Palana Colliery Railway

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Palana Colliery Railway

Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway Map 1909

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. 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 ....
  2. "Imperial Gazetteer of India", v. 21, p. 128.; Retrieved 28 May 2017
  3. From Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 26, 1909, Railway Map-Section 1, p. 23.; Retrieved 28 May 2017
  4. “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 05 ; Retrieved 28 May 2017