Bhor Ghat

Bhor Ghat
भोर घाट

Bhor Ghat in 1870
Elevation 441 metres (1,447 ft) [1]
Location Maharashtra, India
Range Sahyadri
Coordinates 18°28′N 73°13′E / 18.46°N 73.22°E / 18.46; 73.22
Location of Bhor Ghat

Bhor Ghat or Bor Ghat, Bhore Ghaut,[2][3] is a mountain passage located between Palasdari and Khandala for railway and between Khopoli and Khandala on the road route in Maharashtra, India, situated on the crest of the Western Ghats.

History

The discovery of a route to make a motorable pass in Bor Ghat came after information was provided by a local Dhangar tribesman called Shigroba. Later, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway laid a railway line from Mumbai to Pune. The section through Bhor Ghat with 28 tunnels, and old bridges was opened in 1863.[4] The Ghat opened Mumbai to the Deccan plains of Peninsular India.[5]

Rail

The Bhor railway ghat cuts a distance of 21 km between Khandala and Palasdari. There are 28 tunnels across the railway ghat. This ghat comes under the proposed Golden Quadrilateral Freight Corridors. During construction of this ghat almost 25,000 workers lost their lives due to steepness of this ghat. Initially steam traction was used to haul trains across this ghat. In 1929-30 the Great Indian Peninsula Railway electrified Bombay (Mumbai) - Poona (Pune) section with use of 1500 Volts DC current. This led to end of steam era on this ghat.

The first DC locomotives were EF/1 class locomotives (later classified as WCG1) for freight trains. Later Express trains were hauled by EA/1 class locomotives (later classified as WCP1). [6]

Reversing Station

There used to be a reversing station on this ghat which trains of Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) used earlier. This was shutdown due to new tunnels on the ghat.[7] The reversing station was located between Monkey Hill and Khandala after tunnel no. 26. During night time lights of Khopoli can be seen from here.[8]

Railway stations on Bhor Ghat
# Station Name Description km
English Marathi Station Code
1Palasdariपळसदरी PDI Start 0
2Thakurvadiठाकुरवाडी TKW Minor Halt 9
3Monkey Hillमंकी हिल MNLC Technical Halt, no tickets issued 16
4KhandalaखंडाळाKAD End 21

Road

The road ghat lies between Khopoli and Khandala and is 18 kms long. There are six lanes on the Mumbai - Pune express highway and four lanes on the old Mumbai - Pune road. There is proposal to dig two four lane tunnels between Khalapur toll booth near Khopoli and Sinhagad institute, Lonavala to bypass this ghat on Mumbai - Pune express-way which will be expanded from six lane to eight lane road. Similary old Mumbai - Pune highway will use the existing express highway route and will be expanded from four to six lanes. This will also reduce the distance on express highway by 6 km i.e. from 18 km to 12 km. [9]

References

  1. ↑ Bhor Ghat
  2. ↑ The Indian Empire By William Wilson Hunter, p. 36
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
  4. ↑ Balkwill, Richard; Marshall, John (1993). The Guinness Book of Railway Facts and Feats (6th ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. pp. 66–7. ISBN 978-0-85112-707-1.
  5. ↑ Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways. New Delhi: National Book Trust. p. 15.
  6. ↑ A Brief History of Railway Electrification in India
  7. ↑ Bhor Ghat Reversing station
  8. ↑ Khandala Reversing Station
  9. ↑ 14 lanes, 12-km bypass to speed up Mumbai-Pune expressway traffic
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