Akola–Ratlam line

The Holkar State Railway was established in 1874 as a metre-gauge (MG) line originating from the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) station at Khandwa and extending northwards. The railway reached Indore in 1876 following the completion of the Holkar–Narmada Bridge across the Narmada River. The line had a total length of 86 miles (138 km). The railway was financed by the Maharaja Holkar of Indore and was owned by the princely State of Indore.

Dhulghat Spiral was a spiral located on this metre-gauge section at around 2 kilometres from Dhulghat station towards Akola. It is also called 'Char Cha Akda' in Marathi and 'Char Ka Aankda' in Hindi, which in English means 'the figure 4' – railway tracks are arranged like 4.^[1]

In 2008, the Union Cabinet approved the gauge conversion for the Ratlam–Mhow–Khandwa–Akola railway line of 472.64km. The gauge conversion is in process.^[2][3][4] It entails following 3 sections (from northwest to southeast):

• Ratlam-Mhow-Indore-Khandwa section - under-conversion with target completion by 2027–28 (31 March 2028): Environmental approval has been granted.^[5] Only Indore-Khandwa section remains incomplete, rest has been already converted.
• Khandwa-Amlakhurd section - completed in 2020: After the Mathela–Nimarkhedi–NTPC Khargone section was converted to broad gauge on 12 August 2019 and electrified on 15 March 2020,^[6][7]
• Amlakhurd-Jalgaon Jamod-Akot section - under-conversion via greenfield alignment bypassing Melghat Tiger Reserve with target completion by FY2026-27 (31 March 2027): Since Akot-Amlakhurd section of the line passes through Melghat Tiger Reserve which has 50 to 55 tigers, the conversion of this line was held up for several years due to pending clearance from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.^[8] Finally, forests and wildlife approval was granted in August 2024 when conversion of existing Akot-Amalkhurd meter gauge line via Patalpani-Kalakund-Balwada-Chaural was abandoned and instead a new alignment between Akot-Amalkhurd was finalised which bypasses the Melghat Tiger Reserve. This new 77-78 km lone alignment which is 30-32 km longer than the original alignment and entails a 7 km long 30 meter deep tunnel. Once converted this line will provide shortest route from Northwest India & North India to South India and Southeast India.^[9][10] The target completion date, as of July 2025 status update, is FY 2026-27 (31 March 2027).^[11] New alignment passes through Hiwarkhed, Sonala, Jalgaon Jamod, and Usami.
• Akot-Akola Junction section - completed in 2020: Akola Junction–Akot section line gauge conversion project of this mainline was completed on 28 July 2020.^[12]

Parts of Akola-Ratlam line conversion to broad gauge were complete except remaining two sections, the "Mhow-Indore-Khandwa section" (target completion of 31 March 2028 as per November 2025 update) in the north^[5] and the "Amlakhurd-Jalgaon Jamod-Akot section" (target completion of 31 March 2027 as per July 2025 update) in the south, both of which received wildlife and forests approval in July–August 2024 with a new longer alignment, thus paving the way for the shortest route between North-Northwest India to South-Southeast India once completed.^[11][9][10]

In the 2020s, the route was converted to broad gauge and electrified. However, a section of the original alignment between Patalpani and Kalakund was preserved as a metre-gauge heritage line. To maintain seamless rail connectivity, a parallel electrified broad-gauge track was constructed between these stations.

Patalpani-Kalakund heritage train runs on the old 9.5 km long meter-gauge section of Mhow-Khandwa rail line along the original alignment which has been preserved as the heritage train after a new greenfield alignment was used for the Akola-Ratlam line's conversion to broad-gauge. Patalpani-Kalakund meter gauge line, in the southern suburban mountains of Mhow city between the Patalpani waterfall and Kalakund tourist camp, is now operated for tourists similar to mountain heritage lines of the Indian Railways even though it still awaited official certification by the Railway Board as of August 2025.^[13]

• Indore–Dahod line, target completion date of February 2027.
• Future of rail transport in India