Shakuntala Railway was a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway line that ran between

Achalpur Achalpur (), formerly known as Ellichpur and Illychpur, is a city and a municipal council in Amravati District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the second most populous city in Amravati District after Amravati and seventh most populous ...

and

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the st ...

via Murtizapur. It is to be converted to 1676 mm Broad gauge. It was originally called –– railway, before it was renamed after Shakuntala Deshmukh

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Jadhav, who was wife of

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

(Indian independence activist) Balwantrao Deshmukh.

History

Killick, Nixon and Company, set up in 1857, created the ''Central Provinces Railway Company (CPRC)'' to act as its agents. The company built the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge line in 1903. The company built this narrow-gauge line in 1903 to carry cotton from cotton-rich interior areas of

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the west Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Forming the eastern part of the state, it comprises Amravati Division, Amrav ...

to the Murtizapur Junction on main broad gauge line to Mumbai from where it was shipped to Manchester in England. Murtizapur Junction was the focal point of this railway. In 1920 line from

Darwha Darwha is a town and a municipal council in Yavatmal district in the state of Maharashtra, India. History Locals believe Rango Bapuji Gupte, a freedom fighter had lived incognito in the town. The town is also famous for 'Golibar Chowk', squa ...

- Pusad was dismantled. Though, working autonomously, the CPRC was grouped in 1952 under the Central Railways. A ZD-steam engine, built in 1921 in Manchester, pulled the train for more than 70 long years after being put in service in 1923. It was withdrawn on 15 April 1994, and replaced by a diesel engine. In 1944, Shakuntala Jadhav married a Daryapur landlord, Balawantrao Deshmukh, who was also a

. Deshmukh family took the newlyweds home by boarding this train. A British railway officer offered them the first-class coach for travel as they were newlyweds. It was a dream come true for Shakuntala, the bride, and years later she narrated this experience to Sudam Deshmukh, an MP, who took efforts to get the railway renamed to Shakuntala Railway.

Conversion to broad gauge

In 2016,

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 ...

announced that the Shakuntala Railway would be converted to

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 , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

.Government to take over Shakuntala, only private railway line, convert to broad gauge
/ref> The conversion to broad gauge started in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakuntala Railway Vidarbha 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Defunct railway companies of India *

History

Conversion to broad gauge

See also

References