Aerial view of Kothavalsa Kirandul Line and Vizag Araku highway

Kothavalasa–Kirandul line in India belongs to Rayagada railway division of East Coast Railway zone. It was under

South Eastern Railway zone The South Eastern Railway (abbreviated SER) is one of the 19 Indian Railways, railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Garden Reach, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It comprises Adra railway division, Chakradharpur railway division, Kharagpu ...

until 2003. It passes through three Indian states;

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 ...

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

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

History

In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kothavalasa–Araku–Koraput–Jeypore–Jagdalpur–Dantewara–Kirandaul line, the Jharsuguda–Sambalpur–Bargarh–Balangir–Titlagarh project and the Biramitrapur–Rourkela–Bimlagarh–Kiriburu project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya–Bolangir–Kiriburu project. The Kothavalasa–Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67 under S E Railway with financial aid of Japan for transporting iron ore and costed 55.32 crore.

Geography

This line passes hill sections of

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 ...

through Araku Valley. The line has a total of 58 tunnels and 84 major bridges and each tunnel is as long as 520 metres.

Electrification

Electrification of the line was completed in four phases. Kirandul–Jagdalpur section was completed in 1980. Jagdalpur–Koraput section was completed in 1981. Koraput–Araku–Waltair section was completed in 1982. The Kothavalasa–Kirandul route was completely electrified by 1982.

Jurisdiction

The line has a length of ,out of which lies in

up to Gorapur which will be joining South Coast Railway, rest of the line will remain in the Rayagada division of East Coast Railway lies in

up to Khadapa, lies in

up to Kirandul. The maximum route km being in

and

with

taking 3rd position. The Kothavalasa–Kirandul section is classified as a Group E-special class line in which speed should be below 100 km/h.

Performance

This line is mainly used for freight purposes which is a huge profit benefitting Waltair Division. It generated in freight earnings in 2022-23 which is a little over 25% of the total freight earnings of Waltair railway division in that financial year. Iron ore from Bailadila is transported to Visakhapatnam through this line.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kothavalasa-Kirandul line Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Railway lines opened in 1966 * Rail transport in Odisha Rail transport in Chhattisgarh 1966 establishments in India