Kharagpur Junction railway station is a railway station in
Kharagpur
Kharagpur () is a planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision. It is the largest, most populated, multicultural and cosmop ...
of
Paschim Medinipur district
Paschim Medinipur district or West Midnapore district (also known as Midnapore West) is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba M ...
in the Indian state of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. It is also the fourth longest railway station by platform length after
Hubli Junction railway station
Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji – Hubballi Junction commonly known as SSS Hubballi Junction railway station or Hubli Junction railway station (Station code: UBL), is a railway junction station under Hubli railway division of South Western Railway ...
,
Gorakhpur Junction railway station
Gorakhpur Junction railway station (station code:GKP) is located in the city of Gorakhpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It has the world's second longest railway platform after Hubli Junction railway station. It serves as the headquart ...
and
Kollam Junction railway station
Kollam Junction railway station (station code: QLN) is a junction station situated in the city of Kollam in Kerala, India. It is the second largest railway station in Kerala in terms of area and largest in terms of number of tracks and one of t ...
. It is an A-1 category station of
Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...
.
History
Kharagpur Junction came up in 1898–99. On one side, Bengal Nagpur Railway's Kharagpur–
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 literally ...
line was opened on New Year's Day in 1899. On the other hand, the opening of the bridge over the
Rupnarayan River
The Rupnarayan River is a river in India. It begins as the Dhaleswari (Dhalkisor) in the Chhota Nagpur plateau foothills northeast of the town of Purulia. It then follows a tortuous southeasterly course past the town of Bankura, where it ...
at
Kolaghat
Kolaghat ( bn, কোলাঘাট) is a census town in Kolaghat CD Block,
Tamluk subdivision of the Purba Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
Kolaghat is located at . It is located in the Panskura ...
, on 19 April 1900, connected with Kharagpur. Kharagpur was also linked with
Sini the same year. The line was ready in 1898–99. The Kharagpur–
Midnapore
Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...
branch line was opened to traffic in 1901.
Infrastructure
After , and in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...
, Kharagpur has the
world's third-longest railway platform with a length of .
Remodelling of Gorakhpur railway station was completed and the new platform inaugurated on 6 October 2013. Till then Kharagpur held the distinction of having the longest platform in the world for many years. Kharagpur also has the Asia's largest Railway Solid State Interlocking (SSI) system.
Platform nos. 1 and 3, and 2 and 4 of Kharagpur Junction are continuous. The 24-coach
Coromandel Express stops at the start of platform no. 3 and its tail extends some distance into platform no. 1.
[ Aloo Khasa is one of the famous dish found at the Kharagpur railway platform.
]
Background
It is the busiest junction station in South Eastern Railway Zone after Howrah. Hence, it is termed as Gateway to South Eastern Railway. It is one of the fifty highest railway reservation in India. It is a junction which connects Howrah to Mumbai, Chennai, Adra/Purulia and New Delhi via Tatanagar as well. It also connects Bhubaneshwar to New Delhi. Everyday approximately 275 trains pass through this station which includes freight traffic. In terms of passenger traffic it handles 176 trains on a daily basis. So, in a bid to decongest Kharagpur station and speed up locomotives, South Eastern Railway has decided to develop Hijli
Hijli is a neighborhood of Kharagpur in the Kharagpur subdivision of the Paschim Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal, India.
History
Hijli has a history much larger than its present presence. Today it is just another neighborhood of K ...
(close to IIT Kharagpur
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is a Public university, public institute of technology established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. Established in 1951, the institute is the first of the Indi ...
) as an alternative station for Kharagpur. Now most of the new trains coming from Balasore side and going towards Adra or Tatanagar stop at Hijli and bypass Kharagpur. In order to increase passenger commute between Kharagpur and , new EMU services have been introduced between these two stations.
The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line is classified under Route A of Indian Railways which allows trains to run at maximum permissible speed of 160 km/hr. However, as a result of the automated block section between Howrah and Kharagpur, the speed is restricted to 130 km/hr. The Howrah–Kharagpur section has been identified as one of the high-density automatic block signaling
Automatic block signaling (ABS), spelled automatic block signalling or called track circuit block (TCB ) in the UK, is a railroad communications system that consists of a series of signals that divide a railway line into a series of sections, ...
routes on Indian Railways. Thus plans are to deploy Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) on this section to mitigate the risk of signal passed at danger (SPAD) by loco pilots leading to accidents.
Gallery
Image:Howrah-Puri Satabdi Express.png, The Howrah–Puri Shatabdi Express at Kharagpur
Image:Aerial view of Kharagpur station.png, An aerial view of the station
Image:EMU at Kharagpur.png, An EMU at Kharagpur
Image:Kharagpur Railway Station 2.JPG, The station
Image:KGP rail station shed.jpg, The station
Image:Entrance and Ticket booking office at night.png, Entrance and ticket booking office at night
Image:Coromandal Express at Kharagpur.jpg, Coromandel Express halted at Kharagpur Junction
Image:Kharagpur Railway Station Entrance.jpg, Railway station entrance ''(Bogda/South side)''
References
External links
Kharagpur Railway Division
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Kharagpur Municipality
*
{{Paschim Medinipur topics
Railway stations in Paschim Medinipur district
Railway junction stations in West Bengal
Kharagpur railway division
Kolkata Suburban Railway stations
Transport in Kharagpur
Indian Railway A1 Category Stations