The Railway Board in December 2020 approved the proposal to close the Bilimora-Waghai heritage train route, as it was deemed uneconomical by the railway ministry. It was one among the 11 branch lines and narrow-gauge sections of the Western Railways. However, no timeline was specified for the permanent closure of these sections.
The Bilimora-Waghai train service was started by the British on the insistence of Sayajirao Gaekwad (Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939) in 1913.
Bilimora is a small city situated on the banks of the river Ambika, in Gandevi taluka, Navsari district of Gujarat. Waghai is a town in the Dang region of the southern part of Gujrat. It was initially supposed to be a part of the Gaekwad’s Baroda State Railway (GBSR), which was owned by the then princely state of Baroda, and eventually merged with the Western Railways after independence. This line was mainly built to keep connection with the royal state. It was also used by the Gaekwad rulers for the transportation of precious sag (teak) wood from the forests in that area. It was used by the tribals staying in the interior villages. Tribals used the train to carry their vegetables from their farms to sell at Bilimora. Labourers from Dangs working in chickoo and mango farms in Bilimora also used the train service.
The speed of the 107-year-old train was 20 km per hour and it took more than three hours to complete the journey. Till 1937, when a diesel engine was installed, it was running on steam engine. In 1994, the old steam engine was put on display as a railway heritage at the Churchgate station in Mumbai.
The train used to run two trips a day.