The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line (also known as Mumbai–Kolkata line) is a railway line in India connecting

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

via

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1900.

Sections

The trunk line has been treated in more detail in smaller sections: # Howrah–Kharagpur section # Kharagpur–Tatanagar section #

Tatanagar–Bilaspur section The Tatanagar–Bilaspur section is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and connects in the Indian state of Jharkhand and in Chhattisgarh. Part of one of the major trunk lines in the country, it passes through an industrial-mining area ...

Bilaspur–Nagpur section The Bilaspur–Nagpur section is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and connects Bilaspur in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Part of one of the major trunk lines in the country, it passes through a forested ...

Nagpur–Bhusawal section The Nagpur–Bhusawal section (railway track) is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line (alternatively known as Mumbai–Kolkata line / Bombay–Calcutta line) and connects Nagpur and Bhusawal both in the Indian state of Maharashtra. This se ...

Bhusawal–Kalyan section The Bhusawal–Kalyan section is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. It connects Bhusawal and Kalyan both in the Indian state of Maharashtra. One of the branch lines, Jalgaon–Surat line, runs partly ...

# Kalyan–Mumbai CST section

Geography

The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line cuts across the central parts of India in an east–west direction and traverses the plains of lower West Bengal, the southern part of

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...

, the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

, the Western Ghats and finally the

Western Coastal Plains The Western Coastal Plains is a strip of coastal plain 50 kilometres (31 mi) in width between the west coast of India and the Western Ghats hills, which starts near the south of the Tapi River. The plains are located between the Western Ghats ...

History

The first train in India travelled from in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

to Tannah (current Thane) on 16 April 1853. By May 1854,

Great Indian Peninsula Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

's Bombay–Tannah line was extended to Callian (current Kalyan). station was set up in 1860 and in 1867 the GIPR branch line was extended to . While the entire Mumbai–Nagpur line was

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 ...

, the next part from Nagpur to Rajnandgaon was

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 ...

. The

Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway was a line owned by the provincial government and operated by the state railways. The line ran from Nagpur via Tumsar - Gondia and Dongargarh to Rajnandgaon. The initial section from Nagpur to Tumsar was opened on 6 ...

started construction of the Nagpur–Rajnandgaon section in 1878, after surveys were started in 1871. The Nagpur–Tumsar Road section was opened in April 1880 and the Tumsar Road–Rajnandgaon section in December 1880. The GIPR and

EIR In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy"Orchard (1997:36).) is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; th ...

, working jointly, completed the

Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line The Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line officially known as Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line is a railway line connecting Kolkata and Mumbai via Allahabad. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1870. This railway line was until 2004. In 2004 ...

thereby establishing a connection between

and

in 1870. The great famine of 1878 was an impetus for the fast completion of the Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway track, but by then the idea of a route from Mumbai to Kolkata, shorter than the one via Allahabad, had set in. The

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

was formed in 1871. Amongst its major objectives were taking over of the Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway and its conversion to broad gauge and extension of its system by a line to Asansol on EIR's main line. The entire task was completed by 1891 and Nagpur was connected to Asansol. However, the line via Asansol was never seriously used as a link to Howrah for passenger traffic. The Sini–Kharagpur–Kolaghat line was opened in 1898–99. The Kolaghat–Howrah section was completed in 1899–1900. The entire line was opened with the completion of the bridge across the

Rupnarayan River The Rupnarayan River is a river in India. It begins as the Dhaleswari (Dhalkisor) in the Chhota Nagpur plateau foothills northeast of the town of Purulia. It then follows a tortuous southeasterly course past the town of Bankura, where it is ...

, near Kolaghat, on 19 April 1900.

Electrification

The entire line is

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

Speed limits

The entire Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line is classified as a "Group A" line which can take speeds up to 160 kmph but speed is restricted to 130 kmph for some sections and rest are under 110 kmph.

Passenger movement

(Kolkata), , , , , , , , , , , , and (Mumbai subarban) on this line, are amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian railway.

Golden Quadrilateral

The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line is a part of the

Golden Quadrilateral The Golden Quadrilateral ( hi, स्वर्णिम चतुर्भुज, Svarnim Chaturbhuj; abbreviated GQ) is a national highway network connecting several major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a ...

. The routes connecting the four major metropolises (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata), along with their diagonals, known as the Golden Quadrilateral, carry about half the freight and nearly half the passenger traffic, although they form only 16 per cent of the length.

References

External links

, {{DEFAULTSORT:Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in West Bengal Rail transport in Jharkhand Rail transport in Odisha Rail transport in Chhattisgarh Rail transport in Maharashtra