Bikaner railway division is one of the four railway divisions under
North Western Railway zone
The North Western Railway (abbreviated NWR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur,Rajasthan with 59,075+ employees, 658+ stations and a route length of more than 5761 km across at least some parts of four ...
of
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
. This railway division was formed on 5 November 1951 and its headquarter is located at
Bikaner
Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division.
Formerly the capital of ...
in the state of Rajasthan of India.
Jaipur railway division
Jaipur railway division is one of the four railway divisions under North Western Railway zone of Indian Railways. This railway division was formed on 5 November 1951 and its headquarters are located at Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan of India. ...
,
Ajmer railway division
Ajmer railway division is one of the four railway divisions under North Western Railway zone of Indian Railways. This railway division was formed on 5 November 1951 and its headquarter is located at Ajmer in the state of Rajasthan of India.
J ...
and
Jodhpur railway division are the other three railway divisions under NWR Zone headquartered at
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
. This division is one of the key enabler of the
Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
by virtue of running parts of the railways 1,500 km long network of
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is a 1,506 km long, under-construction broad gauge freight corridor in India. It will connect Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. T ...
.
History
The ''Bikaner railway division'' was formed in 1924, though its origin dates back to early 1880.
In 1882, a wide
metre gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...
line from Marwar Junction to Pali was built by the Rajputana Railway. It was extended to Luni in 1884 and Jodhpur on 9 March 1885. New Jodhpur Railway was later combined with Bikaner Railway to form Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway in 1889. Later in 1900,
Jodhpur–Bikaner line combined with Jodhpur-Hyderabad Railway (some part of this railway is in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
) leading to connection with Hyderabad of Sindh Province. Later in 1924 Jodhpur and Bikaner Railways worked as independent Railways. After Independence, a part of Jodhpur Railway went to West Pakistan.
In 1889, the
Bikaner Princely State and
Jodhpur Princely State started constructing the ''Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway'' within the
Rajputana Agency
The Rajputana Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire dealing with a collection of native states in Rajputana (now in Rajasthan, northwestern India), under the political charge of an Agent reporting directly to the Governor ...
. In 1891, the wide
metre gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...
Jodhpur–Bikaner line was commissioned under the
Rajputana-Malwa Railway, Jodhpur-Merta Road section was commissioned on 8 April, the Merta Road-Nagaur section on 16 October, and the Nagaur-Bikaner section on 9 December. The Jodhpur–Bikaner line was extended to
Bathinda
Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...
in 1901–02 to connect it with the metre gauge section of the
Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway
The Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (reporting mark BB&CI) was a company incorporated in 1855 to undertake the task of constructing railway lines between Bombay to the erstwhile Baroda State, that became the present-day Baroda (Vadoda ...
and the meter gauge of
North Western Railway
The North Western Railway (abbreviated NWR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur,Rajasthan with 59,075+ employees, 658+ stations and a route length of more than 5761 km across at least some parts of four ...
Delhi–Fazilka line
The Delhi–Fazilka line is a railway line connecting Delhi and Fazilka the latter in the Indian state of Punjab. There is a link to . The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This line was a part of the historic ...
via Hanumangarh.
[ In 1926, the workshop at Bikaner (Lalgarh) was set up to carry out periodic overhauling of metre gauge coaches and wagons. Sometime around or prior to 1991, the construction work for the conversion from meter gauge to ]broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
of the Jodhpur–Bikaner line, along with the link to Phulera, were started, and it was already functioning as broad gauge Jodhpur–Merta City–Bikaner–Bathinda line by 2008. In 2012, the Bikaner Heritage Rail Museum was opened at Bikaner to displays items related to the Jodhpur and Bikaner Railway.
In 2009, the metre gauge Hisar–Sadulpur line was converted to broad gauge.
Between 2008 and 2011, the Bikaner–Rewari line
The Bikaner–Rewari line or Rewari–Bikaner line is a railway route on the North Western Railway zone of Indian Railways. This route plays an important role in rail transportation of Bikaner division and Jaipur division of Rajasthan state and ...
was converted to broad gauge.
In 1884, The ''Rajputana-Malwa Railway'' extended the wide metre gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...
Delhi-Rewari section of Delhi–Fazilka line
The Delhi–Fazilka line is a railway line connecting Delhi and Fazilka the latter in the Indian state of Punjab. There is a link to . The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This line was a part of the historic ...
to Bathinda, which was The Southern Punjab Railway Co. opened the Delhi-Bathinda-Samasatta line in 1897. The line passed through Muktasar and Fazilka tehsils and provided direct connection through Samma Satta
Samma Satta (Also spelled Samasatta or Samasata) ( ur, ) is a town in Bahawalpur District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located at 29°21'0 North 71°32'60 East and has an altitude of .
Railway
Samasata Junction railway station is located in middle ...
(now in Pakistan) to Karachi.
In 2013, the new broad gauge electrified Rewari-Rohtak line was constructed.
Rail transport infrastructure
The division has the following types of locomotive engines:
(Legends: W - broad gauge, D - diesel, G - goods, M - mixed, P - passenger)
* Hisar Junction railway station
Hisar Junction railway station (railway code: HSR) is an A-category railway station,[Jaipur Zonal Railway Hospital
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...]
near Jaipur Junction railway station
Jaipur Junction (Code: JP) is a railway station in Jaipur, the largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves the Capital City of Jaipur. This station serves as the headquarters of the Jaipur Railway Division and the North Western Ra ...
* Divisional Hospitals
** Bikaner Divisional Railway Hospital
Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division.
Formerly the capital of ...
near Bikaner Junction railway station
Bikaner railway station is located in Bikaner district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves Bikaner. Bikaner is headquarters of Bikaner railway division.
The railway station
Bikaner railway station is at an elevation of and was assign ...
* Sub-Divisional Hospitals
** Rewari Sub-Divisional Railway Hospital
Rewari is a city and a Municipal Council in Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. King of Rewari is Rao Onkar Singh.It is located in south-west Haryana around 82 km from Delhi near Rewari railway station
Rewari Junction railway station, station code RE, is a major railway station of the Indian Railways serving the city of Rewari in the Indian state of Haryana. It is in the Jaipur Division of the North Western Railway zone and lies on the Delh ...
(Bikaner division)
* Health Units, several (total 29 across the whole division, including 3 other zones)
* First Aid Posts, unknown (no more than a total of two across the whole zone)
Training
The division has following training institutes:
# Divisional Training Centre(Engineering), Bandikui, Bikaner
# Area Training Centre, Bandikui, Bikaner
# Divisional Training Centre(Traffic, C&W, Civil), Lalgarh, Bikaner
# Basic Training Centre, Bikaner
# Railway Police Force (RPF) Training Centre, Bandikui, Bikaner
Route and Track Length
* North Western Railway zone
** Route km: broad gauge , metre gauge , total
** Track km: broad gauge , metre gauge , total
** Bikaner railway division: covers Rajasthan and parts of Railway in Haryana
The rail network in the state of Haryana in India, is covered by 5 rail divisions under 3 rail zones: North Western Railway zone (Bikaner railway division and Jaipur railway division), Northern Railway zone (Delhi railway division and Ambala ...
*** Route km: broad gauge , metre gauge , total
*** Track km: broad gauge , metre gauge , total
Network
The division has ≈14,000 employees handling 142 trains across 198 stations (14 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System). The quantum of traffic is equally split between goods and passenger segment, with food grains, china clay and gypsum being the main outbound goods traffic.
The network of this division covers the following states:
* Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
: Dhundhar
Dhundhar, also known as ''Jaipur region'', is a historical region of Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the districts of Jaipur, parts of Sikar District lying to the east of the Aravalli Range, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, and Tonk and t ...
region, Bikaner region and north Rajasthan
* Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
: western and southern triangular half of Haryana, up to and below the Sirsa-Hisar-Rewari diagonal.
* Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
: A very small upward pointing triangular spur of the network in the south west corner of Punjab.
The network consists of the following lines:
# Jodhpur–Bathinda line
The Jodhpur–Bathinda line connects , in the Indian state of Rajasthan to in the Punjab, via Dabwali Railway in Haryana. During the British Raj, Bathinda was on the Delhi–Karachi line and after independence and partition of India in 1947, i ...
via Hanumangarh,
# Jakhal-Hisar line (to Ludhiana via Sangrur) and Hisar-sadalpur line (to Bikaner)
# Rewri-Sadulpur-Hanumangarh line
# suratgarh-Sarupsar-Sriganganagar loop line
# Salemgrah-Anupgarh line
# Ratangarh-Sardarshahr line
# Delhi–Fazilka line
The Delhi–Fazilka line is a railway line connecting Delhi and Fazilka the latter in the Indian state of Punjab. There is a link to . The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This line was a part of the historic ...
, from Rewari to Dabwali section only
# Rewari-Rohtak line
# Rohtak-Bhiwani line
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is a 1,506 km long, under-construction broad gauge freight corridor in India. It will connect Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. T ...
passes through Rewari.
List of railway stations and towns
The list includes the stations under the Bikaner railway division and their station category.
Stations closed for Passengers -
References
{{Reflist
Divisions of Indian Railways
1951 establishments in Rajasthan
*
Transport in Bikaner