Western Rajputana State Railway

The Western Rajputana State Railway was surveyed 1873-75 and completed in stages from 1878-79. The metre gauge(MG) line ran from the town of Beawur to Ahmadabad, a distance of 272 miles(438km).

Western Rajputana State Railway

Background

The ‘Rajputana State Railway’(RSR) had extended their metre gauge(Metre Gauge line) as far as Ajmer in 1875 with the aim to reach Ahmadabad and to connect to the Broad Gauge (BG) of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway(BB&CIR). The RSR further extended their line from Ajmer as far as Beawur, 32 miles(51km) which opened in May 1878,.

History

The Western Rajputana State Railway was apparently created as a separate State Railway in order to complete the connection from Beawur to Ahmadabad.

Surveys were undertaken by the Railway Branch of the Public Works Department - Railway Branch over the years 1873-75 as the ‘Administration Report’ by Mr James Collet, Engineer-in-Chief, Western Rajputana State Railway, with the following personnel mentioned as being involved in the surveys:-

• Captain Bond, replaced by Mr Jenkinson - Marwar Chord line and the upper portion of the Aboo (Abu) Division
• Mr Parker, assisted by Mr Cloete and Mr Hogarth with Mr Coppin - Sendra Pass Division of the Arawali range
• Mr W W Clarke, assisted by Mr W Scott with input from Lieut Turner R.E.- Sindhpore (Siddhpur) and Ahmedabad Divisions

The ‘India List’ records:-

• Henry Bawn Addis from the Public Works Department as Assistant Engineer to this railway .

The following is from the 1879 Report by Mr A C Cregeen, Engineer-in-Chief, Western Rajputana State Railway, Northern Section:-

the ‘Northern Section’ consisted three divisions Sendra, Godwar and Marwar. Its total length from Beawur to Bhimana where it joins the Southern Section is 148 miles, 18 miles of this length i.e. the portion between Beawur and Raipore was opened for, Traffic on the 11th August 1879.

There is a brief reference in a diary of that time referring to the town of Palanpur

‘The Western Rajputana Railway, completed in 1879, passed some little distance away, with a metalled (or broken stone) running between the town and the station.’

No other information has been found

Later History

It seems most likely that the ‘Western Rajputana State Railway’ was merged into the ‘Rajputana State Railway’, probably upon opening in 1879.
The railway was amalgamated Into the Rajputana-Malwa State Railway(RMSR) which was created in 1881-82, joining under single management, existing State Railways:-

• Rajputana State Railway
• Holkar State Railway
• Scindia-Neemuch Railway
• Neemuch Nasirabad State Railway

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

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.