Mysore State Railway

Mysore State Railway (MSR) was a railway which operated in Mysore state, India.[1] MSR became a part of Southern Railway on 14 April 1951.

History

In 1879, the Madras Railway Company Constructed a railway line from Madras Royapuram to Bangalore city. At that time, Maharaja of Mysore established a separate railway organization to carryout extension from Bangalore to Mysore.[2] This establishment came to be known as Mysore State Railway. Mysore-Nanjangud of 25.51 km was opened for traffic in 1891. Birur-Shimoga section of 60.74 km was opened for traffic in 1899. Another important line was Yeshvantpur-Hindupur which was opened for traffic in 1892-93. In 1911-12 the Mysore Government decided the formation of the State Railway Construction Department and it was put under the control of Mr. E.A.S. Bell, Engineer in chief. The Shimoga-Talaguppa section was laid in 1930. In 1951, it merged with Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway to form the Southern Railway.

Shimoga-Talaguppa railway

Shimoga-Talaguppa railway
 0Shimoga
 Kotegangur
 Konagavalli
 Harana Halli
 Kumsi
 Arasalu
 Kenchanalu
 54Anandapuram
 Adderi
 Balegundi
 81Sagara Jambagaru
 Kanle
 96Talguppa

The Mysore State Railway started laying the Shimoga–Talaguppa 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) line in the year 1930 to provide access to Jog Falls.[3][4] Another purpose was to transport wooden logs from the forests of the Malnad region to make wooden sleepers and also to be used as a fuel in the furnaces of the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited at Bhadravathi.[5] In 1938, Mirza Ismail took the maiden journey on this line to visit Sagara city.[6] The final section of the line from Sagara to Talaguppa was inaugurated on 9 November 1940.[7] Some of the prominent people who have used this line to visit Jog Falls include Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, Sir M. Visvesvaraya, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Morarji Desai.[3] Socialist leader, Ram Manohar Lohia travelled in a train on this line to participate in the Kagodu Satyagraha but was arrested at Sagara station.[3]

In 1990s, the train on the Shimoga-Talaguppa line was replaced by a railcar.[5] The railcar could accommodate 52 passengers and took 3:45 hours to cover the distance of 82 km, a journey which took considerably lesser time to cover by road. It was one of the few trains with conductors on board and tickets could be bought on the train itself, whereas the normal practice followed in Indian Railways, was that passengers should buy tickets before boarding a train.[8] Once the railcar reached Talaguppa, the rail car had to be reversed using a turntable, so that it could start its return journey.[9]

Conversion to broad gauge

The Bangalore-Shimoga line was converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge starting from late 1990s to early 2000s. Finally, the Shimoga-Talaguppa line was converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge in 2007.[10]

Future

There is also a proposal to extend the Shimoga-Talaguppa line from Talaguppa onwards and connect it to Honnavar on the Konkan Railway, which could provide a shorter alternative route to Mumbai from southern parts of India.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "A rail link to Mysores history". Times of India. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Origin and development of Southern Railway" (PDF). Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Heritage train turns bone of contention". Times of India. 2003-10-07. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  4. ↑ "Birur Jn–Talguppa". IRFCA.org. 2008-02-21.
  5. 1 2 "People angry over move to close Shimoga–Talguppa railway line". The Hindu. 2005-09-19. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  6. ↑ Pramod Mellegatti (2003-12-01). "Movement for broadgauge picks up in Shimoga". The Hindu. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  7. ↑ M. Bhaktavatsala (2006-08-13). "All trains lead to Shimoga". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  8. ↑ "Railcar, baskets and babies". The Hindu. 2005-12-10. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  9. ↑ "A trip on the Shimoga Town – Talguppa MG railbus". Irfca.org. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  10. ↑ "Rail section closed". The Hindu. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  11. ↑ Govind D. Belgaumkar (2006-02-23). "Expectations soar on the eve of Rail budget". The Hindu. Retrieved 2008-02-21.

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