Guntakal Junction railway station (station code: GTL) is located in

Anantapur district Anantapur district officially: Anantapuramu district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located at Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in So ...

in the Indian state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and serves

Guntakal Guntakal is a City in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Guntakal mandal and Guntakal revenue division.It is also the headquarters of the Guntakal Railway Division in South Central Railway. Ge ...

. It is also the headquarters of

Guntakal railway division Guntakal Railway Division is one of the three divisions of South Coast Railway zone (SCoR) of the Indian Railways. The headquarters of the division is at Guntakal and its zonal headquarters is at Visakhapatnam. This division is second in ter ...

in South Coast Railway. It is a junction station at the intersection point of the Mumbai–Chennai line, the Vijayawada–Marmagova line and the Guntakal–Bengaluru line.

History

During the period 1861–1871

Madras Railway The Madras Railway (full name Madras Railway Company) played a pioneering role in developing railways in southern India and was merged in 1908 with Southern Mahratta Railway to form Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. The Madras Railway was ...

extended its Chennai–Arakkonnam line to Raichuru to join the

Great Indian Peninsula Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

line, thereby linking Mumbai and Chennai with a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

line in 1871. During 1888 to 1890 Southern Maharathna Railway developed a metre-gauge line from Vijayawada to Marmagova, passing through Guntakal. The Guntakal–Bangalore line was opened in 1892–93. The metre-gauge Guntakal–Mysore Frontier Railway was opened in 1893. It was operated by Southern Maharathna Railway.

Electrification

*Electrification of Guntakal–Reniguntla section of 310 route km completed in 2013. *Electrification of Guntakal–Bangalore section of 293 route km completed in 2016. *Electrification of Guntakal–Wadi section of 228 route km completed in 2017. *Electrification of Guntakal–Gunturu section of 430 route km has been completed in 2018

Sheds

Diesel Loco Shed, Guntakal Diesel Loco Shed, Guntakal is an engine shed located in Guntakal, Andhra Pradesh in India. It falls under the jurisdiction of Guntakal railway division of South Central Railway zone. It is one of the oldest loco sheds, started in 1964 as a M.G ...

was started as a metre-gauge shed but after gauge conversions in Guntakal and Hubballi divisions a broad-gauge shed was opened in 1995. It houses

WDM-2 The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Mixed traffic (M) engine, ...

, WDM-3A, WDM-3D, WDG-3A, WDG-3A and WDG-4 locos. There is a coaching maintenance depot at Guntakal. Since after overhaul with electric traction, Indian Railways also sanctioned electric loco shed and it holds

WAG-7 The Indian locomotive class WAG-7 is a class of 25 kV AC electric locomotives that was developed in 1990 by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), alternating current (A), goods traffic (G ...

class locomotives.

Classification

Guntakal Junction is classified as an ''A–category'' station in the Guntakal railway division. Guntakal has been selected for the ''Adharsa Station Scheme'', a scheme for upgradation of stations by the

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 ...

References

{{Railway stations in Andhra Pradesh Railway stations in Anantapur district Railway junction stations in Andhra Pradesh Guntakal railway division Railway stations opened in 1872 1872 establishments in India Transport in Guntakal