:Western Railway has decided not to stop the service of three trains permanently parked in Gujarat, including the 107-year-old narrow gauge heritage train between Vaghai and Bilimora. The other two narrow gauge trains run between Miyagam, Choranda, Malsar and Choranda Junction and Moti Karal. In railway transportation, the track gauge is the spacing of the rails on the railway track.
Highlights:
♦ Waghai-Billimora Train began in 1913 as a remnant of the Gaekwad dynasty and ruled the princely state of Baroda. Tribal people from interior take this train regularly. The train covers a distance of 63 kilometres.
♦ At the instance of Gaekwad rulers, Britain has laid railways and is operated by the Gaekwad Baroda State Railway (GBSR) owned by Sayajirao Gaekwad III.
♦ Gaekwad’s jurisdiction spans Saurashtra, Mehsana in the north of Gujarat, and Bilimora in the south of Gujarat.
♦ The founder of the dynasty is Damaji I, who came to power in 1740. The last Gaekwar, Sayaji Rao III died in 1939.
♦ For about 24 years, trains were driven by steam engines and were replaced by diesel engines in 1937.
♦ In 1994, the original steam engine was exhibited at the Churchgate Heritage Gallery in Mumbai.
♦ This was as early as 1951, when Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway, the Saurashtra, Rajputana and Jaipur state Railways were merged before the Western Railway was established.
♦ The 63-kilometre-long Billimora-Vaghai and the 19-kilometre-long Choranda-Moti Karal route are among the five routes proposed by the Indian Railways in 2018 to be retained as “industrial heritage”.
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