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Porbandar State Railway

The Porbandar State Railway was a metre gauge railway line operated by the princely state of Porbandar on the Kathiawar peninsula of western India during the British Raj. Built and owned by the state, it served the port town of Porbandar and connected it to the wider Kathiawar railway network, supporting the movement of goods, pilgrims and passengers in the region.

Key facts

Name Porbandar State Railway
Type State-owned railway
Owner Princely State of Porbandar
Region Kathiawar, western India
Gauge Metre gauge
Principal town served Porbandar

Background

Porbandar was a coastal princely state on the western shore of the Kathiawar peninsula, ruled by the Jethwa Rajput dynasty. Its port had long been an outlet for trade in cotton, grain and other commodities from the interior of Kathiawar. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several Kathiawar states constructed and operated their own railways, often connecting their capital towns and ports with the lines of larger systems such as the Bhavnagar–Gondal–Junagadh–Porbandar Railway and the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. The Porbandar State Railway formed part of this cluster of state-owned lines built to integrate the region's ports with inland markets.

Operations

As a state railway, the line was financed and administered by the durbar of Porbandar. Like other Kathiawar state railways, it was constructed to metre gauge to match the prevailing standard of the peninsula's network, allowing through movement of wagons and stock between connected systems. Traffic comprised general merchandise to and from Porbandar port, agricultural produce, and passenger services including pilgrims travelling to religious sites in Kathiawar.

Later history

Following the integration of the princely states into the Indian Union after 1947 and the formation of Saurashtra State, the railways of the former Kathiawar princely states, including the Porbandar State Railway, were absorbed into the unified Indian railway administration. With the reorganisation of Indian Railways into zonal systems, the lines in the Kathiawar region became part of the Western Railway zone, and the Porbandar branch continues to function as part of the national network.

Significance

The Porbandar State Railway is an example of the small state-owned railways that proliferated in Kathiawar during the late colonial period. Together with comparable lines in neighbouring states, it contributed to the commercial development of the peninsula's ports and to the eventual creation of an integrated metre gauge network across Saurashtra.

References