The Cuttack–Sambalpur line is a railway line connecting the cities of

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...

with the

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

, in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Geography

The Cuttack–Sambalpur line traverses the center of

running along the river

Mahanadi The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay o ...

. Its route connects four districts of Odisha:

Dhenkanal Dhenkanal is a town and a municipality in Dhenkanal district in the state of Odisha, India. Geography Dhenkanal is at . It has an average elevation of 80 metres (262 feet). Demographics As per the 2011 India census, Dhenkanal had a p ...

Angul Angul (also known as Anugul) is a town and a municipality and the headquarters of Angul district in the state of Odisha, India. Angul has an average elevation of above sea level. The total geographical area of the district is 6232 km2. ...

and

. It connects the

Mahanadi Coalfields Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is one of the major coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its hea ...

in Talcher and Nalco in Angul to

Howrah–Chennai main line The Howrah–Chennai main line is a railway line connecting Chennai and Kolkata cutting across Eastern Coastal Plains of India. It covers a distance of across, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Sections The long trunk line ...

in the east and

Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line The Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line is a railway line in eastern India. It connects Jharsuguda, from Howrah on the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line, and Titlagarh, which in turn is connected with Vizianagaram, from Howrah on the Howrah–Chennai ...

in the west. It also connects

in Western Odisha to

Talcher Talcher is one of the 4 sub-divisions of Angul district in the Indian state of Odisha. History During the British Raj Talcher was the capital of Talcher State, one of the princely states of the Eastern States Agency.Malleson, G. B.: ''An histo ...

History

In 1922, a railway line was built from Talcher to Nergundi to connect the coalfields in Talcher to the Howrah-Chennai main line. But since there was a needto connect the coalfields of Western Odisha to Eastern Odisha, the Talcher–Sambalpur railway project was commissioned in 1983 and the work began in 1987. It was completed in 1996 and became operational in 1998. The flagging off of the

Tapaswini Express The Tapaswini Express is daily Express trains in India, Express train between Hatia and Puri. The train was the first Express train to be introduced with a route via Bhubaneswar, Dhenkanal, Talcher, Sambalpur. 18451UP departs Hatia at 15:55 and ...

, the first passenger train of the section by the Hon'ble Minister of Railways, fulfilled the long cherished dream of the people of Odisha to have a cultural, emotional, and socio-economic integration of the eastern and western parts of the State. This rail link, apart from relieving congestion of the Howrah–Mumbai and Howrah–Chennai trunk routes, reduced the distance between Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Puri, respectively the commercial, political, and cultural capitals of Odisha, to important Indian cities of Western and Northern India such as Mumbai, New Delhi, etc. by 380 km.

Electrification and doubling

The track doubling and the electrification of the Nergundi–Talcher section were completed in 2015. The Angul–Sambalpur section electrification was completed in 2018. The track doubling work of Angul-Boinda is completed and Rairakhol-Sambalpur sections is partially completed with the stretch between Jujomura to Sambalpur city is yet to be completed.

NALCO and NTPC links

This railway line connects NALCO and NTPC plants in Angul to rest of the country. The plant receives coal from the Lingaraj coal mine of MCL through a MGR Railway transportation system covering a distance of 39 km.

Coalfield links

Talcher Coalfield Talcher Coalfield is located in Angul district in the Indian state of Odisha, in the valley of the Brahmani. The coalfield According to Geological Survey of India, the Talcher Coalfield has reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the highest in Indi ...

with reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the largest in India, is located on the Cuttack–Sambalpur line. This railway line connects the MCL coalfields of Brajrajnagar and

in western and eastern Odisha respectively.

Speed limits

The Cuttack–Sambalpur line is classified as a "Group D Spl" line which can take speeds up to 100 km/h. This section already carries high traffic density and is likely to grow substantially in future with the completion of doubling work. The sanctioned speed limit for this line is 100 km/h.

Passenger movement

, Talcher road and

are the busiest railway stations in this section.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuttack - Sambalpur line 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Odisha Railway lines opened in 1998 Transport in Cuttack Transport in Sambalpur