The Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section is a railway line connecting in the Indian state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

and

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. The main line is part of the

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 ...

Geography

The Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section traverses the

Eastern Coastal Plains The Eastern Coastal Plains is a stretch of landmass lying between the eastern part of the Deccan plateau and the Bay of Bengal in India. The plains stretch from the Mahanadi delta to Kaniyakumari at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula with ...

, first the southern part of the Odisha plains from the

Mahanadi River Delta Mahanadi River Delta in India is a basin of deposit that drains a large land mass of the Indian subcontinent into the Bay of Bengal. The alluvial valley is wide and relatively flat with a meandering river channel that changes its course. The M ...

to a little beyond

Chilika Lake Chilika Lake is the largest brackish water lagoon with estuarine character that sprawls along the east coast of Indian sub-continent in Asia and second largest coastal lagoon in the world, covering an area of over . It is spread over the Puri, ...

and then the

Northern Circars The Northern Circars (also spelt Sarkars) was a division of British India's Madras Presidency. It consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the Bay of Bengal from 15° 40′ to 20° 17′ north latitude, in the pre ...

. The coastal plains lie between the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

and the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

and at places the Eastern Ghats come close to the sea. This area has a number of rivers flowing into the sea –

Rushikulya The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in Odisha and covers the entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam of Odisha. The Rushikulya originates about 1000 metres from the Rushimala Hills part of the Daringbadi hills o ...

Vamsadhara River Vamsadhara or River Banshadhara is an important east-flowing river between Rushikulya and Godavari, in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states in India. The river originates near Lanjigarh in the Kalahandi district of Odisha at an elevation ...

and Nagavali.

Port development

Visakhapatnam Port Visakhapatnam Port is one of twelve major ports in India and the only major port in Andhra Pradesh, located in Visakhapatnam. The port is India's third largest by volume of cargo handled and largest on the Eastern Coast. History Althoug ...

at the mouth of the Meghadrigedda was opened in 1933. It was initially developed by

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

. The port has an inner harbour and an outer harbour. Visakhapatnam port handled 68.04 million tonnes of cargo in 2010–11, which was the second highest in India after

Kandla Kandla is a census town in the Kutch district of Gujarat state in Western India, near the city of Gandhidham. It occupies on the coast of Gulf of Cutch along the banks of the Kandla Creek. According to the 2011 Census of India, Kandla is t ...

. Visakhapatnam port is being upgraded to handle ships up to 200,000 DWT. Gangavaram Port came up in 2008 and is claimed to be deepest port in India, which can handle ships up to 200,000 DWT. A minor port is proposed to be developed at

Bheemunipatnam Bheemunipatnam (also known as Bheemili) is a suburb of Visakhapatnam, India. The town was named after Bhima, a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. It was formerly administered under the Bheemunipatnam municipality but merged into GVMC in 20 ...

, near the mouth of the

Gosthani River The Gosthani river is a river in India. It rises in the Ananthagiri Hills of the Eastern Ghats and flows through the Borra Caves which lie near its source. It is the largest river flowing through Visakhapatnam city. It flows for 120 km ...

Gopalpur-on-Sea Gopalpur is a coastal town and a Notified Area Council on the Bay of Bengal coast in Ganjam district in the southern part of Odisha, India. It's a port town with beautiful sea beach. Gopalpur is around 15 km from Berhampur. Demographics ...

is being developed into a deep sea port capable of handling ships up to 120,000 DWT.

History

Howrah–Chennai main line

During the period 1893 to 1896, of railway tracks covering the entire coastal stretch from to

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

, was built and opened to traffic by

East Coast State Railway The East Coast State Railway was a railway company operating in India. It was a guaranteed company formed in 1890. It had a brief existence. The southern part of the East Coast State Railway (from Waltair to Vijayawada) was taken over by Madras ...

's line to Cuttack was opened on 1 January 1899. The southern part of the East Coast State Railway (from Waltair to Vijayawada) was taken over by

Madras Railway Madras Railway (Madras Railway Company) was one of the railway companies operating rail services in British India. In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made by the British. In 1835, the railway trac ...

in 1901. The -long northern portion of the East Coast line to Cuttack, including the branch line to , was taken over by

in 1902.

Branch lines

The Vizianagaram–Parvatipuram line was opened in 1908–09 and an extension to Salur was built in 1913. The Parvatipuram–Raipur line was completed in 1931. (More information is available in the Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line.) In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kottavalasa–Koraput–Jeypore–Kirandaul line (

Dandakaranya Project The Dandakaranya Project, or the DNK Project, was the form of action the Indian government designed in September 1958 for the settlement of displaced persons from Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) and for integrated development of the area with pa ...

), the Titlagarh–Bolangir–Jharsuguda Project and the Rourkela–Kiriburu Project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya Bolangir Kiriburu Project. The Kottavalasa–Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67. The Paralakhemedi Light Railway opened the Naupada–Gunupur line between 1900 and 1931. The line was converted to broad gauge in 2011.

Railway reorganization

The

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. Amongst the new zones started in April 2003 were

East Coast Railway The East Coast Railway (abbreviated as ECoR) is one of the 19 railway zones of Indian Railways. It came into existence on 01-April-2003. It headquarters are located at . History Consequent upon the parliament's approval, East Coast Railway wa ...

and South East Central Railway. Both these railways were carved out of South Eastern Railway.

Electrification

Howrah–Chennai Mail was the first train in South Eastern Railway to be hauled by a diesel engine (

WDM-1 The WDM-1 was the first class of wide gauge (W), diesel-powered (D), mixed-load (M) locomotive, meant for hauling both freight and passenger trains. These are also the first mainline diesel engines imported after Independence. They were even the ...

) in 1965. The Khurda–Visakhapatnam section was completely electrified by 2002. The Howrah–Chennai route was completely electrified by 2005.

Speed limits

The entire Kharagpur–Visakhapatnam–Vijayawada main line is classified as a "Group B" line which can take speeds up to 130 km/h. In the branch lines the speed limit is 100 km/h.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khurda Road - Visakhapatnam section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Odisha Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh * * Railway lines opened in 1899 1899 establishments in India