The Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line officially known as Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line is a railway line connecting
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
and
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
via
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the admin ...
. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1870. This railway line was until 2004. In 2004 the construction of
Indira Sagar Dam
The Indira Sagar Dam is the largest dam in India, in terms of volume of water stored in the reservoir. It is located on the Narmada River at the town of Narmada Nagar, Punasa in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh in India. The foundation s ...
submerged the old alignment near
Khandwa
Khandwa is a city and a nagar nigam in the Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Khandwa district, formerly known as East Nimar District.
Khandwa is a major railway junction; the Malwa line co ...
& a new alignment of was relaid.
Sections
For more detailed study the cross-country line has been divided into smaller sections:
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Howrah–Bardhaman chord
The Howrah–Bardhaman chord is a broad-gauge rail line connecting Howrah and Bardhaman. The railway line operates in Howrah, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman districts in the state of West Bengal. It is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line, ...
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Grand Chord
Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur, (Asansol), (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh, previously known as Mughalsarai J ...
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Bardhaman–Asansol section
The Bardhaman–Asansol section is a railway line connecting and . This track is part of the Howrah–Delhi main line, Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. It is under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway, and is co ...
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Asansol–Gaya section
The Asansol–Gaya section is a railway line connecting and Gaya in India. This track is part of the Grand Chord, Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. This section includes the NSC Bose Gomoh–Barkakana line. It ...
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Gaya–Mughalsarai section
The Gaya–Mughalsarai section is a railway line connecting Gaya and Mughalsarai. This track is part of the Grand Chord, Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. This section includes Arrah-Sasaram and Son Nagar branch l ...
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Mughalsarai–Allahabad section
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Allahabad–Jabalpur section
The Allahabad–Jabalpur section is a railway line connecting Allahabad and Jabalpur. This track is part of the Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. The main line is under the jurisdiction of North Central Railway and West Central Railway
Histo ...
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Jabalpur–Bhusaval section
The Jabalpur–Bhusaval section is a railway line connecting Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh and , Maharashtra. This track is part of the Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line, one of the busiest railways in India. The line is under the jurisdiction of ...
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Bhusawal–Kalyan section
The Bhusawal–Kalyan section is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. It connects Bhusawal and Kalyan both in the Indian state of Maharashtra. One of the branch lines, Jalgaon–Surat line, runs part ...
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Kalyan–Mumbai CST section
History
The first train in India traveled from Bombay to
Thane
Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talu ...
on 16 April 1853. By May 1854,
Great Indian Peninsula Railway
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...
's Bombay–Thane line was extended to
Kalyan
Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district. K ...
. It was extended to
Khopoli
Khopoli (also known as Campoolie) is an industrial city in the Khalapur taluka of Raigad district, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, at the base of the Sahyadri mountains. Patalganga River, which is the tailrace channel of the Tata Hydroele ...
via Palasdhari in 1855. station was set up in 1860 and
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
connected in 1863. In Eastern India, construction of the
Howrah–Delhi main line
The Howrah–Delhi main line is a railway line connecting Delhi and Kolkata cutting across northern India. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1866 with the introduction of the "1 Down/2 Up Mail" train.
Sections
The long trunk line, ha ...
was completed and through connection between Delhi and Kolkata was established in 1865. The last link was the bridge across the
Yamuna
The Yamuna (Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Ba ...
at
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the admin ...
. In 1866 Bhusawal-Khandwa section was opened and GIPR also extended its operations to
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
.
East Indian Railway
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Baro ...
, which had established the Howrah–Allahabad–Delhi line, opened the Allahabad–
Jabalpur
Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...
branch line in June 1867. GIPR connection over the Thull Ghat reached Jabalpur from
Itarsi
Itarsi is a city and municipality in Madhya Pradesh, India in Narmadapuram District. Itarsi is a key hub for agricultural goods and is the biggest railway junction in Madhya Pradesh. Rail services from all 4 major metropolitan cities of India ...
on 7 March 1870, linking up with EIR track there from Allahabad, and establishing connectivity between Mumbai and Kolkata.
The
Bengal Nagpur Railway
The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway.
History
The opening of the ...
was formed in 1887 for the purpose of upgrading the
Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway
Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway was a line owned by the provincial government and operated by the state railways. The line ran from Nagpur via Tumsar - Gondia and Dongargarh to Rajnandgaon. The initial section from Nagpur to Tumsar was opened on 6 J ...
and then extending it via
Bilaspur to
Asansol
Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Ba ...
, in order to develop a shorter Howrah–Mumbai route than the one via Allahabad. The Bengal Nagpur Railway main line from Nagpur to Asansol, on the
Howrah–Delhi main line
The Howrah–Delhi main line is a railway line connecting Delhi and Kolkata cutting across northern India. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1866 with the introduction of the "1 Down/2 Up Mail" train.
Sections
The long trunk line, ha ...
, was opened for goods traffic on 1 February 1891. It was only after
Kharagpur
Kharagpur () is a planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision. It is the largest, most populated, multicultural and cosmopol ...
was linked from the west and the south that it was connected to Howrah in 1900.
The opening of this track was part of the inspiration for the French writer
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...
's book ''
Around the World in Eighty Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
''. At the opening ceremony, the Viceroy
Lord Mayo
Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, (; ; 21 February 1822 – 8 February 1872) styled Lord Naas (; ) from 1842 to 1867 and Lord Mayo in India, was a British statesman and prominent member of the British Conservative Party who serve ...
concluded that "it was thought desirable that, if possible, at the earliest possible moment, the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system."
Electrification
In August 1976, the New Delhi–Howrah route (via
Grand Chord
Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur, (Asansol), (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh, previously known as Mughalsarai J ...
), and that includes the Howrah–Allahabad section of the Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line, was the first trunk route in the country to be completely electrified with AC traction. Electrification of Itarsi - Jabalpur - Allahabad was proposed in Railway Budget of 2011. The entire route was divided into sections and electrification was completed in parts. In March 2020, electrification of last remaining stretch betweek Katni Jn. and Satna was also done, thereby the Howrah Allahabad Mumbai route became completely electrified.
Speed limits
Most of the
Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line
The Howrah–Gaya–Delhi is a railway line connecting and Delhi Junction railway station, Delhi cutting across Indo-Gangetic Plain and a comparatively small stretch of the line crossing over the Chota Nagpur Plateau. It covers a distance of ...
and
Howrah–Bardhaman chord
The Howrah–Bardhaman chord is a broad-gauge rail line connecting Howrah and Bardhaman. The railway line operates in Howrah, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman districts in the state of West Bengal. It is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line, ...
(the line is common with this line up to Allahabad) is classified as 'A' class line where trains can run up to but in certain sections speeds may be limited to . The line from Bhusawal to Mumbai is also classified as 'A' class. The Allahabad–Bhusawal sector is classified as 'B' class where trains can run up to 130 km/h.
Calcutta Mail
The ''
Imperial Indian Mail
The Imperial Indian Mail was a steam locomotive running from Bombay to Calcutta. The train was a part of a maritime rail system that carried mail and passengers from London to Calcutta (and on to Rangoon) by a mix of ships and trains. Passenger ...
'' (now called 12321 up /12322 down Howrah–Mumbai Mail via Jabalpur), running on this route, was possibly the first
named train of Indian Railways. The Mumbai–Howrah Mail via Allahabad is called ''Calcutta Mail'' between Mumbai and Allahabad, and ''Mumbai Mail'' (some still call it by its old name, ''Bombay Mail'') between Allahabad(Now Prayagraj) and Howrah. It is still running for 151 years as the oldest active train on this route covering distance in 37 hours & 30 mins with an average running speed of .
Inspiration for writing
The Kolkata–Mumbai linkage, along with other events, inspired the French writer
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...
to write his book
Around the World in Eighty Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line
5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India
Rail transport in West Bengal
Rail transport in Jharkhand
Rail transport in Bihar
Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh
Rail transport in Madhya Pradesh
Rail transport in Maharashtra
Railway lines opened in 1870