Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line

Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line
Overview
Status Operational
Locale Uttar Pradesh
Termini Old Delhi
Saharanpur
Operation
Opening Narrow gauge: 1907; Broad gauge: Late 1970s
Owner Indian Railway
Operator(s) Northern Railway
Technical
Track length 165 km (103 mi)
Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge

The Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line is a railway line connecting Old Delhi and Saharanpur the latter in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) wide broad gauge line was earlier a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) wide narrow gauge line.

Geography

Here is a description of the area from a rail enthusiast: "The terrain is dead flat, as all of the Yamuna-Ganges plains are, and the colour of the soil is light brown. The fields were bare that summer, after the harvest, mainly of sugarcane. Low trees, and rarely, clusters of them, dotted the landscape. Single-storied, brick houses popped up in tight clusters amidst the fields. The towns around the major stations, hallmarked by a cinema house and perhaps a sugar mill or some factory, had pucca houses, many with two storey. Except for the vicinities of the towns, once I had seen one km of the landscape, I had seen it all!" [1]

History

The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) wide narrow gauge Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway, was opened to traffic in 1907. It linked Shahdara, a suburb in north-eastern Delhi, with Saharanpur. It was owned by Martin's Light Railways.[2]

After the closure of the light railway in 1970 there was a lot of debate about the future course of action. The proposal for revival as a broad gauge line was strongly backed by Charan Singh, Prime Minister of India in 1979, whose constituency Baghpat was on this line. It was later reopened in the late 1970s after conversion to broad gauge by Northern Railway.[1][3][4]

"Although the broad gauge largely follows the same trackbed and alignment as the erstwhile narrow gauge, there is a minor deviation near Saharanpur. The broad gauge line takes off south towards Delhi from Tapri on the main line, while the narrow gauge line did not touch Tapri at all. Other than that, the stations are the same as before." [1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 R. Sivaramakrishnan. "Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway". IRFCA. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway". fibis. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "IR History Part V (1970-1995)". IRFCA. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Speech of Shri Lalit Narayan Mishra introducing the Railway Budget for 1973-74, on 20th February 1973". Light Railways. Indian Railways. Retrieved 8 March 2014.

External links