Palana Colliery Railway
Palana Colliery Railway
A lignite quarry (although referred to as a colliery) opened at Palana in Bikaner in 1898 with the intention of being using the coal for locomotive use [1]. In 1908 it was reported that ‘the coal is of inferior quality, but when mixed with Bengal variety is found satisfactory, and is largely used on the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway and by the Public Works Department of the State; attempts are being made to manufacture briquettes' [2]. By 1910 the briquette plant was operational [1]
The Palana Colliery was connected to the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway(BSR) by a metre gauge(MG) branch line, 10 miles(16km) long. This is shown on the 1909 "Imperial Gazetteer of India - Railway Map" as a branch line from Gigasar on the 'Bikaner-Nagaur-Merla Road' section of the BSR [3].
It is not known when the Colliery or the destiny of the ‘Palana Colliery Railway’ branch line. There is no trace of its existence in the 1918 "Administration Report on Railways" [4]
No further information has been found.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry RJ04 page ....
- ↑ "Imperial Gazetteer of India", v. 21, p. 128.; Retrieved 28 May 2017
- ↑ From Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 26, 1909, Railway Map-Section 1, p. 23.; Retrieved 28 May 2017
- ↑ “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 05 ; Retrieved 28 May 2017
