On the 160th anniversary of the first passenger train in India, April 16th Google Doodle took the shape of the locomotive that falsely represents the Mumbai-Thane train that is remembered as the first train to run in India.

Though the rail transport system is as old as 1832 when there was a proposal for the first train system, the line was laid for the first time near Chintadripet Bridge, near today's Chennai, in 1836. This was only an experimental line though. Later in 1837, a 5.6kms line was laid between Red Hills and the stone quarries of St Mount Thomas.

After Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) and East Indian Railway (EIR), were created back in 1853-54, the real development of the railways materialized. A train on the Indian land chugged for the first time on December 22, 1851 when it was used to bring back and forth the construction materials for a canal near Roorkee.

The first passenger train operated less than two years later on April 16th, 1853 traveling for 34 kms from Mumbai (Bori Bunder) to Thane. It had three locomotives Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan. The Google Doodle however shows a single locomotive as a rough representation and hence is blemished. Ingeniously, the front of the engine forms the first O of gOogle!

(AW- Anil)