Bangalore Harihar Railway
The Bangalore Harihar Railway was a section of the Mysore State Railway(MSR), a metre gauge(MG) railway constructed originally as a famine relief project.
This section from Bangalore opened in 1884 and completed stages reaching Harihar in 1889 [1], a distance of 210 miles via Tusar, Gubbi, and Birur with a total of 33 stations [2]. The railway headquarters was at Mysore.
In 1887, in order to eradicate its "famine debt", the State of Mysore leased the MSR to the Southern Mahratta Railway (SMR) for a period of 45 years.
On 1 July 1893 two sections of the MSR, the Bangalore-Harihar and Bangalore-Hidupur Railways were transferred by the State of Mysore to the Government of India, giving full jurisdiction and operation [3]. The Railway continued to be operated by the SMR
In 1907, the SMR merged with Madras Railway(MR) to become the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR) and they continued to work and manage the railway which later became the M&SMR ‘Mysore Section’ [1]
From 1 Jan 1938, the lines leased to M&SMR, which included the ‘Bangalore Harihar Section’ reverted to the control of the State of Mysore, creating a homogenous railway of just under 740 miles. In 1950, MSR was nationalised and in 1951 became part of Southern Railway, one of the then newly formed zones of Indian Railways.
Personnel
- Augustus Le Messurier Col. R.E. from the Public Works Department was the Engineer-in-Chief from 1882 [4].
Further Information
See Mysore State Railway and Southern Mahratta Railway up to 1907
See Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway from 1907
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 92 (pdf100); Retrieved 11 Feb 2017
- ↑ British LibraryIOR/R/2/Box4/35 File 479B; 1888 “Mysore Govt. cede jurisdiction over the Bangalore - Hindupur & the Bangalore - Harihar railway lines. Question of jurisdiction over the Kolar Gold Fields Railway”; 1893-94
- ↑ British Library ‘India Office Records’ IOR/R/2/Box 4/35 “Mysore Govt. cede jurisdiction over the Bangalore - Hindupur & the Bangalore - Harihar railway lines. Question of jurisdiction over the Kolar Gold Fields Railway”; 1893-94
- ↑ Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 546 (pdf page 509 Retrieved on 21 May 2016