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Sindia State Railway
Also known in some later records as the Scindia State Railway

The Sindia State Railway was a broad gauge(BG) line connecting Agra to Gwalior via Dholpur. The ‘Gwalior-Hetampur’ section opened in Dec 1879 and the ‘Dholpur-Agra’ section in Jan 1879. The Chambal Rail Bridge was opened on 15 May 1881 completing the ‘Hetampur-Dholpu’ section thus directly linking Gwalior to Agra Cantonment , 76 miles(122km)

The ‘Sindia State Railway’ was operating out of Agra Cantonment station, with an interchange with Rajputana State Railway (The Rajputana State Railway in 1881-82 became the Rajputana-Malwa State Railway until 1885 when it became part of the ‘Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway’(BB&CIR)).

. The ‘Sindia State Railway’ was from 1885 worked by the ‘Indian Midland Railway’(IMR) which had a comparatively brief existence. From opening in 1879 until 1885 there are two versions of the working arrangement:-
One record indicates that the line was worked jointly with the ‘Rajputana State Railway’ under the management of Sir W S S Bissett until 1885.
Another report states that the line was worked at first by the East Indian Railway, it from 1885 worked as part of the Indian Midland Railway.

The ‘Sindia State Railway’ was handed over to the IMR under a Contract dated March 1890. .

Later in 1890 the IMR was amalgamated with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway(GIPR). This Gwalior-Agra line then became part of the ‘GIPR Midland Mainline’ between Bhopal and Agra . By this time the form ‘Scindia State Railway’ was being used.

Survey and Construction

Sindia State Railway

In 1872, the Maharaja of Gwalior State Jayaji Rao Scindia offered a large cash contribution towards the construction of a railway from Agra southwards through Dholpur to his capital city of Gwalior

The first Public Works Department(PWD) - Railway Branch Surveys were undertaken in 1872 and 4 separate routes were surveyed and submitted to the Government. Little happened until 1874 when the staff were transferred to Bengal on Famine relief. In August that year the orders were received to build a 5ft 6inch gauge railway via Dholpur and crossing the Chambal River near Bher. Some of the staff were recalled and the 34 miles from Agra were laid out

The construction of the ‘Sindia State Railway’ commenced in 1876 and the Engineers-in-Charge being William Michell and Horace Bell. .
Frederick Lewis Dibblee,Superintending Engineer, deployed from PWD to Gwalior and Jhansi Division Survey in 1880-81.

A quarry line was opened at Dholpur (‘Dholpur Quarry Railway’) to quarry the stone for the 'Chambal Rail Bridge’ – see separate page. The construction of the railway and the bridge was awarded to Messrs Glover and Company as contractors in February 1876 They undertook to complete the line to Dholpur by the end of June 1878 and the complete line by the end October 1880. Alteration to the approach at Agra to include the Agra Cantonment modified the cost and the expected cost was RS. 8,907,778 .

After the ‘Chambal Rail Bridge’ “the line runs through heavy ravines to the westward again, keeping somewhat near (about a mile) from the trunk road. Passing the stations of Bhandha, Shikarpur, Bamoor and Morar troop station, it reaches the terminal station lying between the Morar Cantonment and Gwalior, and a distance of 75.1 miles from Agra Cantonment station ... the line crosses the Khari , Asan and Sunk rivers on girder bridges of three, four, and three spans of 100 feet, respectively."

Opening and Operation

During the famine of 1877 the line partially opened to supply grain but after the rains returned that ceased. In January 1878 the line opened properly between Agra and Dholpur. The contractors had an extension to December 1880 to complete the Chambal Bridge and the Southern side opened for traffic .

The railway was opened 1881 by the Maharaja Sindia of Gwalior and operated under the management of Sir W S S Bissett until 1885.

Later Development

Central Railway Zone (CR) of Indian Railways (IR) was formed on 5 November 1951 by grouping several government-owned railways, including the ‘Scindia State Railway’

Records

Refer to FIBIS Fact File #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” - available from the Fibis shop. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library

An on-line search of the IOR records relating to this railway gives the following: -

• V/24/3589 “India. Public Works Department: Administration report on the construction of the Sindia State Railway, 1874/75"
• R/V/24/3590; "Public Works Department: Railways" which includes "Administration report on the construction of the [Sindia State] Railway, 1878/79”
• L/F/8/13/953 “Indian Midland Railway Company Limited, Contract as to the Indian Midand Railway Company maintaining and working the Sindia State Railway; 1890"

Further Information

See Chambal Rail Bridge
and Indian Midland Railway from 1885
and Great Indian Peninsula Railway(GIPR) – Midland Division from 1900