North Western Railway zone

North Western Railway

11-North Western Railway
Locale Rajasthan
Dates of operation 2002 (2002)–
Predecessor Northern Railway zone
Track gauge Mixed
Headquarters Jaipur
Website NWR official website

The North Western Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur, with 59,075+ employees, 658+ stations and a route length of more than 5761 km across at least some parts of four states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana (c. 2009). NWR operates international rail service Thar Express from Jodhpur to Karachi. This zone is the key enabler of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project by virtue of running railways 1,500 km long Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.

History

Extant of Indian railway network in 1909.

In 1882, a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) wide metre gauge line from Marwar Junction to Pali was built by the Rajputana Railway. It was extended to Luni in 1884 and Jodhpur on 9 March 1885. New Jodhpur Railway was later combined with Bikaner Railway to form Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway in 1889, when the Bikaner Princely State and Jodhpur Princely State started constructing the Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway within the Rajputana Agency. In 1891, the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) wide metre gauge Jodhpur–Bikaner line was commissioned under the Rajputana-Malwa Railway, Jodhpur-Merta Road section was commissioned on 8 April, the Merta Road-Nagaur section on 16 October, and the Nagaur-Bikaner section on 9 December. In 1900, Jodhpur–Bikaner line combined with Jodhpur-Hyderabad Railway, some part of this railway is in Pakistan, leading to connection with Hyderabad of Sindh Province. In 1901–02, the Jodhpur–Bikaner line was extended to Bathinda in 1901–02 to connect it with the metre gauge section of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway and the meter gauge of North Western Railway Delhi–Fazilka line via Hanumangarh.[1] In 1924, the combined entity Jodhpur and Bikaner Railways was split to function as two independent Railway companies. After Independence, a part of Jodhpur Railway went to West Pakistan.[1][2] In 1926, the workshop at Bikaner (Lalgarh) was set up to carry out periodic overhauling of metre gauge coaches and wagons.[3][4] In 1951, on 5 November the Jodhpur–Bikaner line was merged with the Western Railway.[5] Sometime around or prior to 1991, the construction work for the conversion from meter gauge to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) wide broad gauge of the Jodhpur–Bikaner line, along with the link to Phulera, were started,[6], and it was already functioning as broad gauge Jodhpur–Merta City–Bikaner–Bathinda line by 2008.[7] In 2002, on 1 October the North Western Railway zone came into existence.[8] In 2012, the Bikaner Heritage Rail Museum was opened at Bikaner to displays items related to the Jodhpur and Bikaner Railway.[9]

In 1884, The Rajputana-Malwa Railway extended the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) wide metre gauge Delhi-Rewari section of Delhi–Fazilka line to Bathinda,[10][11] which was The Southern Punjab Railway Co. opened the Delhi-Bathinda-Samasatta line in 1897.[12] The line passed through Muktasar and Fazilka tehsils and provided direct connection through Samma Satta (now in Pakistan) to Karachi.[13]

On 18 February 2006, Thar Express, an Indian non-stop international passenger train operated weekly by Indian Railway using its own coaches and locomotives, between Jodhpur in India and Karachi in Pakistan.[14][15] Earlier, Sindh Mail train use to operate on this route from 1900 till 1965 when the track was bombed out by the Pakistan Airforce in Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Thar Link Express was run started after 41 years in 2006 based on the earlier rail communication agreement. The rail communication agreement was signed by India and Pakistan in 1976, to ease the soured relations after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 for the successful liberation of Bangladesh by Indian Army. The rail communication agreement is renewable every three years, and currently it is valid till January 2019.[16]ref name=hindu1>How to get to Pakistan, The Hindu, 12 May 2017</ref>.[17] [18]

In the 1990s, the Delhi–Jaipur line and Jaipur–Ahmedabad line were converted to broad gauge (BG). In 2007, the line going toward Ratlam Junction railway station from Phulera to Chittaurgarh was converted to BG.

Between 2008-2011, the Bikaner-Rewari line was converted to broad gauge.[19]

In 2009, the metre gauge Hisar-Sadulpur section was converted to broad gauge.[20][21]

In 2013, the new broad gauge electrified Rewari-Rohtak line was constructed.[22]

Organisation

This zone was formed on 1 October 2002, comprising four divisions: Jodhpur and reorganized Bikaner division of the erstwhile Northern Railway zone, and reorganized Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of the erstwhile Western Railway zone.

Ajmer railway division

The Ajmer railway division, founded on 5 November 1951, has ~9,050 employees handling 48 passenger trains across 141 stations (15 main stations with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the elongated elliptical shaped loop railway network in Marwar religion central Rajasthan, from Pushkar to Palanpur via Marwar, and from Palanpur back to Pushkar via Chittorgarh. The main goods traffic is the export of cement from Ajmer district, and Rock phosphate and soap stone powder from Udaipur district. The passenger segment handles traffic on the prominent religious and tourist circuit of Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Pushkar, Dilwara Jain Temples at Mount Abu and Ranakpur Jain temple.

Bikaner railway division

The Bikaner railway division, founded in 1924, has ~14,000 employees handling 142 trains across 198 stations (14 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the eastern Rajasthan, western and southern triangular half of Haryana (railway line network from Rewari-Bhiwani to HisarSirsa and Dabwali, Rohtak to Hansi-Hisar), and a very small corner of south west Punjab (Sirsa to Bhatinda). The quantum of traffic is equally split between goods and passenger segment, with food grains, china clay and gypsum being the main outbound goods traffic.

Jaipur Railway Division

The Jaipur railway division: This division was formed on <date missing> after merging parts of Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, Jaipur State Railways and Rajputana–Malwa Railway. It has ~12,000 employees handling 146 trains across 128 stations (14 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. a very small corner of south west Punjab (Sirsa to Bhatinda). 85% of the income is from the passenger traffic. It forms a logistics hub for the cross traffic of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, carrying fertilizer, cement, oil, salt, food grains, oil seeds, lime stone and gypsum traffic, with bulk container loading facilities.

Jodhpur Railway Division

The Jodhpur railway division, with origin going back to 1882, was founded on 5 November 1951. It has ~10,250 employees handling 92 trains across 144 stations (15 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), It covers Jodhpur, Pali Marwar, Nagaur Jalore, Barmer, Jaisalmer districts in Rajasthan and certain districts of Gujarat state. The main goods export traffic consists of lime stone, salt and gypsum.

Medical Facilities

For the employees and their families, the zone also has the following healthcare facilities:

Route and Track Length

This railway zone has a total of 578 stations, covering a total of 5,449.29 kilometres (3,386.03 mi) route kilometers out of which 2,575.03 kilometres (1,600.05 mi) are broad gauge and 2,874.23 kilometres (1,785.96 mi) are metre gauge (c. 2009), and 7,329.80 kilometres (4,554.53 mi) track kilometers out of which 6,696.36 kilometres (4,160.93 mi) are broad gauge and 733.44 kilometres (455.74 mi) are metre gauge (c. 2009).

Rail transport infrastructure

The zone has the following types of locomotive engines: (Legends: W - broad gauge, D - diesel, G - goods, M - mixed, P - passenger)

Training

The zone has the following training institutes:

  1. Zonal Railway Training Institute, Udaipur in Ajmer division
  2. Diesel Traction Training Centre, Abu Road in Ajmer division
  3. Divisional Training Centre(Engineering), Ajmer
  4. Supervisor's Training Centre, Ajmer
  5. Basic Training Centre(C&W), Ajmer
  6. Basic Training Centre(Loco), Ajmer
  7. Area Training Centre, Ajmer
  8. Divisional Training Centre(Engineering), Bandikui, Bikaner
  9. Area Training Centre, Bandikui, Bikaner
  10. Divisional Training Centre(Traffic, C&W, Civil), Lalgarh, Bikaner
  11. Basic Training Centre, Bikaner
  12. Railway Police Force (RPF) Training Centre, Bandikui, Bikaner
  13. Divisional Training Centre(Engineering), Jodhpur
  14. Carriage & Wagon Training Centre, Jodhpur
  15. Diesel Traction Training Centre, Bhagat Ki Kothi, Jodhpur
  16. Personnel Training Centre, Jodhpur
  17. Transportation Training Centre, Jodhpur
  18. Basic Training Centre, Jodhpur

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway". fibis. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "IR History: Part II (1870-1899)". IRFCA. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sheds and workshops". IRFCA. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Brief History of Bikaner Workshop" (PDF). North Western Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Western railway history".
  6. ↑ "Written answers to Qustion asked in Parliament". Railway expansion programme in Rajasthan. Government of India. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Railway line along Indian border". Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India, 21 April 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "North Western railway history". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Bikana Heritage Rail Museum opened for public viewing". The Times of India, 18 October 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Gazetteer of India, Haryana, Hisar" (PDF). Haryana Government. Communications, page 135. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Rajputana Malwa State Railway". fibis. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "IR History: Early Days II (1870-1899)". Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Chapter VII Communications". Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  14. ↑ Greater Kashmir news
  15. ↑ IRFCA: Pakistan Railway Train Names Author: Owais Mughal, Retrieved on 1 July 2013
  16. ↑ http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-inter.html
  17. ↑ http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-inter.html
  18. ↑ http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-inter.html
  19. ↑ "Overview of Bikaner Division" (PDF). North Western Railway. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  20. ↑ "Overview of Bikaner Division" (PDF). Indian Railways. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  21. ↑ "Bathinda–Rewari line route map". India Rail Info.
  22. ↑ "Haryana gets first functional railway line after 33 years". Business Standard, 7 January 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2014.


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