Matheran Hill Railway
| Matheran Hill Railway | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Matheran Railway No.740 preserved in the UK at Railworld in Peterborough | |
| Locale | Raigad district, Maharashtra |
| Terminus |
Neral Matheran |
| Commercial operations | |
| Built by | Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy |
| Original gauge | 2 ft (610 mm) |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Central Railways |
| Length | 21 km |
| Preserved gauge | 2 ft (610 mm) |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 1907 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1904 | Construction started |
| 2005 | Closed due to flood damage |
| 5 March 2007 | Re-opened after repair from flood damage |
| 15 April 2007 | Centenary celebration |
| Neral-Matheran Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Matheran Hill Railway is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway in Maharashtra, India. The railways comes under the administration of the Central Railways. The railway covers a distance of 21 km (13.05 mi), over large swathes of forest territory connecting Neral to Matheran in the Western Ghats. UNESCO is considering giving world heritage status to the Matheran Hill Railway.
The Neral-Matheran Light Railway was built between 1901 and 1907 by Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy, financed by his father, Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy at a cost of ₹16 lakh (US$24,000). Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy visited Matheran often and wanted to build a railway to make it easier to get there. Hussain's plans for the Matheran Hill Railway were formulated in 1900 and construction started in 1904. Consulting engineer was Everard Calthrop of Barsi Light Railway fame. The line was open to traffic by 1907. Originally, the tracks were laid with 30 lb/yd (14.9 kg/m) rails but now has 42 lb/yd (20.8 kg/m) rails. Ruling gradient is 1:20 (5%) with tight curves and speeds are limited to 12 km/h (7.5 mph).
The railway was closed by flood damage during 2005 and was not expected to reopen before April 2007. Contrary to those expectations, the first run on the repaired railway was on 5 March 2007. The line observed its centenary on 15 April 2007.
Train services were suspended during the monsoon season from June to October because of the danger of landslides. During the 2012 monsoon season, CR conducted tests of the air brakes, and after receiving approval from the Commission of Railway Safety, ran the train during the monsoon for the first time. CR plans to shorten the period during which services are suspended by suspending services only from 15 July and restarting them on 1 October.
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