Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line

Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
Termini	Howrah railway station Mumbai CST
Service
System	Electrified
Operator(s)	Eastern Railway zone, East Central Railway zone, Northern Railway zone, West Central Railway zone, Western Railway zone
History
Opened	1870
Technical
Line length	1,947 km (1,210 mi)
Operating speed	up to 160 km/h

Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line is a railway line connecting Kolkata and Mumbai. The 1,947 kilometres (1,210 mi) railway line was opened to traffic in 1870.

History

The first train in India travelled from Bombay to Thane on 16 April 1853. By May, 1854, Great Indian Peninsula Railway.s Bombay-Thane line was extended to Kalyan. It was extended to Khopoli via Palasdhari in 1855. Bhusawal station was set up in 1860 an Pune connected in 1863. In Eastern India, construction of the Howrah-Delhi main line was completed and through connection between Delhi and Kolkata was established in 1865. The last link was the bridge across the Yamuna at Allahabad. In 1866 Bhusawal-Khandwa section was opened and GIPR also extended its operations to Nagpur. East Indian Railway, which had established the Howrah-Allahabad-Delhi line, opened the Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line in June 1867. GIPR connection over the Thull Ghat reached Jabalpur from Itarsi on 7 March 1870, linking up with EIR track there from Allahabad, and establishing connectivity between Mumbai and Kolkata.

Golden Quadrilateral

The Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line is a part of the Golden Quadrilateral. The routes connecting the four major metropolises (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata), along with their diagonals, known as the Golden Quadrilateral, carry about half the freight and nearly half the passenger traffic, although they form only 16 per cent of the length.