to earn working expenses, and the volume of the traffic offering was insufficient to justify the line ...