The massive predatory and exploitative nature of the imperial railway project under the façade of Britain's benevolence to the people of India could not have been further from the reality of the material condition of the masses under colonial hegemony. This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the British imperial railways during the second half of the 19th century. Such related aspects as the development of the colonial economy, the role of finance capital, the comparative spread effect, British monopoly and colonisation of the Indian economy, labour on the railway projects, colonial forestry, famine and disease, etc, are dealt with at some length.
