Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway


The Jodhpur–Bikaner Railway was a metre gauge railway, jointly owned and operated by the Jodhpur State and Bikaner State until 1924 when the system was split between the newly formed Jodhpur State Railway and Bikaner State Railway.

History

The JBR had its beginnings as the Jodhpur Railway with the decision by Maharaja Jaswant Singh, to build a railway line from Bitoora to his capital city Jodhpur. Douglas Joscelyne, a British executive engineer, was posted from the Public Works Department to Rajputana for this work. The construction on metre gauge Bitoora–Pali section was commenced on 16 February 1881 and was completed on 28 February 1882. Bitoora became known as Marwar Junction with a connection to Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway Rajputana Section between Ajmer and Palanpur that had opened in 1881.
Walter Home, who succeeded Joscelyne in April 1882, was deployed from the Public Works Department Railways Branch and appointed as Manager for the construction of the Jodhpur Railway and also in-charge of the Marwar State Public Works Department. He built the Jodhpur Railway over the ensuing 25 years. The first section of Jodhpur Railway from Marwar Junction to Pali was opened for traffic in 1882, extended Luni 1884 and reached Jodhpur in 1885 railways.
In 1887, a proposal was put forward for linking up Jodhpur with other important towns of the State like Nagaur and Makrana and with a possible rail link to Bikaner. Both of these were given due consideration in forming the expansion proposals of Jodhpur Railway. The outcome were agreements dated 13 and 30 July 1889, between the British Government, Maharaja of Jodhpur and Maharaja of Bikaner for the construction of a railway from Jodhpur to Bikaner. This agreement of 1889 was unique, in that, it was first of its kind in which two native rulers decided to co-operate and invest in an enterprise for the benefit of both and public at large. The title of Jodhpur Railway was then changed to Jodhpur Bikaner Railway . Walter Home, now the manager of JBR was promoted and placed in the list of superintending engineers.
In 1891, rapid progress was made in constructing the railway from Jodhpur to Bikaner, later extended to Bhatinda where the JBR connected with the metre gauge section of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, and the Broad Gauge North Western and the Southern Punjab Railways. By 1906 the JBR was having operations over 828 miles in the territories of Sind and in territories of the States of Jodhpur and Bikaner. In October 1906, Walter Home resigned. In 1924, the JBR was split into its two constituent parts, with two new systems, the Jodhpur and Bikaner State Railways, formed to work the lines.

Network

Jodhpur Section — 1918 grand total, 687 miles.
Bikaner Section — 1918 grand total, 630 miles.
Other lines
Jodhpur–Hyderabad Railway MG, 1918 grand total, 124 miles.
Mirpur Khas–Jhudo Railway, MG, 50 miles. Owned, managed and maintained by JBR, worked as part of the JBR network
Mirpur Khas–Khadro Railway, MG, 49 miles. Owned, managed and maintained by JBR, worked as part of the JBR network.
Pipar Road–Ravi Light Railway, 2 ft/610mm narrow gauge, 25 miles. Constructed as a steam tramway and initially worked by Jodhpur Durbar, taken over by JBR
The network was converted to wide broad gauge progressively in 2000s and 2010s.