The Asansol–Adra–Tatanagar–Kharagpur line is part of
Howrah
Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...
and eastern India's links with
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
and
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. It is also a major freight line for transporting iron ore, coal and steel products. This page includes the Adra–Bokaro Steel City branch line, the Adra-Gomoh branch line, the Adra-Dhanbad branch line and Tatanagar–Badampahar branch lines.
History
The
Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line, a joint effort of
Great Indian Peninsula Railway and
East Indian Railway Company
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...
came up in 1870. The
Bengal Nagpur Railway was formed in 1887 for the purpose of upgrading the
Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway and then extending it via
Bilaspur to
Asansol, in order to develop a shorter Howrah–Mumbai route than the one via Allahabad. The Bengal Nagpur Railway main line from Nagpur to , on the
Howrah–Delhi main line, was opened for goods traffic on 1 February 1891.
However, it was only after
Kharagpur was linked from the west and the south that it was connected to Howrah in 1900.
The closing years of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th century were momentous for the area. 800 miles of East Coast Railway was built and opened for traffic between 1893 and 1896. The most vital sections of Bengal Nagpur Railway, Sini–Kharagpur–Kolaghat and Kharagpur–Cuttack, were opened to traffic in 1898–99. The Purulia–Ranchi branch was opened for traffic on 15 November 1907. BNR lines were extended to Gomoh, on EIR's main line, in 1907. The Mohuda–Chandrapura branch line was opened in 1913.
[
A 40-mile branch line from Tatanagar to Gorumahisani was opened to traffic in 1911 mainly for transportation of iron ore.][
The Purulia–Ranchi line was opened as a narrow-gauge railway of BNR in 1907.
]
Railway reorganization
The Bengal Nagpur Railway was nationalized in 1944.[ Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 with the portion of ]East Indian Railway Company
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...
east of Mughalsarai
Mughalsarai (; English language, English: ''Mughal tribe, Mughal Tavern''), officially known as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar, is a city and a municipal board in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. Located around from Chandauli town ...
and the Bengal Nagpur Railway. In 1955, South Eastern Railway was carved out of Eastern Railway. It comprised lines mostly operated by BNR earlier.[
]
Steel plants and freight traffic
India's first integrated steel plant, Tata Steel
Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with its primary operations based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group.
Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel ...
's plant at Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...
, became operational in 1908. IISCO Steel Plant was established at Burnpur in 1918. Steel Authority of India's Durgapur Steel Plant was established in the late fifties, and Bokaro Steel Plant became operational in the seventies.
Although the Asansol–Gaya section of Grand Chord
Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur railway station, Sitarampur, (Asansol) (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (Uttar Pradesh), previous ...
and Bardhaman–Asansol section of Howrah–Delhi main line serves as the principal links for Jharia Coalfield and Raniganj Coalfield, this line also links to both the coalfields. This railway line is also serving the upcoming Raghunathpur industrial area, situated near Adra in Purulia district. The new Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station (DVC) and ACC Cement Factory (Madhukunda) are a part of this.
With four steel plants served by these lines South Eastern Railway transports bulk of the raw materials like coal and iron ore used by the steel industry. It loaded 61.24 million tonnes during the period April to September 2012. Indian Railway handled 456 million tonnes of coal in 2011–12. It was the single largest item of freight traffic. It handled 104.71 million tonnes of iron ore in 2011–12.
Electrification
The Asansol–Purulia, Purulia–Chakradharpur, Kandra–Gamharria and Sini–Adityapur sectors were electrified in 1961–62. The Tatanagar–Kharagpur sector was electrified in 1962–63.
The Tatanagar-Gorumahisani-Aunlajori sector of the Tatanagar-Gorumahisani-Aunlajori-Badampahar line was electrified in 2020-21.
Passenger movement
, , , and , on this line, are the amongst the top 100 booking stations of Indian Railway.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asansol - Tatanagar - Kharagpur line
5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India
Rail transport in West Bengal
Rail transport in Jharkhand
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Transport in Asansol
Transport in Jamshedpur
Transport in Kharagpur
Transport in Dhanbad