Cuttack–Sambalpur line

Cuttack–Sambalpur line
Overview
Status Operational
Locale Odisha
Termini Cuttack
Sambalpur
Operation
Opened 1998
Owner Indian Railway
Operator(s) East Coast Railway
Technical
Track length 284 km (176 mi)
Number of tracks 2
Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge
Operating speed up to 100 km/h (62 mph)

The Cuttack–Sambalpur line is a railway line connecting the cities of Cuttack and Sambalpur, in the Indian state of Odisha.

Geography

The Cuttack–Sambalpur line traverses the center of Odisha running along the river Mahanadi. Its route connects four districts of Odisha: Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul and Sambalpur. It connects the Mahanadi Coalfields in Talcher and Nalco in Angul to Howrah–Chennai main line in the east and Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line in the west. It also connects Mahanadi Coalfields in Western Odisha to Talcher.

History

In 1922, a railway line was built from Talcher to Nergundi to connect the coalfields in Talcher to the Howrah-Chennai main line.[1] But since there was a needto connect the coalfields of Western Odisha to Eastern Odisha, the Talcher–Sambalpur railway project was commissioned in 1983 and the work began in 1987. It was completed in 1996 and became operational in 1998. The flagging off of the Tapaswini Express, the first passenger train of the section by the Hon'ble Minister of Railways, fulfilled the long cherished dream of the people of Odisha to have a cultural, emotional, and socio-economic integration of the eastern and western parts of the State. This rail link, apart from relieving congestion of the Howrah–Mumbai and Howrah–Chennai trunk routes, reduced the distance between Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and Puri, respectively the commercial, political, and cultural capitals of Odisha, to important Indian cities of Western and Northern India such as Mumbai, New Delhi, etc. by 380 km.[2]

Electrification and doubling

The track doubling and the electrification of the Nergundi–Talcher section were completed in 2015. The Talcher–Sambalpur section track doubling and electrification work is under progress. The tentative date of its completion is set to 2020.[3]

The foundation stone for this Thermal Plant was laid in June 1989 by the then Prime Minister of India the late Rajiv Gandhi. The project was approved by GOI in November 1988 and was decided to be established by 134 NTPC. This is the first Super Thermal Power Plant of Angul District located at Kaniha, about 30  km distance from Talcher town. The plant has in total six units with a capacity of 500 MW each leading to 3000 MW of power generation. Both construction and commissioning activities were done in two phases beginning with two units in the first phase and four units next. The plant receives coal from the Lingaraj coal mine of MCL through a MGR Railway transportation system covering a distance of 39  km. The consumption of coal for this plant is about 50,000 MT/day. Besides, the plant draws raw water from the water reservoir of Samal Barrage. Regular raw water drawal is only meant for makeup water purpose as the plant deploys a closed circuit loop system to minimize fresh requirement significantly[4]

Talcher Coalfield with reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the largest in India,[5] is located on the Cuttack–Sambalpur line.[6] This railway line connects the MCL coalfields of Brajrajnagar and Talcher in western and eastern Odisha respectively.

Speed limits

The Cuttack–Sambalpur line is classified as a "Group D Spl" line which can take speeds up to 100 km/h. This section already carries high traffic density and is likely to grow substantially in future with the completion of line electrification and doubling work. The sanctioned speed limit for this line is 100 km/h.[7]

Passenger movement

Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Talcher road and Sambalpur are amongst the busiest railway stations in this section.

References

  1. ↑ "A saga of performance". Frontline.in. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  2. ↑ "Talcher-Sambalpur" (PDF). Eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Electrification, doubling of rly lines to be over by 2020". Times of India. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  4. ↑ "ODISHA DISTRICT GAZETTEERS" (PDF). Gopabandhuacademy.gov.in. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Coal Resources of India (As on 1.1.2004)" (PDF). Coal Wing, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "SARAPAL-NUAPARHA, TALCHER COALFIELD" (PDF). Coal.nic.in. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Chapter II – The Maintenance of Permanent Way". Indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
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