Holkar State Railway

The Holkar State Railway, opened 1874 as a metre gauge(MG) line from Khandwa reaching Indore, 1876. The line was owned by the Princely Holkar State until merged into the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway(BB&CIR) in 1900.

Early History

The Maharaja of Holkar, in 1870, offered a loan for the construction of a rail-line to his capital city of Indore, taking off from the Great Indian Peninsula Railway(GIPR) mainline at Khandwa.

The alignment was to pass through Sanawad, Kheree Ghat on the Narmada and then by way of the Choral Valley up the slopes of the Vindhyas to Indore. Maharaja Holkar’s contribution accelerated the construction of rail-lines in Malwa region.

The Holkar Railway required very heavy works due to very steep gradients(u pto 1 in 40) on the Vindhya Ghats. It also involved digging of 4 tunnels, deep cuttings and heavy retaining walls. The River Narmada was crossed by a brigde of 14 spans, 197 feet each and piers 80 feet above low water level. There are 14 other large bridges with high piers, the highest pier being 152 feet above the bottom of the ravine.

The first section Khandwa-Sanawad was opened for traffic on 1.12.1874. The Narmada Bridge was opened for traffic on 5.10.1876 it was named the ‘Holkar-Narmada Bridge’.

Amalgamation

In 1881-82, the Rajputana-Malwa State Railway (RMSR) was created joining under single management, existing State Railways:-

• Rajputana State Railway (RSR)
• Holkar State Railway
• Scindia-Neemuch Railway
• Neemuch Nasirabad State Railway
• Western Rajputana State Railway

All these railways were worked by Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway(BB&CIR) State Railways.

In 1900 the RMSR was merged into the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway(BB&CIR), becoming the latter's Metre Gauge(MG) section; known as Ratlam Division of BB&CIR..