The Guntakal–Vasco da Gama section, or Mormugao Railway (formerly known as West of India Portuguese Railway), is a railway line connecting the town of

Guntakal Guntakal, natively known as Guntakallu, is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Guntakal mandal and Guntakal revenue division.It is also the headquarters of the Guntakal Railway Division ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, India. It traverses the Western Ghats and covers a distance of across Goa,

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and Andhra Pradesh. It is operated by the public companies

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

— through its operating subsidiaries

South Central Railway zone South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka. It has three divisions under its administration, wh ...

and

South Western Railway zone The South Western Railway (SWR) is one of the 19 Indian Railways, railway zones of Indian Railways, headquartered at Hubballi in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Karnataka. SWR was created from carving out the routes ...

— and

Konkan Railway Corporation Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) is an Indian public sector undertaking which operates Konkan Railway and also undertakes other railway-related projects. It is wholly-owned by the Government of India under the administrative control of ...

History

In the year 1878, an agreement was signed between the West of India Portuguese Guaranteed Railway Company (WIPR) and Portuguese Government of

Portuguese India The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

for construction of Harbour and connected Railway but the railway work started only in 1882. In December 1887, The total length of existing meter gauge railway track in the Goan Territory of 43 km between

Mormugao Mormugao is a coastal town situated in the eponymous subdistrict of Southern Goa state, India. It has a deep natural harbour and remains Goa's chief port. Towards the end of the Indo-Portuguese era in 1917, thirty-one settlements were c ...

- Sanvordem via

was inaugurated. In 1888, Mormugao was connected with Southern Maharatta Railway at Caranzol- Castle Rock junction In 1902, with the

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

line on the verge of bankruptcy, the company leased the railway to the

Southern Mahratta Railway Southern Mahratta Railway (SMR) was a railway company in British India founded in 1882. History Captain Charles Cooper Johnson, officiating as constructing engineer of railways in 1858, forwarded the proposal for a railway to be constructed an ...

, which continued to manage railway until 1955."A Portuguese-British deal," ''New York Times'', 16 October 1902, p1 With

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, the WIPR's operation passed to

and, in 1951, to the Southern Railway. From 1955 to 1961, the lines within the Portuguese enclave of Goa reverted to Portuguese control. An autonomous body named ''Junta Autónoma dos Portos e Caminhos de Ferro do Estado da Índia'' ("Autonomous Board of the Ports and Railways of the State of India") constituted by the Portuguese Government took over the administration of the Port and Railway on 1 April 1961 from Western India Portuguese Railway on the termination of the contract. However, in 1962 upon the annexation of Goa on 19 December 1961, administration of the Port and its connected railway was taken over by the Government of India on 8 January 1962. In 1963, the line was again taken over by

and came under Southern Railway. The main Railway section from Vasco da Gama to the border of Goa was transferred to Southern Railway on 1 May 1963, thus delinking the port from the Railway management. On 19 July 1990, all railways in the

Konkan Region The Konkan is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, bound by the river Daman Ganga at Damaon in the north, to Anjediva Island next to Karwar town in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the east. ...

(including all sections of the state of Goa), which were managed by the

, came under the operational control of the

. Meanwhile, the inland sections of the states of

and

remained under the management of the

company — through its operating subsidiaries South Central Railway zone and South Western Railway zone. In 1996-1997 the

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Konkan Railway line from Roha to Thokur is operated and maintained by Konkan Railway co ...

was connected with the Mormugao Railway, in a contiguous stretch of approximately 15 km between

Margao Margao (, ) is the commercial capital of the Indian state of Goa. It stands on the banks of the river Sal. It is the district headquarters of South Goa, and administrative headquarters of Salcete sub-district. It is Goa's second largest ci ...

and Vasco da Gama. In 1998, the complete overhaul of the railway was completed, replacing the metric gauge (1.000 mm) with the

Indian gauge (), also known as the Indian gauge is a broad track gauge, used in India, Pakistan, western Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Chile, and on BART (San Francisco Bay Area). In North America, it is called Indian, Provincial, Portland, or Texas ga ...

(1.676 mm).

Main stations

The main railway stations of the Mormugao Railway are: * Port of Mormugao (MRH) *

(VSG) *

(MAO) * Kulem (QLM) * Castle Rock (CLR) * Londa (LD) *

Alnavar Alnavar is a panchayat town and taluk in the Dharwad district in Karnataka, India.Alnavar is known for its wood factory, wood and furniture. It has a railway junction which comes under south western railway lines of India. Some of the places to ...

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged ...

(DWL) *

Hubli Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of ...

(UBL) * Gadag-Betigeri (GDG) *

Hosapete Hospet (officially Hosapete) is the largest and fastest-growing industrial city and district headquarters of the Vijayanagara district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Hospet is known as "the steel city of Karnataka". It is located on the bank ...

(HPT) *

Bellary Ballari (formerly Bellary) is a city in the Ballari district in state of Karnataka, India. Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of South Ind ...

(BAY) *

(GTL)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guntakal - Vasco da Gama section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Karnataka Rail transport in Goa Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh Transport in Guntakal Transport in Vasco da Gama, Goa