This is probably the last instalment of MG routes from Delhi to the major cities in South India. Trivandrum came on BG in late 1975, so this time we imagine a journey in 1970. One could also imagine a link express from Quilon to Ernakulam.
This comes to 3249 km, which is just over 2000 miles. Probably it would take a week.
In 1970, TVC was indeed the southern-most station in India as its latitude was less than that of Tiruchendur, which remained on MG until 2000 or later.
There are many places in India which have “Linga” or “Lingam” in their names. Here are few.
Probably the best known, a suburban terminus in Hyderabad.
This serves the famous temple near Bhubaneshwar
Near Chhindwara in MP
Near Guntur in AP
In Telangana
Near Guntakal in AP.
And finally, another one from AP:
While it is marked SCR, it is actually on ECoR.
All these places need to be given more importance now.
Meanwhile in Yorkshire:
With the near-complete removal of metre gauge from all important routes starting from the late 1970s, it would be a surprise to younger railfans that as late as 1976 it was possible to travel from Delhi Jn to Madras Egmore wholly by metre gauge. There was, of course, no such train but by a series of reasonably good MG expresses it was possible to make this journey of 2772 km. (In contrast, the standard GT express route would be 2182 km from Delhi Jn to Madras Central).
Let us begin our journey from Delhi Jn. I have taken the distances from the 1976 All India Time Table. Spelling of names are from that period. Inflated distances were being charged between Khandwa and Hingoli, so I have taken actual distances.
Between Rewari and Phulera I have taken the shorter route via Ringas rather than via Jaipur.
| Km | ||
| 0 | Delhi Jn | |
| 5 | Delhi Serai Rohilla | |
| 31 | Gurgaon | |
| 83 | Rewari | NR ends |
| 185 | Nim-Ka-Thana | |
| 232 | Ringas | |
| 298 | Phulera | |
| 378 | Ajmer | |
| 402 | Nasirabad | |
| 567 | Chittaurgarh | |
| 620 | Nimach | |
| 753 | Ratlam | |
| 872 | Indore | |
| 893 | Mhow | |
| 1011 | Khandwa | WR ends |
| 1175 | Akola | |
| 1314 | Hingoli | |
| 1394 | Purna | CR ends |
| 1535 | Nizamabad | |
| 1696 | Secunderabad | |
| 1704 | Kacheguda | |
| 1809 | Mahbubnagar | |
| 1940 | Kurnool Town | |
| 1993 | Dronachellam | |
| 2049 | Guntakal | SCR ends |
| 2117 | Anantapur | |
| 2151 | Dharmavaram | |
| 2296 | Madanapalle Road | |
| 2379 | Pakala | |
| 2409 | Chittoor | |
| 2452 | Katpadi | |
| 2462 | Vellore Cantt | |
| 2545 | Tiruvannamalai | |
| 2613 | Villupuram | |
| 2716 | Chengalpattu | |
| 2747 | Tambaram | |
| 2772 | Madras Egmore | SR |
Perhaps someone can look at the timetables of that period and see the timings, and then arrive at a timetable for the proposed Delhi-Madras MG Express.
It would pass through DL, HR, RJ, MP, MH, AP and TN. (TG did not exist then).
From the timetables of that period, this trip should have been possible with changes at Ajmer, Secunderabad, Pakala and Villupuram. But there may have been long waiting times at these places.
Suggested trains: Delhi-Ahmedabad JJ Express, Ajmer-Kacheguda Passenger, SC-Tirupati Venkatadri Express up to Pakala, various passenger trains to Villupuram, various express trains to Madras Egmore.
The train with the longest run on this route was the Ajmer/Kacheguda Passenger with 1326 km.
Appendix: North to South on Metre Gauge.
At that time, Jammu Tawi was the northern-most station, but the northern-most MG station was Kot Kapura.
Similarly, Trivandrum Central was on BG since early 1976 and was the southern-most station. This was about 2 km south of Tiruchendur’s parallel of latitude. That was the southern-most MG station.
We now look at the “Northern Extension” from Rewari to Kot Kapura:
| Km | |
| 0 | Rewari |
| 83 | Bhiwani |
| 143 | Hisar |
| 225 | Sirsa |
| 300 | Bhatinda |
| 343 | Kot Kapura |
And the “Southern Extension” from Villupuram to Tiruchendur:
| Km | |
| 0 | Villupuram |
| 55 | Vriddhachalam |
| 109 | Ariyalur |
| 178 | Tiruchchirapalli |
| 271 | Dindigul |
| 333 | Madurai |
| 376 | Virudunagar |
| 461 | Maniyachi |
| 490 | Tirunelveli |
| 552 | Tiruchendur |
So our fictional North-South MG Express would run from Kot Kapura to Tiruchendur via Rewari and Villupuram. We can see from the above distance tables that it would come to be
2782-83+343-159+552 = 3435 Km
Coming soon: West to East by Metre Gauge in 1976 (Okha to Lekhapani)
Also note:
From the above table, we can see the route of a Delhi-Secunderabad MG train, besides one for Secunderabad-Madras.
Also Delhi-Bangalore, which would deviate from the above route at Dharmavaram and proceed south. In 1974, Trivandrum could also be reached by MG via Virudunagar and Quilon. By 1976, Quilon-Trivandrum was BG.
As you know, the first (?) railway terminus in this state is Naharlagun which serves the capital Itanagar. There is also an intermediate station Gumto between Harmuti Jn (in Assam) and Naharlagun.
For a long time it used to be said that Bhalukpong was the first station in the state. While Bhalukpong town is in Arunachal Pradesh and spills in to Assam, the station is in Assam and just short of the border. That is what Google Maps shows.
However, there is no Assamese inscription on the sign, which would be there if it was in Assam. Also note that the sign says Bhaluk Pong (2 words) in English and Hindi.
It may be more correct to say that Naharlagun is the first important station in the state, as traffic to Bhalukpong was generally low and was suspended for long periods.
However, the first railway line to be laid in Arunachal Pradesh is a stretch of about 500 M between Dimow and Dipa on the Dhemaji-Murkong Selek section. It is not known whether the state government keeps an eye on infiltration on this route.
The first major station:
And the pretender:
Andhra Pradesh is usually considered to be the state with the longest place names. But Karnataka is not far behind.
Some smaller places which come to mind are:
and
And artificially long names can be created, starting with the state capital:
and
More recently there are:
Don’t ask what B.G. stands for.
(Added a few more based on inputs by Mr Ganesh Iyer and others).
Now we look at goods-only lines which connect ports.
The line from Obulavaripalli to Krishnapatnam port has been covered here: https://abn397.wordpress.com/2020/01/09/the-new-line-to-krishnapatnam-port/
Bhadrak-Dhamra port:
There must be some crossing stations, but they are not listed.
Ennore -Ennore port:
Chennai Harbour (HOM) does not seem to have a connection to other stations in the area.
Karaikal Port:
Note that this station is not the same as Karaikal (KIK).
Visakhapatnam Port:
Older timetables show local trains running from Waltair (present VSKP) to Vizagapatnam Town and then Vizagapatnam Port.
Gandhidham-Kandla:
This had limited passenger services in the past when MG lines were still there. And even when NG lines of the Cutch State Railway served this area.
Next door, we have the ultramodern port at Mundra:
Adipur-Mundra:
Even a separate station for the airport.
Navlakhi:
This had passenger services in the past. Long ago there were ferries between Navlakhi and Kandla.
Other port lines such as Hadmatiya-Jodiya, Jamnagar-Bedi and Khambaliya-Salaiya have been closed for a long time when they were still MG. Presumably they were not felt to be worth coverting to BG in the 1970s.
A BG line still exists from Jamnagar to Windmill which may be extended to Bedi port.
Kochi Harbour Terminus:
This was a busy passenger section in the past, but the conversion of the Ernakulam-TVC line in 1975 spelt the start of this station’s decline as a passenger station. Perhaps the last important express to go there was the 41/42 Cochin Express which continued till the late 80s (and was then extended to Alleppey).
Problems connected with electrification of the bridge after ERS played a part. A recent attempt to run a DMU between ERS and CHTS in late 2018 was deemed a failure-partly because of the long closures of LC gates. Goods services continued with diesel traction, but the original port lost much of its importance with the commissioning of the container terminal at Vallarpadam.
Vallarpadam:
This is a new line built which branches off from Idapalli, before ERN.
Panamburu (New Mangalore port):
This line was built around 1970 and could be said to be the first step of the Konkan Railway from the southern end. The proper KR started from Thokur.
Marmagao:
MRH had passenger trains in timetables of the mid-60s, though the important trains terminated at VSG.
Finally to Gujarat again:
Sikka:
This branch had passenger trains until the 80s.
Pipavav:
Passenger trains still run up to Rajula City.
JNPT (near Mumbai):
There is no station named Nhava Sheva in RBS.
No station named Hazira either. There is a line accessible from Gothangam which reaches the Kribhco factory near Hazira. Presumably the line to the port is not complete.
We should remember that Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai ports have their own railway systems which are not part of any zonal railway. Details do not seem to be given in RBS. Part of the KPT’s lines became part of the Kolkata Circular Railway.
However the lines to Mundra and Pipavav are part of WR.
The Indian Railways have a number of routes which have goods traffic but little or no passenger traffic. Here are the route details for some of them. This is not supposed to be comprehensive. Details of port lines will be given in a subsequent article.
Ranippettai
Was in timetables earlier, now being revived for goods.
Remember that Walajah Road was the first terminus for trains starting from Madras. It was called Arcot at that time.
Bengdubi:
For military traffic.
Gadchandur:
Manikgarh is just south of Balharshah. This route does not seem to have had any passenger trains. It is primarily for cement traffic.
Ghoradongri:
This siding connecting Sarni town has existed for a long time. However, the distance is not mentioned here.
Ghugus:
The Tadali-Ghugus section was listed in timetables of the 1970s. Now it only has goods services. There was/is a cement factory at Ghugus.
Husainiwala:
This was part of the Ferozepore-Lahore route in the past. Nowadays it has DMU services once a year where pilgrims come to commemorate the sacrifices of Bhagat Singh and others.
Motumari-Jaggayapeta-Vishnupuram:
This was opened in the 80s to connect a cement plant at Jaggayapeta. It was later extended to Vishnupuram on the Nadikude-Bibinagar section. This could provide a connection with the North-South route with a point on the latter. So far, no passenger train has run here. This is apparently because low MPS on part of this route.
Palasthali:
Was earlier in the timetable.
Panipat Refinery:
Bhauli has not had passenger service.
Majri-Rajur:
Majri-Rajur was earlier in the timetable. Passenger trains still run from Majri to Wani and then to Pimpalkhuti and Adilabad. And coal trains still run from Rajur colliery.
Tirap siding:
Better known as the eastern-most point served by IR. It is a coal loading point. The closed Lekhapani station is a few km further east on an unconverted MG line.
Tuli:
Tuli is in Nagaland. The Amguri-Tuli section was earlier in the timetable with passenger services.
Butibori-Umred:
Was constructed long ago when Umred was on the Nagpur-Nagbhir NG line. Umred Colliery is a few km short of Umred station. So far no passenger trains have run here. This extension could open up another route for trains from Nagpur towards the south-east.
Ranajitpura:
For iron ore traffic. Ranajitpura station is located in the town of Donnamalai Township. This has never had passenger trains. Tornagallu is the site of the Vijayanagar airport.
Swamihalli:
Also for iron ore traffic. Vyasa Colony is the replacement for the closed Gunda Road junction which had an unsatisfactory location for BG traffic. Swamihalli was an MG terminus earlier.
Karampada:
Another iron ore line. The section beyond Karampada to Kiriburu and Meghataburu is closed.
The station Rakshi serves a place commonly spelt as Roxy.
An unofficial passenger service has sometimes operated here with a coach attached to a goods train. Even otherwise, local people are known to travel on the goods trains.
Daitari:
Not listed in the timetable. A number of steel plants were to come up near Daitari.
Tiger Hill:
Colliery line in Chhattisgarh.
If one studies the old maps of the Dhanbad coalfields area, you can see many routes where passenger trains have not run or a long time (or never). Jharia is one station which is unlikely to see any restoration of traffic.
There are a few short routes which are not covered here. In most cases they are built to connect mines or heavy industries.
NTPC runs a few long lines with intermediate stations, though they are not part of IR.
The lines connecting ports will be covered in part 2.
There have been some advertisements regarding various rail mega projects which will link the remotest borders by rail.
Here we look at one such project which may be completed relatively quickly.
The present railhead for Aizawl (and the whole of Mizoram) is Bhairabi, on a branch from Katakhai Jn which is between Badarpur junction and Silchar. This was opened over a decade ago. As was the general practice, the station of Bhairabi was built just over the border between Assam and Mizoram. The MG line was converted to BG in 2016 as part of the extension further into Mizoram.
Bhairabi in metre gauge days.
Bhairabi at the time of conversion to BG.
For an overview of this project, see this (in Hindi with some English subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9mq7gBiSA&ab_channel=FactsMarketGLP
The line is to extend 50.5 km to Sairang, which is about 21 km short of the centre of Aizawl. It is not expected to be extended to Aizawl, due to steep gradients as well as land acquisition problems.
Here is the list of stations according to the RBS tables:
The link to the “rest of India” is Badarpur, so we also give the stations between Badarpur and Bhairabi.:
In 1947, the terminus was at Lalaghat near the present station of Lalabazar.
Note the district HQ of Hailakandi. This was part of Sylhet district which, along with Karimganj sub-division, remained in India while the rest of the district went to East Pakistan.
Let us see if there will be an Aizawl Rajdhani.
You can trace the path of the new line from Bhairabi on this map:
Update: No passenger trains have started running at the time of writing (Sep 2022). Some months earlier there were clashes between the security forces of Assam and Mizoram. The present target date for completion is Nov 2023. This is strange, considering that the stations have already been entered into the RBS database.
An average railfan would have seen the station of Bhortex in the WR timetable, and wondered how this “non-Indian” spelling came there. However, this is what you will see there:
This is in Maharashtra, on the Surat-Bhusaval section. You can see that it is spelt Bhortek (in English, Hindi and Marathi). A look at maps of the area confirms this. In fact, the timetable entry changed to Bhortex some years ago. It looks like a clerical error by the timetable department. But no one has bothered to change it. Bhortex also remains in the RBS site.
Another persistent error relates to this station:
This is in Punjab, near the Punjab-HP border on the Kangra Valley line. Anyone slightly familiar with Indian history would realize that the spelling is correct. This station serves the hill station of that name. But the NR timetables and the RBS site have chopped the last E for several years, and display Dalhousi Road today. This would again been a clerical error which no one has bothered to correct.
Now to Jharkhand, on the Gomoh-Daltonganj branch and not far from McCluskieganj we have:
The station is listed as Gumia. In the locality both Gumia and Gomia are used, especially as the only large industrial unit there uses Gomia. It appears that the local practice was initially to spell it Gumia, though Gomia became more widespread since the 1960s. Now even the station sign says Gomia, but the timetables and RBS still stick to the old name.
There are many instances of British names becoming Indianized, such as Worsleyganj becoming Waris Aleganj and McDonald’s Choultry becoming Magudan Chavadi. But there is one odd example from Bareilly in UP. You would have heard of the divisional headquarters at Izatnagar. Or is it Izzatnagar?
When you reach this station, you will see these signs:
So which is correct? In the vicinity you will see both varieties being used in shops and offices.
It was indeed Izatnagar to start with, named after a British railway manager named Alexander Izat. There is also an Izat Bridge elsewhere on the NER near Allahabad. But somehow the word “Izzat” crept in, and now features in the timetable and RBS.
But we can see that no one in the railways seems to care if the signs with different spellings are standing in close proximity.
More about Mr Izat and the Izat bridge here:
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Izat_Bridge
Other misspellings have lasted for a few years before being corrected. Examples would be “Duckyard Road” for this:
This is in Mumbai on the Harbour Branch. Far away in the Nilgiris, this station
was listed as “Hillgroove” for some years. (These mistakes may have been because “duckyard” and “groove” are valid English words).
There are, of course, numerous stations where you will find signboards with different spellings, often on the same platform. Some well-known ones are Hafizpet/peta and Washer(man/men)pet which you can still see today.
We close with a station in a relatively remote part of Rajasthan, between Bandikui and Bharatpur. It is listed as Tarchhera Baraoli Ran. This is what you will see there:
So someone, either at the NWR headquarters or the local painter has messed up.
But if you check Google maps for this locality (at 27.21 N, 77.10 E) it is shown as Talchera Baraoliran. That is what the sign says. So the timetable is wrong again.
Now, does this really matter to most people including railway passengers of the area? Not really, since they usually know where they are going regardless of what the timetable or sign says.
But it does seem to show that the station sign is more likely to be correct than the official website or timetable.
Anyone seeking to create a practical railway guide or map should keep this in mind. In most cases pictures of the sign can be found in the site https://indiarailinfo.com/ at the entry for the particular station.
The route from Vadodara is given below:
Note that a narrow gauge line existed from Vishvamitri (VS) in the past. The section between VS to Dabhoi was converted to broad gauge some years ago. The less important narrow gauge branch to Chandod was later converted but did not seem to have any BG passenger service until now.
More recently, with the advent of the Statue of Unity it was decided to extend the broad gauge line a further 32 km to the dam township called Kevadiya Colony. This station was finally called Kevadiya. Electrification was also expedited from Dabhoi.
Here you can get the list of trains serving Kevadiya:
https://erail.in/trains-between-stations/kevadiya-KDCY/vadodara-jn-BRC
and
https://erail.in/trains-between-stations/vadodara-jn-BRC/kevadiya-KDCY
There has been some talk of this line (and indeed) the Statue of Unity being an unnecessary expenditure which may not be of much use to the nation. There are various arguments for and against this.
The long-distance trains will provide additional connectivity from some cities (especially Chennai) towards Surat and Vadodara where there may be a need for more capacity. And additional services from Ahmedabad and Mumbai towards these cities.
The Jan Shatabdi between Ahmedabad to Kevadiya will include Vistadome coaches, for what they are worth.
Update: Kevadiya is now known as Ekta Nagar.
As of today, it is well known that the western-most railway station in India is Varvala (long 68.97E) and the western-most terminus is Okha (69.07E)
The western-most junction was thought to be Kanalus (69.90E) but it is actually Wansjaliya (69.86E), which means about 4 km between the lines of longitude.
However, the western-most junction in the past was Khambaliya, which had a branch to the port of Salaya until the 1970s. Its longitude is 69.66E
The railway line up to Naliya (68.84E) has been closed for conversion to broad gauge for several years. This work is now progressing from Bhuj and may be completed in 2021. It is proposed to extend this line to Vayor (68.69E) which is north-west of Naliya.
So Varvala and Okha will lose their titles when the trains start running to Naliya.
The western-most airport with regular commercial flights is Bhuj (69.21E). While Bhuj has an IAF base, the military airport furthest west is the Naliya air base (near Naliya Cantt station) which is at 68.87E. It is known that the IAF has a helipad at Koteshwar on the coast at 68.53E. Naliya has fighter aircraft, and their Mig-21s shot down a Pakistani recconaissance aircraft close to the border in 1999.
Bhuj airport’s competitor is Porbandar at 69.64E. It includes enclaves of the Navy as well as the Coast Guard who also fly from there.
In due course the railway may reach Koteshwar. That is quite close to the western-most point of India, which is not as ill-defined as the northern-most point. This point on the mainland is 68.48E, while the western-most village appears to be Guhar Moti at 68.49E
You can amuse yourself with finding these places on this map link:
While most railway routes run between major cities, the stations in between would include fairly large stations which may not be justified by the local population. These could be junctions which have to be at particular locations, or loco sheds and watering/coaling points at suitable intervals preferably with a good water supply, or workshops which need space as well as a suitable supply of skilled and unskilled labor.
I am giving a few samples of each case. This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing, and anyone who wants to enumerate all cases in each category is welcome to do so.
Junctions in small places:
Amla, Arakkonam, Bhusaval, Bina, Daund, Dornakal, Gomoh, Gudur, Guntakal, Itarsi, Jolarpettai, Katni, Kazipet, Kharagpur, Khurda Road, Kiul, Lumding, Manmad, Mughal Sarai, Shoranur, Tundla, Villupuram, Viramgam.
(Of course, some like Mughal Sarai are not too far from larger urban centres.)
Rajasthan has a number of these, e.g. Bandikui, Bayana, Degana, Luni, Marwar, Merta Road, Phulera, Ratangarh.
Loco sheds in small places:
(These include those which are not junctions):
Abu Road, Balharshah, Bitragunta, Dongargarh, Gangapur City, Jhajha.
Major railway workshops/offices in small places not counted so far:
Adra, Alipur Duar, Chakradharpur, Chittaranjan, Dahod, Danapur, Jagadhri, Jamalpur, Kapurthala, Marhaura, Mariani, Podanur, Rangiya, Rewari, Yelahanka.
Sometimes one can guess why a steam loco shed (or at least a watering point) was located at a particular place, considering that steam locos had to stop every 150-200 km.
Considering the Mumbai-Delhi (WR) route:
Valsad is 194 km from MMCT and 197 km from Vadodara.
Gangapur City is 171 km from Kota and 153 km from Mathura.
Try to see the logic of the location of Bitragunta, Dongargarh, Jhajha etc.
However, Balharshah gets in because it was the junction between the GIPR and Nizam’s State Railway, where most trains changed their locos.
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