| Box Width: | 28em |
| Locale: | Gujarat, Rajasthan |
| Owner: | Indian Railways |
| Tracklength: | 296km (184miles) |
| Stations: | 33 |
| Tracks: | 1 |
| Gauge: | broad gauge |
| Old Gauge: | metre gauge |
| Electrification: | Yes |
| Map State: | collapsed |
The Ahmedabad–Udaipur Line is a railway route of both the Western and North Western Railway zones of the Indian Railways. It plays an important role in short-connectivity transport, reaching to North India and Eastern India from Gujarat and the coastal areas of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
With a stretch of 299.55km (186.13miles), this corridor passes through the Aravalli Ranges of North Gujarat and the Udaipur division of Rajasthan, where there are zinc and phosphate mines in Zawar and Umra, making it a direct and important mineral transportation route to the rest of India.
This mainline route is divided into two sections:
It also contains two branch lines of this corridor; both come in the Western Railways zone. These are:
This route was opened in 1879 by Ahmedabad–Parantij Railway up to Prantij and Himmatnagar, and later it was extended in two phases: The first phase was Himmatnagar–Idar which was opened in the same year; then in 1901, the second phase of Idar–Khed Bramha was opened. This gave a total length of 146km (91miles) from Ahmedabad and was a metre-gauge railway line.[3] [4]
In 1886 the survey and construction of a 210adj=midNaNadj=mid Himmatnagar–Udaipur line, also a metre-gauge railway line, was started; rail operations began in 1891 with flagging off Delhi Sarai Rohilla–Ahmedabad Express for direct connection to Delhi and Udaipur from Ahmedabad via Himmatnagar.[5] [6] This line came to be known as the metre-gauge mainline with the other metre-gauge line via,, and being called the Chord Line. In 1997, this metre-gauge "Chord Line", via Palanpur, Marwar, and Ajmer Junctions, became a broad-gauge line called the Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad Mainline.
The branch-line of Nadiad–Kapadvanj, a narrow-gauge railway section, was opened on 5 March 1916 by Guzerat Railway Company, with a length of 49km (30miles).[7] In 1961, it was converted to broad gauge and in the same year the survey and construction of Kapadvanj–Modasa section, an extension of the branch line, was started with a planned length of 89km (55miles).[8] It was halted for two decades, with construction only revived in 2000; it became operational on 28 October 2001, with a total length of 138km (86miles) and direct connections to Nadiad.[9] [10] [11]
The broad-gauge conversion of the whole mainline from Udaipur to Ahmedabad is complete. Ongoing conversion of the branch lines, jointly carried out by Western Railways and North Western Railways, commenced 1 January 2017.[12] The Modasa–Shamlaji rail line with a length of 26km (16miles) is planned for construction; this will connect the Nadiad–Modasa branch line with the Ahmedabad–Udaipur mainline, shortening the routes of Mumbai, Ahmedabad and the rest of Gujarat to North India, with additional direct passenger services.[13]
In this joint project, the first section of the mainline from the Western Railways zone side was fully converted into broad gauge; DEMU (diesel-electrical multiple unit) trains started running on the route from 15 October 2019.[14] The broad-gauge conversion was completed on 10 August 2022, but trains are yet to start. There has as yet been no official inauguration.
Post completion of the broad-gauge (BG) line, Indian Railways is running a small number of trains on this line, with may be expanded later. Trains currently running on this line are as follows:
Trains which are slated for extension or re-introduction in the near-future are: