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In 1881-82The '''Holkar State Railway''' opened in 1874 as a metre gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]) line from the [[Great Indian Peninsula Railway|‘Great Indian Peninsula Railway’(GIPR)]] station at [[Khandwa]] running northward, reaching [[Indore]] in 1876 with the opening of the '''[[RajputanaHolkar-Malwa State RailwayNarmada Bridge]]''' over the River Narmada. The length of the line was created 86 miles(see138km). The line was financed by the Maharaja of Holkar of [[Indore]] and was owned by the [[Princely states|Princely ]][[Indore State]]. ''The railway marked in '''Blue''' on the map'Algamation' below).

The railway had been line was initially worked by jointly with the MG [[Sindia-Neemuch State Railway|‘Sindia-Neemuch State Railway’ - '''see separate page for information'']] which opened northward from [[Bombay, Baroda and Central India RailwayIndore]]. Together the two lines were worked as a joint operation under the title the '''(BB[[Holkar &CIR) from the beginning and was finally mergerd into BB&CIR in 1900Sindia-Neemuch State Railways]]'''.

==Early History==The Maharaja of [[Holkar]], in 1870, offered a loan for Some records refer to this railway as the construction of a rail-line ‘Holkar Division’ (Khandwa to his capital city of Indore, taking off from 86 Miles/138km) and the [[Great Indian Peninsula Railway]] ‘Indore Division’ (GIPRIndore to Rutlam, 74 miles/119km plus Ujjain Branch, 12 miles/19km) . These being divisions of the mainline at Khandwa. <ref>‘[[http://www.wr.indianrailways.gov.in/cris/uploads/files/1397109746468Holkar & Sindia-history_1.pdf Indian Neemuch State Railways "History of Ratlam Division"]; Retrieved 11 Dec 2015</ref>]’ <refname=Holkar&SNR>[http:British Library ‘India Office Records’ IOR/V/www.geocities.ws24/manasampc/dp.html Geocities "Neesmuch 3590 ‘Report on the progress and administration of the Holkar and Sindia- Neemuch State Railways"]; Retrieved 11 Dec 2015, 1878/79’</ref>.

An objection from the [[Great Indian Peninsula Railway|‘Great Indian Peninsula Railway’(GIPR)]] to the construction of this line to the metre gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]) describes this line as the [[Khundwah and Indore Railway Gauge Objection| '''Khundwah and Indore Railway ''' - ''see separate page for further information'']]. The alignment objection was that this railway should be constructed as a broad gauge ([[Rail_gauge_#Broad_Gauge|BG]]) line to pass through Sanawad, Kheree Ghat on provide an unbroken link between the Narmada GIPR and then by way of the Choral Valley up the slopes of the Vindhyas to IndoreNWR - both being BG systems. Maharaja Holkar’s contribution accelerated This objection was overruled by the construction [[Government of rail-India]] and metre gauge lines in Malwa region.were permitted [[Rail gauge#Gauge Question|''See page ‘Gauge Question’ for further information'']]

The [[File:Holkar and Sindia-Neemuch Railway.png|thumb|Holkar State Railway – marked in '''Blue''']][[File:Holker State Railway, 1878 from IOR.png|thumb|'''Holkar State Railway required very heavy works due , 1878 from IOR/V/24/3590 ''']]==Location Spelling Notes==‘Holkar State’ does not exist, it was only the name given to very steep gradients(u pto 1 the railway, the correct name is [[Indore|’Indore State’]]<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indore_State Wikipedia "Indore State"]; Retrieved 7 Jun 2018</ref><br>[[Khandwa]] is the later town spelling and as given in 40) on the Vindhya Ghats‘Imperial Gazetteer, 1908 <ref>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V19_115. It also involved digging gif ‘Imperial Gazetteer of 4 tunnelsIndia’, v. 19, deep cuttings and heavy retaining wallsp. 109]; Retrieved 7 Jun 2018</ref>. The spelling ‘Khundwah’ is used in some of the earlier records of the 1870’s.<br> Narmada (Nerbudda) River – Narmada was crossed by a brigde is the later name. The’ Imperial Gazetteer’ uses both <ref>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V02_255.gif “Imperial Gazetteer of 14 spansIndia”, 197 feet each and piers 80 feet above low water levelv. There are 14 other large bridges with high piers2, the highest pier being 152 feet above the bottom of the ravinep.220]; Retrieved 7 Jun 2018</ref>

==History==The [[Government of India]] accepted payment from the Maharaja Holkar of Indore towards the construction of a railway from the [[Great Indian Peninsula Railway]](GIPR) station at [[Khandwa]] to his capital city of [[Indore]] and in March 1870 preliminary Surveys were started . [[1870-71_Report_on_Railways#Progress_on_State_lines._Paragraphs_5-10.3B_Pages_3-4|The ‘1870-71 Annual Report for Indian Railways’]] uses the title ‘Indore to Khundwa Railway‘ with 84 miles (135km) metre gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]) sanctioned for construction. The ‘1871-72 Report on Railways in India’ <ref>[https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=tytcAAAAQAAJ&printsec=GBS.PP561&pg=GBS.RA13-PA1 ‘Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 19, 1872’ pdf pages 596-598 “Annual Report on Railways in India for 1871-72” - ‘Indore or Holkar State Railway’ Para 86, page 37, pdf 597]; Retrieved 7 Jun 2018</ref> names this as the “Indore or Holkar State Railway” and states:- “This line starts from Khundwah''(see spelling note) '', a station on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 352 miles from Bombay, crosses the Nerbudda River 23 miles south of Barwaie, ascends the Vindhyrange through the Choral Valley, and passes through [[Mhow]] to [[Indore]]. Its length will be about 86 miles. The works have commenced under a contract, and are being pursued vigorously. It is estimated the line will cost about £900,000. Maharajah Holkar has engaged to lend the British Government £1,000,000 at 4½% p.a. to carry out the line, he will participate in half the surplus profit over the 4½% if any, in proportion to the extent of his loan.“  The 1878 ‘Administration report on the Holkar State Railway’ <ref name=Holkar> British Library 'India Office Record' IOR/V/24/3590 ; "Public Works Department: Railways" - ‘Administration report on the Holkar State Railway, 1878’ </ref> indicates that the route was modified with particular attention being given to the crossing of the Narmada (Nerbudda) River ''(see spelling note) ''. The result was a route from [[Khandwa]] via Sanawad to Kheri Ghat , crossing the Narmada; then ascending the Chorul Valley on to the Malwa plateau onward to [[Mhow]] and [[Indore]]. The Government was not happy with the route through the Chorul Valley. The final route was for a metre gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]). There were very heavy works due to very steep gradients (upto 1 in 40) on the Vindhya Ghats. It also involved digging of 4 tunnels, deep cuttings and heavy retaining walls. The River Narmada was crossed by a bridge of 14 spans, 197 feet each and piers 80 feet above low water level [[Holkar-Narmada Bridge|''see separate page for details of this bridge'']] . There were 14 other large bridges with high piers, the highest pier being 152 feet above the bottom of the ravine.  The first section Khandwa-Sanawad was opened for traffic on 1.12.in Dec 1874. The Narmada Bridge was opened for traffic on 5.10.Oct 1876 ; it was named the ‘Holkar‘[[Holkar-Narmada Bridge’Bridge]]’ <ref name=Holkar/>.

In 1881-82, the '''[[Rajputana-Malwa State Railway]]''' (RMSR) was created , joining under single management, existing State Railways:-

*[[ScindiaSindia-Neemuch State Railway]]

In 1900 the RMSR was merged into the [[Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway]](BB&CIR), becoming the latter's Metre Gauge([[Rail_gauge_#Metre_Gauge|MG]]) section; known as Ratlam Division ‘Ratlam Division’ of BB&CIR.Later being designated as part of the ‘BB&CIR Malwa Section Main Line’ <ref name=Admin>[https://archive.org/stream/BombayBarodaAndCentralIndiaRailwaySystem/Bombay_Baroda_And_Central_India_Railway_System#page/n31/mode/1up “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 22 (pdf31) ]; Retrieved 7 Jun 2018</ref>.  ==Personnel==No Staff Records for the Holkar State Railway (or the Indore State Railway) have been found. The following have been identified from various sources:-*[[Horace Bell]] and [[Archibald Crellin Cregeen]] were deployed in 1870 from the newly formed Railway Branch of the [[Public Works Department]] to the ‘Indore State Railway’ as Executive Engineers during the construction and the railway opened in 1874. *[[William Sinclair Smith Bisset]] from [[Railway Branch - PWD]], was posted as Asst Consulting Engineer in Nov 1870, promoted Executive Engineer Mar 1871-77. He later became Dir-Gen of Railways and Dep-Secretary to Government of India, Public Works Department <ref>[https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PA442 Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 442 ] Retrieved on 79 Feb 2018</ref>*[[Ernest Ifill Shadbolt]], who later became Director of Railway Construction for the Government of India, was Assistant Engineer, Construction. *[[James Rhind]] in 1873 went to India, and served in the Locomotive Department, 'receiving certificates of good service from his superior officers' before travelling back to England <ref>[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Rhind Grace's Guide "James Rhind"] Retrieved on 25 Jul 2016</ref>. *[[Henry Dangerfield]] in 1878 transferred to ‘Holkar State Railway’ and [[Sindia-Neemuch State Railway]], transferred as Superintendent of Way and Works, and he held this post till Dec 1880, being also manager of the line for the last two years <ref>[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Dangerfield Grace's Guide "Henry Dangerfield"] Retrieved on 25 Jul 2016</ref>.*[[James Condor]] was appointed Manager of ‘Holkar State Railway’ in 1881. He was, at the same time Manager of [[Sindia-Neemuch State Railway]] and [[Neemuch Nasirabad State Railway]]<ref> [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PA465 Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 465 (pdf page 428)] Retrieved on 23 May 2016</ref>..The 1878-79 Record, para 7, for the Engineering Department states “[[Henry Dangerfield| Mr. H. Dangerfield]], Superintendent of Way and Works, is Officiating as Manager of the line during the absence of [[William Sinclair Smith Bisset| Captain W. S. S. Bisset, R. E.,]] on field service, and Mr. W. C. L. Floyd, Executive Engineer, 4th Grade, is appointed to the charge of the Holkar Division, Holkar State Railway, and Mr. R. E. Wright, Executive Engineer, 4th Grade, to the charge of the Indore Division, Neemuch State Railway, Mr. Ker, Assistant Engineer, having been transferred to another line and Mr. Landon having gone on furlough”. Para 43 Traffic Department, states “Mr. W. E. Hartt has been in charge of this department, and Mr. C. E. Vining, an additional Assistant Traffic Superintendent, was appointed to the line in March 1879” <ref name=Holkar&SNR/>

See also '''[[Holkar & Sindia-Neemuch State Railways]] '''<br>see'''[[Rajputana-Malwa State Railway]]''' for period from 1881-82 to 1900<br>and '''[[Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway]]'''from 1900 onwards

[[Category:Indian States State Railways]]