https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Dhulghat_SpiralDhulghat Spiral - Revision history2026-08-01T01:21:47ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Dhulghat_Spiral&diff=58187&oldid=prev>Nempnet at 18:53, 16 April 20212021-04-16T18:53:37Z<p></p>
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{{Akola–Ratlam line}}<br />
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'''Dhulghat Spiral''' is located in [[Amravati]] district in state of [[Maharashtra]] in [[India]]. It is a unique [[Spiral (railway)|spiral]] located on [[Akola]]-[[Khandwa]] metre gauge section of [[South Central Railway]] of [[India]].<br />
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It is also called 'Char Cha Akda' in [[Marathi language|Marathi]] and 'Char Ka Aankda' in [[Hindi]], both meaning 'Digit of Four' due to its shape similar to that of '4' in [[Devnagari]] script.<br />
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==Location==<br />
The spiral is located between Wan Road and Dhulghat stations on [[Akola]] - [[Ratlam]] metre gauge railway line, at around 2 kilometres from Dhulghat station towards [[Akola]]. The area is covered by forests and hills through which the [[Akola]] - [[Ratlam]] metre gauge railway line traverses. Latitude 21.282, longitude 76.765.<br />
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==Structure==<br />
The spiral consist of a 193 metres long steel viaduct across a shallow valley. Train arrives to this viaduct from [[Akola]]. The viaduct leads the track to a circular path around a hill. After circumnavigating the hill, the track arrives nearly parallel to the approach from Akola, but at a significantly lower altitude. This low level track passes below the first of the sixteen bridge girders towards Dhulghat station and [[Khandwa]]. The train normally takes around four minutes to complete its journey along the spiral.<br />
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==Historical and current usage==<br />
The spiral was a part of metre gauge line from [[Ajmer]] in [[Rajasthan]] to [[Kacheguda]] in [[Andhra Pradesh]] (now [[Telangana]]) under South Central Railway. Due to the gauge conversions in recent times, the route is now shortened to [[Akola]] in [[Maharashtra]] to Fatehbad Chandrawati Ganj in [[Madhya Pradesh]]. However, this unique spiral may soon be decommissioned because of the planned gauge conversion of Akola-Ratlam section.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Trips/central/Dhulghat08/|title=The IRFCA Photo Gallery : A Day at Dhulghat|website=Irfca.org|accessdate=8 February 2019}}</ref><br />
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==How to reach==<br />
The spiral can be approached from [[Akola]] which is a railway station on [[Mumbai]]-[[Howrah]] main line and [[Khandwa]] which is located on [[Mumbai]] - [[Delhi]] main line (via [[Bhusaval]], [[Itarsi]]) of Indian Railway.<br />
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{{coord missing|Maharashtra}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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[[Category:Amravati district]]<br />
[[Category:Environment of Maharashtra]]<br />
[[Category:Geography of Maharashtra]]<br />
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{{Amravati-geo-stub}}<br />
{{India-rail-transport-stub}}</div>>Nempnet