History
It was observed for a long time that towns and cities on the metre gauge (MG) and narrow gauge (NG) lines had a poorer service than equivalent towns on the broad gauge system, the speed of trains was slower and the freight traffic (ton per kilometre) on metre gauge tracks was only a small fraction of the freight traffic on broad gauge tracks. It was decided that conversion of metre and narrow gauge railway lines to broad gauge would make Indian Railways more efficient, avoid the current break of gauges, increase the freight-carrying capacity and shorten the routes with many regauged links.
Some sporadic conversion of metre gauge railway tracks to broad gauge such as Bangalore-Gooty and Pune-Miraj had taken place in the years 1971-90 but metre gauge railway tracks (such as Mangalore-Hassan through Western Ghats for Kudremukh iron ore project) continued to be laid in that period on cost considerations.
Project Unigauge started in 1990-91 in earnest. The first routes taken for conversion of gauge were Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur, Delhi-Rewari, Mahesana-Viramgam and Chhapra-Aunrihar.
Read more about this topic: Project Unigauge
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