Western Railway (India)
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- Western Railway redirects here. For other railroads that have been called by that name, see Western Railroad.
The Western Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railroad networks in India. There are primary two railroad lines: Route A from New Delhi to Mumbai via Agra, Ratlam and Dahod and Route B from Nizamuddin Aulia (New Delhi) to Mumbai Central through the west indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Major cities in Western Railway Route A include Mumbai Central, Valsad, Surat, Vadodara (Baroda), Godhra, Ratlam, Agra, and Mathura.
Route B includes Mumbai Central, Valsad, Surat, Vadodara, Nadiad, Ahmedabad, Palanpaur, Abu, Ajmer, Jaipur, and Nizamuddin Aulia (New Delhi).
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History
The Western Railway was created on November 5 1951 by the merger of several state-owned railways, including the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI), and the Saurashtra, Rajputana and Jaipur railways. The BB&CI Railway was itself inaugurated in 1855, starting with the construction of a 29 mile (47 km) broad gauge track from Ankleshwar to Utran in Gujarat state on the west coast. In 1864, the railway was extended to Mumbai.
Subsequently, the project was further extended beyond Baroda in a north easterly direction towards Godhra, Ratlam, Nagda and thereafter northwards towards Mathura, to eventually link with the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, now the Central Railway, which had already started operating in Mumbai in 1853. In 1883, a meter gauge railway system, initially linking Delhi with Agra, Jaipur and Ajmer, was established.
The first suburban service in Mumbai with steam traction was introduced in April 1867. It was extended to Churchgate in 1870. By 1900 45 trains in each direction were carrying over one million passengers annually.
The railways of several princely states were also integrated into the Western Railway. The Gaekwar Maharajas of Baroda built the Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway (GBSR), which was merged into the BB&CI in 1949. Several railways of western Gujarat, including the Bhavnagar, Kathiawar, Jamnagar & Dwarka, Gondal, and Morvi railways were merged into the Saurashtra Railway in 1948. The Jodhpur and Bikaner Railway was taken over by Rajasthan state in 1949, after the western portion was ceded to the government of Pakistan.
In 2002 the Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of the Western Railway became part of the newly-created North Western Railway, and in April 2003 the Kota division of the Western Railway became part of the newly-created West Central Railway.
Present
Western Railway serves entire Gujarat, a large part of Rajasthan, some portion of Madhya Pradesh and small parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Western coast of India served by Western Railway has a number of ports, important among them being Kandla, Okha, Porbandar and Bhavnagar in Gujarat State.
The suburban section of western railway in Mumbai extends from Churchgate, the city's business and residential centre, to Virar covering a distance of 60 km and 28 stations. Recently the section has been added to Dahnu Road adding 10 more stations and 60 km. The first electric train on this section was introduced in 1928 between Churchgate and Borivali.
The gauge-wise kilometrage of Western Railways at present, is as under:
| Gauge | Length |
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| Broad Gauge | 4,305 km |
| Metre Gauge | 4,838 km |
| Narrow Gauge | 877 km |
| Total | 10,020 km |
It is the most electrified railroad system in the Indian Railways making it the most important railroad in India.
The Western Railway has its headquarters at Mumbai. It also runs the Western Line of the Mumbai suburban railway system. The railway has six operating divisions: Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Ratlam, Rajkot, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad.
The Matheran Line
Constructed in 1907, The narrow gauge Matheran line connects Neral on the Mumbai-Pune main line with the hill station of Matheran in the Western Ghats, east of Mumbai. Neral is linked to Bombay's famous Victoria Terminus by frequent suburban electric trains. The steam engines have now been replaced by diesel locomotives but it is still a pleasurable journey. The route is noted for its sharp curves.