O&RR Lines Owned and Worked

O&RR Lines Owned and Worked

a sub-section of the main page Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway(O&RR).

The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway (O&RR) was formed around 1872 by taking over the interests of the ‘Indian Branch Railway’ / ‘Awadh Rohilkhand Railway‘ - see separate page for details.

The “Administration Report on Railways 1918” gives the ‘Lines Opened’ as 1510 miles(2430km) of the O&RR ‘Broad Gauge (BG) lines.

The O&RR was merged into the East Indian Railway(EIR) in 1925 when the latter came into state management.

A small number of branches and extensions were constructed after 1918 by the O&RR before merger into the EIR. These are listed under the ‘EIR System’ in the “History of Indian Railways 1937” .

The following gives the O&RR lines that were opened on transfer to the ‘East Indian Railway’(EIR) in 1925.
This information below is taken from the “1937 History of Railways” ” .
Changes from the “1918 Administration Report“ are given in Italics

• ‘EIR Northern Mainline’ was O&RR Main Line, 517 miles(832km) from Moghal Sarai to Saharanpur, opened in stages - Moghal Sarai via Dufferin Bridge to Kashi (Benares Ganges), 1887 where it connected to Benares Cantonment which had opened in 1883; Benares Cantonment to Lucknow, 1893-94; Lucknow to Bareilly, 1872-73; Bareilly (chord line via Rampur) and Ramganga Bridge to Moradabad, 1894; Moradabad to Saharanpur, 1884-86. It is remarked that the ½ mile(0.8km) over the Ramganga Bridge at Moradabad was mixed gauge BG and BG and metre gauge(MG), this line being shared with the ‘Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway’ (R&KR) Same as 1918 Report with slight mileage changes
• ‘Benares-Lucknow Loop’, 199 miles(320km)from Benares Cantonment via Fyzabad to Lucknow, 1872-74. No change
• ‘Bareilly-Morabad Loop’, 70 miles(113km) from Bareilly via Chandausi to Morabad, 1872-73. No change
• ‘Lucknow-Sultanpur-Zafarabad Branch’, 136 miles(219km) opened 1931-32 from Utratiya (near Lucknow) via Sultanpur to Zafarabad Constructed by EIR after 1925 as part of ‘EIR Northern Network
• Branches from the ‘Main Line’
• Branches from the ‘Main Line’
  • ‘Cawnpore Branch’, 44 miles(71km) opened 1867 from Lucknow to the east bank of the Ganges River facing Cawnpore, then from 1875 over the ‘Ganges River Bridge, Cawnpore’ to join the ‘East Indian Railway’(EIR) at Cawnpore. Same as 1918 Report with slight mileage changes
  • ‘Belamau-Madhogan Branch’, opened 1903, 14 miles(23km) from Belamau to Madhogan. No change
  • ‘Madhopar-Auhadpur Extension, opened 1909-10, 17 miles(27km) from Madhopar to Auhadpur. No change
  • ‘Belamau-Sitapur Branch’, opened 1910, 37 miles(60km) from Belamau to Sitapur. No change
  • ‘Rosa-Sitapur Branch’, opened 1910-14, 53 miles(85km) from Rosa to Sitapur City and Sitapur Cantonment. No change
  • ‘Moradabad-Ghaziabad Branch’, opened 1900, 87 miles(140km) from Moradabad to Ghaziabad, the River Ganges was crossed by the 'Garmukteshwar Bridge' No change
  • ‘Hapar-Meerut Branch’, opened 1904, 18 miles(45km) from Hapar to Meerut. No change
  • ‘Kotdwara Branch’, opened 1896, 15 miles(24km) from Najibabad Junction to the right hand side of Kob River opposite Kotdwara. No change
  • ‘Hardwar Branch’ , opened 1886, 17 miles(43km) from Lhnaksar Junction to left bank of Ganges Canal near Jawalapur and on to Hardwar. No change
  • ‘Rikhikesh Branch’, opened 1927, 7 miles(11km) from Raiwala to Rikhikesh. Constructed by EIR after 1925 as part of ‘EIR Northern Network
• Branches on the ‘Benares-Lucknow Loop
  • ‘Allahabad-Fyzabad Branch’, opened 1903-05, 93 miles (150km) from Fyzabad via Suiltanpur to Allahabad. The mileage given excludes 2½ miles(5.6km) of the ‘O&RR Main Line’between Partabgarh and Chilbila. No change
  • ‘Allahabad-Jaunpur Branch‘, opened 1906-07, 58 miles(93km) from Phaphaman (near Allahabad) to Zafarabad (near Jaunpur) . No change
  • ‘Bahramghat Branch’, opened 1872, 21½ miles(35km), from Bara Babki to Bahramghat, this included 17 miles(27km) . 'from Burhwal to Bara Banki which was mixed gauge - BG and metre gauge(MG), this line being shared with the ‘Bengal and North-Western Railway ’ (B&NWR) . No change
• Branches on the ‘Bareilly-Morabad Loop’
  • ‘Aligarh Branch’, opened 1872, 61 miles(98km), from Chandaui to Aligarh. No change
  • ‘Allahabad-Rae Bareli-Cawnpore Branch’, opened 1911-12, 153 miles(248km) comprising three disconnected sections :- ‘Phaphaman-Rae Bareli ‘68 miles(km), ‘Daryapur-Dalman 15 miles(km) Umchahar -Unao 69 miles(km) . No change from 1916 Report but with the remark ‘The line was dismantled during the war, was relaid and opened 1927
  • ‘Gajraula-Chandpur Branch’, opened 1911, 22 miles(35km) from Gajroula Siau to Chandpur No change
  • ‘Chandpur-Bijnor-Muazzampur Narayan Branch’, opened 1930, 37 miles(60km) as an extension , to the above, thus connecting Gajraula to Muazzampur Narayan
  • ‘Raja ka Sahaspur to Sambal Hatim Sarai Line’, opened 1912, 15 miles(24km) Not listed in 1918 Report but with the remark ‘The line was dismantled during the war, was relaid and opened 1922
  • ‘Akbarpur-Tanda Branch’, opened 1912, 11 miles(18km) from Akbarpur to Tanda. No change

Lines worked by O&RR

See separate pages for further information

• ‘Benares City Branch Railway’, opened 1900, 2 miles(3.2km) , Metre Gauge (MG) from the O&RR Benares Cantonment Station to Benares City. The line was owned by O&RR and linked to the ‘Bengal and North-Western Railway’ (B&NWR) system at Benares City. The line was wrked by B&NWR.
• ‘Hardwar-Dehra Railway’, opened 1900, 32 miles(51km), privately-owned assisted Broad Gauge (BG) branchline worked by O&RR and from 1925 by EIR
• ‘Cawnpore-Burhwal Railway’, opened 1896, 80 miles(129km), a Metre Gauge (MG) line, constructed and worked as State line up to 31 Mar 1915, then Government of India(GoI); managed and worked by O&RR and then by EIR from 1925. Described as the ‘Cawnpore-Burhwal Link’
• Nalhati-Azimganj Railway, opened 1863. Originally part of Indian Branch Railway, unique 4ft gauge; worked by O&RR, 1863-72; run as State Rly, 1872; leased to East Indian Railway(EIR), 1892 and later converted to BG

Lines surveyed by O&RR

• Tilhar-Budaun-Hapur Railway Survey. Under survey by O&RR,1909 . Ref Civil List 1909 page 379 – Railways. This line was not constructed.