The Rajpipla State Railway (RSR) was a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

, built by

Rajpipla State The Kingdom of Rajpipla or Rajpipla State was a princely state, with full internal jurisdiction, in India ruled by the Gohil Rajput dynasty for over 600 years from around 1340 till 1948. It was the largest State, and the only first-clas ...

History

The railway was constructed as a famine relief line to the Rajipipla District under the auspices of Maharana Chhatrasinhji, Raja of Rajpipla, as a short NG 19 mile(30 km) in 1897 connecting Rajpipla to the BB&CIR BG line at Anklesvar on the

New Delhi–Mumbai main line The Delhi–Mumbai line is a major railway line in India. Linking the national capital of New Delhi with financial capital Mumbai, this railway line covers a distance of across the Indian states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Prades ...

. This section, then called Anklesvar–Rajpipla Railway was worked by

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 ...

(BB&CIR). The line was extended to

Nandod Nandod is one of the 182 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Gujarat state in India. It is part of Narmada district and is reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. The seat came into existence due to the delimitation exer ...

Station in 1899, giving a total line length of 37 miles(59 km) and renamed the "Rajpipla State Railway". "Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 38
Retrieved 5 Dec 2016 A further 2 mile (3 km) short extension to

Town was completed in 1917 on the opening of the "Kanjan River Bridge", which was inaugurated by Lord Willingdon, Governor of Bombay Presidency, in February 1917. Thereby the railway line was extended from the old station to the new station on the edge of Nandod, the capital of Rajpipla."Rajpipla State Railway" by Singhiv 16 July 2015
Retrieved 5 Dec 2016 Ownership of the line remained with the

and worked by BB&CIR. The Jhagadia–Netrang Railway, a 19-mile (30 km) branch line was opened in 1932. It branched from Jhagadia, on the Anklesvar-Rajpipla section of the Rajpipla State Railway to

Netrang Netrang is a town in the Netrang taluka in Bharuch district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Geography and climate Netrang lies in the southern part of the Gujarat peninsula at an elevation of and has a tropical savanna climate (under Kö ...

. This increased the network length to 59 miles (94 km). In 1948, Rajpipla State Railway (RSR) became a part of Saurashtra Railway.

Conversion to broad gauge

The network was converted to {{Track gauge, 5ft6in, lk=on

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 ...

in 2013.Zeenews.india.com "Ankleshwar-Rajpipla railway route"
Retrieved 13 Dec 2015

References

Defunct railway companies of India History of rail transport in Gujarat 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Railway lines opened in 1897 Transport in Ankleshwar