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Matheran Hill Railway
History
Matheran Hill Railway, one of the five of the Indian Mountain Railways, was built between 1901 and 1907. Built privately by Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy of the Adamjee Group (a well known Business Group of undivided India, now in Pakistan) at the cost of Rs, 16,00,000 as Matheran was a favorite hillstation of Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy and the family often visited it. He wanted to build a railway to make it easier for them to get there.
The railway line is a narrow gauge line( 2 ft /610mm) that covers a distance of 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Neral to Matheran in the Western Ghats near Karjat between Mumbai and Pune.
It was planned in 1900, constructed between1904 and 1907 and opened to traffic by 1907. Originally, planned for rail size of 30 lb/yard, later the rail size was changed to the heavier 42 lb/yard rails. The route is replete with tight curves and speed is limited to 20 kms per hour (12 mph). Steam locomotives were used in the initial years which were then changed to diesel locomotives taken from other Indian Mountain Railways such as Kalka-Shimla Railway and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
The Route
- Distance covered is 20 kms between Neral at the foot of the hills to Matheran
- The horseshoe embankment was built to avoid a reversing station.
- The Bhekra Khud steep gradient,
- The only tunnel on the route, the "One Kiss Tunnel" (long enough to exchange only one kiss on this romantic route)
- "Water Pipe" station (now non functional due to change over to diesel locomotive),
- Mountain Berry with two sharp Zig Zag shaped curves,
- Panorama Point with a fantastic view of the hills and forests.
The Matheran Hill Railway comes under the administration of the Central Railway and is being promoted as a future World Heritage Site.
The line is no more kept closed during monsoons but operates all year round. The railway was closed by flood damage during 2005 but reopened in 2007.
The Matheran Hill Railway celebrated 100 years of operations and service to the nation on April 15th, 2007.