Dacca District (1912)

"Dacca" by B. C. Allen, I.C.S., in the Eastern Bengal District Gazetteers Series, Pioneer Press, Allahabad, 1912

Made available by the Internet Archive.
Link: http://www.archive.org/details/daccaallen00alle
Source: Library of the University of California, San Diego Edited by R Sivaramakrishnan. Posted to IRFCA on: October 10, 2008.

p. 132:

The Dacca-Mymensingh railway runs through the district from Narajauganj, the southern terminus on the Lakshya, to Kaoraid, There are stations at Chasara on the 1st mile, Dolaiganj (8th), Dacca (10th), Kurmitola (18th), Tangi (23rd), Jaydebpur (30th), Rajendrapur (37th), Sripur (44th) and Kaoraid (52nd). The line is a single one on the metre gauge and was constructed in 1884. A special peculiarity of the line is the unusually loud noise produced by a train when travelling over the metals. There is some uncertainty as to the cause of these 'roaring rails,' as they are called but it is suggested that it may be due to the action of the salt carried by the monsoon winds.

The most important means of communication in Dacca are, however, the waterways. The Padma and the Meghna which bound it on the south, east and west are open to steamer traffic at all seasons of the year. Express and slow passenger steamers ply daily between Narayanganj and Goalando, which is connected by the Eastern Bengal State Railway with Calcutta. Heavy cargo boats with their attendant flats go either to Goalando or through the Sundarbans to Calcutta. The journey to Goalando takss about six hours by despatch steamer and about fifteen hours by the slower boats......

A wealth of information on the ferries in the district follows.