The Jodhpur–Bathinda line connects , in the Indian state of

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 ...

to in the

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 ...

, via

Dabwali Mandi Dabwali is a municipal committee town, near Sirsa City in Sirsa district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located on the border of Haryana and Punjab. It is at a distance of 60 km from district headquarter Sirsa and 40 km f ...

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 ...

. During the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, Bathinda was on the Delhi–Karachi line and after independence and

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947, it is on the

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 ...

. This line operates under the jurisdiction 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 ...

History

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 in 1882. It was extended to Luni in 1884 and Jodhpur in 1885. It formed the first Jodhpur Railway. It later became part of

Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway The Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway (JBR) was a metre gauge railway, jointly owned and operated by the Jodhpur State and Bikaner State until 1924 when the system was split between the newly formed Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway. ...

. 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 metre gauge Jodhpur – Merta Road sector was opened on 8 April, the Merta Road–Nagaur sector on 16 October, and the Nagaur–Bikaner sector on 9 December. In 1901–02, the metre-gauge line was extended to Bathinda. 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 metre gauge of

via Hanumangarh. Sometime around or prior to 1991, the construction work for the conversion from meter gauge to -wide

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.

Passenger movement

is the only railway station on this line which is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway.

Workshops

The former metre-gauge workshop at Jodhpur now performs periodic overhauling of broad-gauge passenger coaches. The former metre-gauge workshop at Bikaner (Lalgarh) workshop carries out periodic overhauling of broad-gauge coaches and wagons.

References

External links

Trains at JodhpurTrains at BikanerTrains at SuratgarhTrains at Bathinda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jodhpur-Bathinda line 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Rajasthan Rail transport in Haryana Rail transport in Punjab, India Jodhpur railway division * Bathinda district *