Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway

Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railway
Locale	Uttar Pradesh
Termini	Old Delhi Saharanpur
Service
Operator(s)	Northern Railway
History
Opened	Narrow gauge: 1907; Broad gauge: Late 1970s
Technical
Track length	165 km (103 mi)
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge

Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line Martin's Light Railways
165 Saharanpur on Moradabad–Ambala line 158 Tapri to Delhi–Meerut–Saharanpur line State Highway 57 147 Manani 142 Bhankala (Halt) State Highway 57 137 Rampur Maniharan Rampur-Badgaon-Deoband Road 132 Sona Arjunpur State Highway 57 129 Nanauta 113 Thana Bhawan 108 Hahar Fatehpur 105 Heend 101 Silawar State Highway 12 94 Shamli 89 Gujran Balwa 86 Khandrawali 80 Kandhla 75 Ailam 72 Asra (Halt) 68 Bhudpur 64 Qasimpur Kheri 60 Baoli 55 Baraut 52 Barka 48 Alwalpur 45 Sujra 39 Baghpat Road State Highway 14 36 Ahera (Halt) 33 Sanhera (Halt) 29 Khekra 26 Fakharpur (Halt) 23 Gotra (Halt) 18 Nursatbad Kharkhar 15 Noli 12 Behta Hazipur (Halt) Uttar Pradesh Delhi Grand Trunk Road to Delhi–Kalka line to Delhi–Fazilka line 0 Delhi 6 Delhi Shahdara / Yamuna 8 Vivek Vihar Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border 5 Sahibabad 12 Ghaziabad 23 New Delhi 24 Shivaji Bridge 26 Tilak Bridge Chander Nagar 28 Pragati Maidan Yamuna Anand Vihar Terminal 30 Hazrat Nizamuddin NH 2 to Delhi–Meerut–Saharanpur line to Delhi–Moradabad line to Agra Chord to Kanpur–Delhi section

The Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line is a railway line connecting Old Delhi and Saharanpur the latter in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The line is under the administrative jurisdiction of Northern Railway. This 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) wide broad gauge line was earlier a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) wide narrow gauge line.

Shamli now expanding at a very fast rate was declared a district by U.P. Govt. Seeing the expansion of the city the Railway Ministry has decided to make a double line on the Delhi-Shamli-Saharanpur track so that the city could be connected with major cities all over India. Currently Ajmer-Shamli-Haridwar train connects Shamli to the holy city of Haridwar and the rajasthani city Ajmer. A track near the line is used by the people for morning and evening walk as it is a wonderful atmosphere to jog. The Sugar Mill of the city increases its value as all the sugarcane of nearby villages comes here.

History

The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) wide narrow gauge Shahdara-Saharanpur Light Railway, was opened to traffic in 1907. It linked Shahdara, a suburb in north-eastern Delhi, with Saharanpur. It was owned by Martin's Light Railways.

After the closure of the light railway in 1970 there was a lot of debate about the future course of action. The proposal for revival as a broad gauge line was strongly backed by Ram Chandra Vikal to Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India in 1970, whose constituency Baghpat was on this line.And finally it was later reopened in the 1973 after conversion to broad gauge by Northern Railway.

"Although the broad gauge largely follows the same trackbed and alignment as the erstwhile narrow gauge, there is a minor deviation near Saharanpur. The broad gauge line takes off south towards Delhi from Tapri on the main line, while the narrow gauge line did not touch Tapri at all. Other than that, the stations are the same as before."

External links

• Trains at Shamli