The Agra–Bhopal section is a railway line connecting the 16–17th century capital of the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

and

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

, capital of the Indian state of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. This track is part of the Delhi–Chennai line. The line is under the jurisdiction of

North Central Railway The North Central Railway (abbreviated NCR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central. It is headquartered at Prayagraj and comprises three divisions: Allahabad division, Jhansi division, A ...

and West Central Railway.

History

The Agra–Gwalior line was opened by the Maharaja of Gwalior in 1881 and it became the Scindia State Railway. The Indian Midland Railway built the Gwalior–Jhansi line and the Jhansi–Bhopal line in 1889. The Agra–Gwalior–Jhansi–Bhopal line became part of the Delhi–Chennai line in 1929. The Jhansi–Kanpur line was constructed by the Indian Midland Railway in 1889. The Gwalior–Bhind line was opened as a -wide narrow-gauge line in 1899. It was converted to broad gauge in 2001. The Gwalior–Sheopur Kalan -wide narrow-gauge line was constructed between 1904 and 1909.

Electrification

The Agra–Gwalior sector was electrified in 1984–85, the Gwalior–Babina sector in 1986–87, Babina–Bareth sector in 1987–88, and Bareth-Bhopal sector in 1988–89. The Jhansi–Kanpur branch line was recently electrified in 2013 and has become operational with electric locomotives.

Speed limits

The Delhi–Chennai Central line (Grand Trunk route) is classified as a "Group A" line which can take speeds up to 160 km/h. For the BG branch lines speed limit is generally 100 km/h.

Bhopal Shatabdi Express Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It ...

, the fastest train in India, powered by a

WAP-5 The Indian locomotive class WAP-5 is the name of a class of "High Speed" electric locomotives produced and used by Indian Railways. The first 10 locomotives were imported from ABB in Switzerland in 1995. They are supposed to be a variant of th ...

loco, travels along this line. The

Chennai Rajdhani Express The 12433 / 12434 Chennai Central – Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express is an important train connecting Chennai & New Delhi. According to 1997-98 railway budget, pantry car service was introduced on 2633/2634 (number of that time) Hazrat Niza ...

, which runs at an average speed (including halts) of 77.23 km/h. uses this line.

Passenger movement

Agra Cantt.,

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative hea ...

and

are amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway.

Loco sheds

Jhansi diesel loco shed holds 125+ locos including

WDM-2 The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Mixed traffic (M) engine, ...

, WDM-3A,

WDM-3D The Indian locomotive class WDM-3D is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 2003 by Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), Varanasi for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Mixed traffic (M) engi ...

, WDG-3A, WDS-6,

WDG-4 The Indian locomotive class WDG-4 (EMD GT46MAC) is a freight-hauling diesel-electric locomotive with AC electric transmission designed by General Motors Electro-Motive Diesel in 1997–1998 for Indian Railways, where they are classed as WDG-4. ...

. Jhansi electric loco shed holds 180+ locos including WAG-5HA / WAG5HB,

WAG-7 The Indian locomotive class WAG-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1990 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic (G ...

. Gwalior NG diesel loco shed houses NDM-5 locos and carries out periodic overhaul. Dhaulpur NG diesel loco shed holds ZDM-3 locomotives used for Dhaulpur – Tantpur / Sirmuttra section. Agra diesel loco shop houses WDS-4, WDM-2S locos. The shed caters to the loco requirement for shunting at major NCR stations and the Jhansi Workshop.

Workshops

Jhansi has the largest workshop in Indian Railways for periodic overhaul of freight wagons. Broad gauge coach Workshop at Bhopal handles rebuilding and overhaul of old passenger coaches. Gwalior Coaching Workshop handles narrow-gauge coaches.

References

External links

Trains at Agra Cantt. Trains at Gwallior Trains at Jhansi Trains at Bhopal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agra - Bhopal section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Railway lines in Uttar Pradesh Rail transport in Rajasthan Rail transport in Madhya Pradesh Railway lines opened in 1889 Transport in Agra Transport in Bhopal