Kundala Valley Railway
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The Kundala Valley Railway at Munnar in Kerala was the first monorail in India .
history
Monorail (1902–1908)
The Kundala Valley Railway was built in 1902 and operated between Munnar and Top Station in the Kannan Devan Hills of Kerala to carry tea and other goods. A dirt road for ox carts was laid out in 1902 and later supplemented by a monorail: In this monorail, built according to the Ewing system , a small wheel with two flanges was guided on the rail, while a larger wheel drove on the dirt path, thus maintaining the balance. similar to later on the Patiala State Monorail Trainways . The monorail wagons were pulled by oxen. Top Station was a transshipment station for the delivery of tea from Munnar to Bodinayakkanur . Chests of tea came from the Kundala Valley to the Top Station and were transported from there by a 5 km cable car downhill to the Bottom Station in Kottagudi ( Tamil Nadu ). From there the tea was transported on ox carts the 15 km long route to Bodinayakkanur, and then by rail to other cities in India or England.
Narrow-gauge railway (1908-1924)
The monorail was replaced in 1908 by a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm (2 feet ). Small steam locomotives were used to move trains between Madupatty and Palaar stations. The Great Flood of 99 destroyed the Malayalam calendar in 1099 , i.e. H. in 1924, the railway line was complete, after which it was no longer built. After that, cable cars were used to transport the tea.
Holdover
The Munnar Railway station building is still standing and houses Tata Tea's regional office . The rails in front of the building were removed while the road was being built.
The aluminum bridge at Munnar was once just a railway bridge, but has now been opened to road traffic. Remnants of wheels, rails, sleepers, and train stations can still be found in many places on the former railway, especially at the top station in the Theni District of Tamil Nadu.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mumbai gawks as train chugs overhead . Telegraphindia.com on February 19, 2013, Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d Sands of Time Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: Tata (Ed.): Newsletter of Tata Central Archives . V, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 5-6. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- ^ Remains of Kundala Valley Railway, Munnar . Irfca.org. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
