COMMUNICATIONS

RAILWAYS.

Until 1908, Chandrapur district had only one section of railway measuring 17 miles in length. It was the branch of the then Great Indian Peninsula Railway which connected Wardha and Warora in the extreme north-west corner of the district. This Wardha-Warora line was opened in 1877 mainly with a view to affording an outlet to the coal of the Warora State Colliery. It was first worked by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, but during the period between 1879 and 1891 it was under the direct control of the then Government. During those twelve years the broad gauge line was known as the State Coal Railway. In 1891 it was once more handed over to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company. Nagri and Warora were the only two stations on its course within the district. Warora then was the terminus of the line and controlled the whole traffic of the khalsa area. However, later on the Warora terminus lost this commanding position with the exhaustion of the Warora Colliery. It was then decided to sink a shaft at Ballalpur as an alternative source for the supply of coal. This necessitated the extension of the railway up to Ballalpur via Chandrapur. This extension commenced towards the end of 1904 and was completed at the beginning of 1908 at a total cost of Rs. 39 lakhs. Its length is 63 km. (39 miles). There were four stations viz. Bhandak, Tadali, Chandrapur and Ballarshah (Ballarpur). Erai river was the principal obstacle on this line and it was negotiated by a bridge of eight spans of 30.480 m (100 feet) each. It was also then contemplated to link up this line with that from Bombay to Madras. Accordingly a line was also surveyed to Warangal passing through Ahiri and Sironcha. Later on this project was discarded. Apart from its prime object of serving the Ballalpur Colliery, the extension of the line from Warora to Ballalpur helped to a great extent in bringing large tracts of the country suitable for the growth of cotton within easy reach of the rail.

Thus, the railway communication in the district was initially started mainly to facilitate the transport of coal. However it cannot be denied that Chandrapur was then linked up with other important cities, like Bombay, Nagpur and Calcutta. Thus Bombay is 878 km. away, while Howrah via Wardra is 1,328 km. distant from Chandrapur. Later on, this route derived its importance due to the Grand Trunk Route which connects Delhi to Madras via Chandrapur. The various business activities, educational institutions, etc., which prospered in the mean-time also helped in increasing the importance of the railway lines in the district.

In 1952 the different railway lines passing through the district along with those outside the district were regrouped. Accordingly the Great Indian Peninsula Railway line up to Kazipet came to be called as Central Railway and the Bengal-Nagpur line was named South Eastern Railway. The railway line after Kazipet was then known as Southern Railway. However from the administrative view point these two zones, viz., Central Rail-way and Southern Railway were very unwieldy. As such, a new zone, viz., South Central Railway with its headquarters at Secunderabad was opened on 2nd October 1966 by taking some portions from both the zones, Central Railway and Southern Railway. According to this new arrangement the route up to Ballarshah is under the Central Railway and from thence on-ward under the South Central Railway. The length of the broad gauge line from Chandrapur to Kazipet is 249 km. There are 23 stations on this line. The length of the Central Railway line in the district as enveloped by Nagri and Makudi stations comes to 124 km. On this line there are 13 stations of which Majri and Tadali are junctions.

Besides, there are three other railway routes in the district. Of these. Majri-Rajura and Tadali-Ghugus are broad gauge lines which take off from the Central Railway line at those respective stations. Both the lines are included in the Central Railway Zone. The Majri-Rajura line starts from the Majri station of the Central Railway line and goes up to Rajura in Yeotmal district. Its total length is 21 km. Majri Khadan, Wani and Rajura are the only three stations on this line. Of these, Majri Khadan is in Chandrapur district. Another short line, viz., Tadali-Ghugus lies in Chandrapur district alone. Its total length is 15 km. and there is no station in between Tadali and Ghugus.

The third line on the narrow guage (2'-6") was formerly known as Bengal-Nagpur Railway. In 1909 the sections between Chandrapur and Gondia were constructed between 1908 and 1916. The approximate cost of the same was then estimated at 120 lakhs of rupees. This line passes through the rice producing areas in Chandrapur and Brahmapuri tahsils. Its purpose then contemplated can be best understood from the below mentioned quotation from the old Gazetteer of the district.

" As a means of facilitating the administration of the Brahmapuri and Garhchiroli tahsils, the importance of this line cannot be over-estimated, while its existence will solve the problem of getting grain into the interior of these tahsils in times of famine and prevent a recurrence of the enormous difficulties of transport which were the most serious obstacle to famine administration in 1900. It will also bring the backward Garhchiroli zamindaris within hail of civilisation, and encourage the influx of tenants into a quarter where population is sadly deficient. But it will carry away little agricultural produce save rice, since the bulk of the trade in this with the exception of rice will always be with Bombay and merchants will as a rule prefer to put their cotton and oil-seeds on the rival railway. "

After regrouping of the railways the railway line is known as South Eastern Railway. This line links Chandrapur with Nagpur via Nagbhir and to Jabalpur via Nagbhir and Gondia. Both these lines are on the narrow gauge. The length of the line from Chanda Fort (Chandrapur and Chanda Fort are two different stations) to Nagpur is 220 km. There are 29 stations on this line of which Nagbhir, Itwari and Nagpur are Junctions. Nagbhir is just in the centre. The length of the line from Chanda Fort to Jabalpur is 470 km. There are 50 stations on this line of which Nagbhir, Gondia, Balaghat, Nainpur and Jabalpur are Junctions. The passenger trains running daily via Chandrapur are: (1) Delhi-Madras Grand Trunk Express, (2) Delhi-Madras Janata Express, (3) Delhi-Hyderabad Dakshin Express, (4) Nagpur-Hyderabad Passenger, (5) Wardha-Kazipet Passenger, (6) Ghugus-Ballarshah Mixed, (7) Warora-Rajur Mixed. The passenger trains which run daily on Majri-Rajur route are: (1) Warora-Kajur Mixed, (2) Majri-Wani Mixed, (1) Majri-Rajur Mixed. The trains that run on the Tadali-Ghugus route are: (1) Ballarshah-Ghugus Mixed and (2) Tadali-Ghugus Mixed. The trains that run daily on the Chanda fort-Gondia route and the Nagpur-Nagbhir route are: (1) Chanda Eort-Nagbhir Passenger, (2) Nagpur-Nagbhir Passenger, (3) Chanda Fort-Gondia Passenger, (4) Nagpur-Warsa Passenger.

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