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Rajputana Territory Railway Surveys and Construction

Background

Rajputana was a territory which includes eighteen Native States and two chiefships, together with the small British Province of Ajmer-Merwara . It included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, together with some adjoining areas.
The ‘Imperial Gazetteer 1908 gives the following account:-

The oldest and most important line, the metre gauge(MG) Rajputana-Malwa State Railway(RMSR), belongs to Government, and has a total length in Rajputana of about 720 miles(1160km). Starting from Ahmadabad, it enters the territory near Abu Road in the south-west and runs north-east to Bandikui, whence one branch goes to Agra and another to [[Delhi]. It also has branches from Ajmer south to Nimach and from Palera north-east to Rewari, with the exception of the chord last mentioned, the line was copened between 1874 and 1881; it has been worked by the Government by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway Company since 1885.

The Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway(JBR) was constructed between 1881 and 1902connecting to the RMSR at Marwar and at Kuchawan Road

Early Surveys and Construction

Rajputana State Railway(RSR)

The 'Rajputana State Railway(RSR), the first Imperial State Railway, was formed tin 1869 by the joining the proposed ‘Rajputana - Agra District Railway’ and the ‘Rajputana - Delhi District Railway’ and was placed under the control of the Government of the North-West Provinces. It was divided into two districts; the Agra District from Agra to Ajmer and the Delhi District from Delhi to a point of junction of the two districts (chosen later at Bandikui) see separate page for more details
The final surveys for the line from Rewari to Bandikul was determined and sanctioned by the Government of India in 1871 and work was started by the ‘Rajputana State Railway’ as a metre gauge(MG) railway with the revised Estimate submitted in July 1871 to conform with the Government Rail Gauge Policy of Jan 1871 see separate page for more details.
At the same time the Government in Bombay put out to for tender for a metre gauge railway from Agra to Ajmer and in October that year Messer’s. Glover and Co were awarded the contract to build the railway. Earthwork started near Agra and Sambhar
The RSR was divided into two districts. The one, known as the ‘Agra District’, comprises the line which runs from Agra through Bhurtpore(Bharatpur), Jaipur and Ajmere(Ajmer) to Nasirabad. The other, known as the ‘Delhi District’, runs from Delhi through Rewari and Ulwar to Bandikui, where it forms a junction with the ‘Agra District’ at a point 94 3/4 mile from Agra. The two Districts have been constructed under different Engineers-in-Chief The construction of the Agra District was let to contractors, Messrs. Glover & Co. and while the Delhi District was constructed under Departmental management The two were combined on 7th December 1874
Failure of the rails supplied from Belgium held up the progress on the Agra to Ajmer line in 1872 and the first 33 miles opened for goods traffic from Agra to Bharatpur in August 1873. But due to heavy rains shortly afterwards the Bangunga River over flowed its banks and the Bharatpur Station wass cut off . The completion of the line from Ajmere to Nusseerabad was held up awaiting the decision of the Government . By September 1874 17 miles of the line from Rewari to Bandikul had been laid. The heavy rains of August 1873 showed that it was necessary to supply extra drainage and embankments raised . The lines from Agra were fully opened in sections to Bhurtpore March 1874 Dosa April 1874 Jaipur October 1874 and Sambhar March 1875. Delhi to Rewari March 1874. Rewari Alwar September 1874 and finally to Bandikul Junction December 1874.

Neemuch Nasirabad State Railway

The Superintending Engineer reported in Nov 1872 that the survey lines between Neemuch and Nasirabad also a branch line was surveyed between Futtehabad and Oojein. “The general line of the cart road from Neemuch as far as Rutlam, whence it diverges to Burnucrour, and, passing Futtehabad, with branch from that place to Oojein, joins the Holkar State Railway at Indore; the length of this line is 168 miles, including a branch of 13 miles.” and “passes near the towns of Nimbhera, Chittor, Humeergurh, Bheelwarra, and Bhunderwarra.”

===Western Rajputana State Railway=== make redirect Behaotee Quarry Railway’ In April 1875, the Engineer in Chief, Western Rajputana State Railway (Survey) reported the second year of surveys which finished in March 1875 working drawings for construction had been made but alternative routes to the 1873 line were being searched for through the Sendra Pass of the Arawali Range. As a consequence, the Marwar Chord Line (Ajmer to Ahmadabad) had been modified and another crossing point of the Sookree river chosen. The Indian Government also asked for a search for an easy access through the Arawali Range to Oodeypore State. This was not found. By 1878 there was concern as to the viability of the railway and ways of cutting costs and increasing the amount of traffic. There was a large change in Management partly due to end of contracts partly due to illness. A Station was being built at Agra Fort as an interface with the broad-gauge railway. A temporary line ‘Behaotee Quarry Railway’ was built to the quarries at Behaotee 4 miles in length and was completed in November 1878
In the West the Line from Ahmedabad to Rewari was under construction and 1st January 1879 it consisted of three Divisions Sendra, Godwar and Marwar and its total length was 148 miles and the portion between Beawur and Raipur opened on 11th August 1879

Rewari-Phalera Chord Railway

Rewari- Phalera Chord - a BB&CIR line that linked at Kuchaman to the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway (JBR), the map shows it did provide the direct link from Delhi to Karachi. They were both metre gauge but no ‘running agreement’ has been found between BB&CIR and JBR. So it would appear there was a necessity to change at Kuchman.
The chord railway is a linking railway between the systems at Kuchaman Road or Phutera to Rewari to form a direct link between Karachi and Delhi. It was first survey in 1897 when a party under Mr J Burn started work. His instructions were to survey a link between Kuchaman and Rewari passing through Madhapur. The Resident requested the help of the Nazims in supplying goods and especially when passing through Jodhpur Territory, which was the majority of the route. Unfortunately, the Hakim of Madhapur was not so inclined and caused trouble for the survey pulling out survey posts and putting claims for damaged crops and causing an affray. The survey was finally completed.
The line had the approval of the Indian Government but before It was built a famine struck in 1899 and the groundwork for the line was requested as a famine relief project. The work started from Rewari Junction through the Khawati Country towards Kuchaman Road. Three possible routes had been surveyed 2 routes were possible between Phalera and Sri Madhopur. The third line was the straightest and lay completely in Jaipur Territory, but it left on the side the trading town Kishengash and also Bhaislana. Line B would serve both these places and is thought to be the best route although it passes through a 3-mile part of Darbar of Marwar Territory. In 1899 the line became known as the Rewari- Phalera Chord when Jaipur and Jodhpur agreed to build the line. The Marwar Darbar in Jaipur agreed the session of the 3-4-mile section to the railway company and to pay of the cost of building the railway in their territory.
A proposal was made by the Marwar Darbar to link the Jodhpur Binkanar Railway(JBR) system in Jaipur to the Rewari- Phalera Chord This caused a disagreement until a full proposal was put forward. (See below) “I enclose a tracing which will clearly show the idea the Dunbar has in view. The proposed link from Barawar would probably run on shown on one or other of the dotted lines or somewhere between the two. It is hoped the Jaipur Durbar will now be able to say in equally distinct terms if they at acquiesce the proposal’ Unfortunately at the time the Jaipur Darbar replied “Under the above circumstances the Jaipur Darbar are not disposed to agree with the proposal above” .
When the construction of the Rewari- Phalera Chord started in 1900 a survey of the earthworks was made and a payment of the cost of Rs 6898 was paid for the famine work. A total of 9,820 cu feet of earthwork had been done under the scheme. The full construction completed in 1901 134.25 miles long and was to form part of the Rajputana-Marwar Railway System. The railway passes through British Territory for 16 miles, Alwar 1.1 miles, Nabha territory 10.05 miles, Patiala 14.25 Miles, and Jodhpur 3.25 miles and finally Jaipur 90.10 miles total 134.25 Miles at a cost of over Rs 6,000,000. Through the foreign territories the construction crew, in the light of previous experiences, were protected buy Treasure Guards supplied by the local Darbars. Jodhpur was the last territory to cede jurisdiction over the land occupied by the railway in 1905. This allowed the railway to open, but owning land in a Foreign country left the Indian Government with a problem it solved this by making the railway an administrative District in its own right with all that entailed.