Bikaner State Railway


The Bikaner State Railway was formed in 1924 and took over responsibility for working the Bikaner section of the Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway.

History

Earlier named the Jodhpur Railway the first section opened as a metre gauge line in 1882, later becoming the Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway in 1889. In 1908 the JBR operated 828 miles in the territories of Sind and in territories of the States of Jodhpur and Bikaner. By 1918 the ‘JBR System’ had expanded to 1355 miles; which comprised 1106 miles plus a further 249 miles which JBR was working and operating under agreements with other railways.. A further 210 miles were sanctioned or under construction by JBR in 1918.
In 1924, the JBR was divided into its two constituent parts, with two new systems, the Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway formed to take over responsibility for working the railway.. The exact mileage of BSR comprising the "Bikaner Section" of JBR is not known but in 1918 it was 630 miles. In 1936-37 the route mileage for the BSR had expanded to 796 miles of metre gauge lines. By 1943 the BSR was operating a network of 883 miles
In 1947, the British section of the Jodhpur-Hyderabad Railway and the western portions of Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway was ceded to the government of Pakistan becoming part of Pakistan Railways. The remaining portions of the Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway became part of the Northern Division of Indian Railways in 1952

Conversion to broad gauge

The network was converted to wide broad gauge progressively in 2000s and 2010s.