 | |
 11-North Western Railway | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Jaipur |
| Locale | Rajasthan |
| Dates of operation | 2002; 23 years ago (2002)– |
| Predecessor | Northern Railway zone Western Railway zone |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | Mixed |
| Other | |
| Website | NWR official website |
TheNorth Western Railway (abbreviatedNWR) is one of 19railway zones in India. It is headquartered atJaipur.[1] It has a route length of more than 5,761 kilometres (3,580 mi) across the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana. NWR operates international rail serviceThar Express from Jodhpur to Karachi. This zone is the key enabler of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project by virtue of running railways 1,500 km longWestern Dedicated Freight Corridor.
In 1882, a1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)-widemetre-gauge line from Marwar Junction to Pali was built by the Rajputana Railway. It was extended to Luni in 1884 and Jodhpur on 9 March 1886. New Jodhpur Railway was later combined with Bikaner Railway to form Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway in 1890, when theBikaner Princely State andJodhpur Princely State started constructing theJodhpur–Bikaner Railway within theRajputana Agency. In 1892, the1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)-widemetre gauge Jodhpur–Bikaner line was commissioned under theRajputana–Malwa Railway, Jodhpur–Merta Road section was commissioned on 7 April, the Merta Road-Nagaur section on 15 October, and the Nagaur-Bikaner section on 8 December. In 1901,Jodhpur–Bikaner line combined with Jodhpur–Hyderabad Railway, some part of this railway is in Pakistan, leading to connection with Hyderabad of Sindh Province. In 1902–03, the Jodhpur–Bikaner line was extended toBathinda in 1902–03 to connect it with the metre-gauge section of theBombay, Baroda and Central India Railway and the metre gauge of North Western RailwayDelhi–Fazilka line via Hanumangarh.[2] In 1925, the combined entity Jodhpur and Bikaner Railways was split to function as two independent Railway companies. After Independence, a part of Jodhpur Railway went to West Pakistan.[2][3] In 1926, the workshop at Bikaner (Lalgarh) was set up to carry out periodic overhauling of metre gauge coaches and wagons.[4][5] In 1952, on 6 November theJodhpur–Bikaner line was merged with theWestern Railway.[6] Sometime around or prior to 1992, the construction work for the conversion from metre gauge to1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)-wide5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge of the Jodhpur–Bikaner line, along with the link to Phulera, were started,[7] and it was already functioning as broad gauge Jodhpur–Merta City–Bikaner–Bathinda line by 2008.[8] In 2002, on 1 October the North Western Railway zone came into existence.[9] In 2012, the Bikaner Heritage Rail Museum was opened at Bikaner to displays items related to the Jodhpur and Bikaner Railway.[10]
In 1884, TheRajputana–Malwa Railway extended the1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)-wide metre-gaugeDelhi–Rewari section ofDelhi–Fazilka line to Bathinda,[11][12][unreliable source?] which was The Southern Punjab Railway Co. opened the Delhi–Bathinda–Samasatta line in 1897.[13] The line passed through Muktasar and Fazilka tehsils and provided direct connection throughSamma Satta (now in Pakistan) to Karachi.[14]
On 18 February 2006,Thar Express, an Indian non-stop internationalpassenger train operated weekly byIndian Railways using its own coaches and locomotives, betweenJodhpur in India andKarachi in Pakistan.[15][16]
Earlier, Sindh Mail train operated on this route from 1900 to 1965 when the track was bombed out by the Pakistan Air Force inIndo-Pakistani War of 1965. Thar Link Express was run started after 41 years in 2006 based on the earlier rail communication agreement. The rail communication agreement was signed by India and Pakistan in 1976, to ease the soured relations after theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971 for the successfulliberation of Bangladesh byIndian Army. The rail communication agreement is renewable every three years, and currently it is valid until January 2019.[17][18]
In the 1990s, theDelhi–Jaipur line andJaipur–Ahmedabad line were converted tobroad gauge (BG). In 2007, the line going towardRatlam Junction from Phulera to Chittaurgarh was converted to BG.
Between 2008 and 2011, the Bikaner–Rewari line was converted to broad gauge.[19]
In 2009, the metre-gauge Hisar–Sadulpur section was converted to broad gauge.[19][20]
By December 2017, railways for the first time installed 6,095GPS-enabled "Fog Pilot Assistance System"railway signalling devices in four most affected zones,Northern Railway zone,North Central Railway zone,North Eastern Railway zone and North Western Railway zone, by doing away with the old practice of putting firecrackers on train tracks to alter train divers running trains on snail's pace. With these devices, train pilots precisely know in advance, about the location of signals, level-crossing gates and other such approaching markers.[21]
This zone was formed on 1 October 2002, comprising four divisions:Jodhpur and reorganizedBikaner division of the erstwhileNorthern Railway zone, and reorganizedJaipur andAjmer divisions of the erstwhileWestern Railway zone.
TheAjmer railway division, founded on 5 November 1951, has ~9,050 employees handling 48 passenger trains across 141 stations (15 main stations with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the elongated elliptical shaped loop railway network inMarwar region central Rajasthan, from Pushkar to Palanpur via Marwar, and from Palanpur back to Pushkar viaChittorgarh. The main goods traffic are the export of cement fromAjmer district, and rock phosphate and soapstone powder fromUdaipur district. The passenger segment handles traffic on the prominent religious and tourist circuit ofAjmer Sharif Dargah,Pushkar,Dilwara Jain Temples atMount Abu andRanakpur Jain temple.
TheBikaner railway division, founded in 1924, has ~12,000 employees handling 142 trains across 198 stations (14 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the eastern Rajasthan, western and southern triangular half ofHaryana (railway line network fromRewari–Bhiwani toHisar,Sirsa andDabwali,Rohtak toHansi–Hisar), and a very small corner of south westPunjab (Sirsa toBhatinda). The quantum of traffic is equally split between goods and passenger segment, with food grains, china clay and gypsum being the main outbound goods traffic.
TheJaipur railway division was formed after merging parts ofBombay, Baroda and Central India Railway,Jaipur State Railway andRajputana–Malwa Railway. It has ~10,250 employees handling 146 trains across 128 stations (14 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), covering the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. a very small corner of south westPunjab (Sirsa toBathinda). 85% of the income is from the passenger traffic. It forms a logistics hub for the cross traffic ofWestern Dedicated Freight Corridor, carrying fertilizer, cement, oil, salt, food grains, oil seeds, limestone and gypsum traffic, with bulk container loading facilities.
TheJodhpur railway division, with origin going back to 1882, was founded on 5 November 1951. It has ~14,000 employees handling 92 trains across 144 stations (15 with Computerized Passenger Reservation System), It covers Jodhpur, Pali Marwar, Nagaur, Jalore, Barmer, Jaisalmer districts in Rajasthan and certain districts of Gujarat state. The main goods export traffic consists of limestone, salt and gypsum.
For the employees and their families, the zone also has the following healthcare facilities:
This railway zone has a total of 578 stations, covering a total of 5,449.29 kilometres (3,386.03 mi) route kilometers out of which 2,575.03 kilometres (1,600.05 mi) arebroad gauge and 2,874.23 kilometres (1,785.96 mi) aremetre gauge (c. 2009), and 7,329.80 kilometres (4,554.53 mi) track kilometers out of6,696.36 kilometres (4,160.93 mi) are broad gauge and 733.44 kilometres (455.74 mi) are metre gauge (c. 2009).
The zone has the followingtypes of locomotive engines:(Legends: W – broad gauge, D – diesel, G – goods, M – mixed, P – passenger)
Some of the major trains operated by North Western Railways are as follows:
| Number | Train name | Starting station | Terminating station |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12977/12978 | Marusagar Express | Ajmer | Ernakulam |
| 14854/14864/14866 | Marudhar Express (via Faizabad) | Jodhpur | Varanasi |
| 19667/19668 | Udaipur City–Mysuru Palace Queen Humsafar Express | Udaipur | Mysuru |
| 22985/22986 | Udaipur City–Delhi Sarai Rohilla Rajasthan Humsafar Express | Udaipur | Delhi Sarai Rohilla |
| 12963/12964 | Hazrat Nizamuddin–Udaipur City Mewar Superfast Express | Udaipur | Hazarat Nizamuddin |
The zone has the following training institutes:
