Gwalior Light Railway (GLR) or Maharaja Railway was a

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

railway network in

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 ...

. It was set up for

Gwalior State Gwalior state was a semi-autonomous Maratha state. It was centred in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, arising due to the rise of the Maratha Empire and fragmentation of the Mughal Empire. It was ruled by the Scindia, House of Scindia (anglicized fro ...

during the times of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Until its closure in 2020, the railway was the longest gauge railway in the world.

History

The Gwalior Light Railway was built by the Maharaja

Madho Rao Scindia Maharaja Sir Madho Rao Scindia of Gwalior (20 October 1876 – 5 June 1925), was the 5th Maharaja of Gwalior State, Gwalior belonging to the Scindian dynasty of the Marathas. Biography Madho Rao acceded to the throne in 1886 and ruled until ...

of the

. It was originally a 14-mile long private tramway. Construction began in 1895 of the 53 mile

–

Bhind Bhind is a city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the Bhind district. Demographics As of 2011 Indian Census, Bhind had a total population of 197,585, of which 105,352 were males and 92,233 were females. Populati ...

line. By 1897 it was 34 miles long and was used to bring in supplies to relieve the famine. Both this section and the Gwalior–

Shivpuri Shivpuri is a city and a municipality in Shivpuri district located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is in the Gwalior Division of northwest Madhya Pradesh and is the administrative headquarters of Shivpuri District. It is sit ...

section opened on 2 December 1899 by

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

. The Gwalior-

Joura Jaura (also spelt Joura or Jora) is a town and a nagar panchayat in Morena district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Jaura is part of Morena Lok Sabha constituency along with seven other Vidhan Sabha segments, namely, Sabalgarh, Sumawal ...

branch opened on 1 January 1904 and on 12 January 1904 the extension to Sabalgarh was opened. A further extension to Birpur opened on 1 November 1908 and the full line to

Sheopur Sheopur is a city in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Sheopur District. Sheopur is linked by narrow gauge rail to Gwalior(No longer in operation). The town is traditionally famous for its wood c ...

opened on 15 June 1909. In October 1900, the Indian Midland Railway Company agreed to operate the railway on behalf of the Maharaja. In 1942, the Gwalior Light Railway was renamed the Scindia State Railway. In 1951, the system was purchased by the Central Railway. The railway was initially worked with steam locomotives, but later diesel locomotives were used. There was a plan to electrify the railway in the 1920s from a generating station below the Nanakura Dam, but this scheme was abandoned.

Permanent way

The track was flat-bottomed steel rails laid on a mix of Sal wood and iron sleepers. The minimum radius curve on the line was and the steepest gradient was 1 in 40.

Locomotives

Rolling stock

In 1936, the company owned 28

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

s, 90 coaches and 363 goods wagons.

Classification

It was labeled as a Class III railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.

Conversion to broad gauge

The

–

section and the

–

section were converted 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 ( C ...

in the early 2010s. The

–

Kalan section is under conversion to

as of 2020.Western Railway is killing off the last of its 'toy trains'
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwalior Light Railway Transport in Gwalior 2 ft gauge railways in India Defunct railway companies of India Railway lines opened in 1907 History of Gwalior 1907 establishments in India 2020 disestablishments in India Railway lines closed in 2020