Status Operational Track length 600 km (373 mi) Locale Rajasthan, Punjab | Opened 1901-02 Owner Indian Railways | |
Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge Highest elevation Jodhpur 241 m (791 ft), Bathinda 208 m (682 ft) Operator North Western Railway zone Terminis Bathinda Junction railway station, Jodhpur Junction railway station | ||
The Jodhpur–Bathinda line connects Jodhpur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan to Bathinda in the Punjab. During the British Raj, Bathinda was on the Delhi-Karachi line and after independence and partition of India in 1947, it is on the Delhi-Fazilka line. This line operates under the jurisdiction of North Western Railway.
Contents
History
A 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) wide metre gauge line from Marwar Junction to Pali was built for the Rajputana-Malwa Railway in 1882. It was extended to Luni in 1884 and Jodhpur in 1885. It formed the first Jodhpur Railway. It later became part of Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway.
In 1889, the two states of Jodhpur and Bikhaner formed the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway to promote railway development jointly within the Rajasthan Agency. In 1891 the metre gauge Jodhpur- Merta Road sector was opened on 8 April, the Merta Road - Nagaur sector on 16 October, and the Nagaur-Bikaner sector on 9 December. In 1901-02, the metre gauge line was extended to Bathinda. There it got connected with the metre gauge section of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway and the broad gauge North Western Railway and the Southern Punjab Railway.
Gauge conversion
According to a Press Information Bureau release issued in 2008, the Jodhpur-Merta City- Bikaner-Bathinda line was broad gauge.
Passenger movement
Jodhpur is the only railway station on this line which is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway.
Workshops
The former metre gauge workshop at Jodhpur now performs periodic overhauling of broad gauge passenger coaches. The Bikaner (Lalgarh) workshop carries out periodic overhauling metre gauge coaches and wagons.
Railway reorganisation
Jodhpur Railway had a beginning in 1882. Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway was formed in 1889. In 1924, the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway was split into its two constituent parts, with two new systems, the Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway formed to work the lines.
In 1952, Northern Railway was formed with a portion of East Indian Railway Company, west of Mughalsarai, Bikaner Railway and Eastern Punjab Railway. Western Railway was formed with BBCI Rly, the Saurashtra, the Rajasthan, the Jaipur, and the Cutch Rlys. North Western Railway was formed on 1 October 2002, with two divisions each from Northern and Western Railways.