Railway-Induced Deforestation and Hydrological Disruption in the Nilgiris District, Colonial Madras Presidency

Abstract

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), built between 1891 and 1908 across the southern escarpment of the Nilgiris in the Colonial Madras Presidency, has been considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an engineering miracle. However, its environmental impact in terms of ecosystem construction and use has been barely touched by scholarly research. This article attempts the historical-ecological examination of the environmental impact of the NMR using the colonial Public Works Department records, Madras Forest Department Annual Progress Reports, and the Nilgiris District Gazetteer, 1908, 1918 & 1934. This study presents three interdependent aspects of environmental changes that the railway caused along the alignment during excavation and in the plantation hinterland it would serve, as well as the fuelwood consumption from the steam locomotives, which led to the increase in the attrition of the shola-grassland vegetation cover across the district. It also draws attention to the ecological costs of the NMR by focusing on the railway in relation to the larger colonial changes on the Nilgiri plateau.