History
The city is the birth place of the first idea on railways in India. The first thought was conceived in 1831-33 in Madras Parliament. Later in 1836 A. P. Cotton, a civil engineer of Madras, advocated the desirability of railroad in India. In 1832, the first proposal of railway under the British administration was made at Madras, which is 21 years ahead of the first operational railway line in India. In 1845, Madras Railway Company was mooted, and in 1852 Madras Guaranteed Railway Company was formed. In 1852, the work for laying the first track by Madras Guaranteed Railway Company between Madras and Arcot was started, and in 1856, the first train run between Royapuram and Arcot. In 1895, the first electric trams became operational in the city. The work for suburban train services started in 1928 and became operational in 1931 between Madras Beach and Tambaram with electric multiple units (EMUs). The tram services were withdrawn in 1953. With the operation of the mass rapid transit system (MRTS) between Chennai Beach and Chepauk in 1995, the city is the first to have an elevated track in India.
Growth trend of motor vehicles in the city is listed below:
| Year | Total registered vehicles |
|---|---|
| 1981 | 120,000 |
| 1986 | 228,000 |
| 1991 | 544,000 |
| 1996 | 812,000 |
| 1998 | 975,000 |
Read more about this topic: Transport In Chennai
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“I feel as tall as you.”
—Ellis Meredith, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 14, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)