(1) ECOR GM Shri Surendra Singh Khurana in his Independence Day address (available at http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/custom/press_release/index.php) while talking about ECOR, said:

 “With only 4% of the track of Indian Railways, we cater for about 12% of total loading of Indian railway and about 7% of total earning of IR.”

(2) From http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/irfca/messages

For the 2003-2004 and 2004-05 the working expense as part of gross earnings of the ECOR zone is the second best at 66.64% and 61.75% respectively.

• The profit making zones in those years were
  • South east central (62.8% and 56.1%),
  • ECOR (66.64% and 61.75%),
  • North central (76.33% and 66.71%),
  • Central (80.29% and 82.48%),
  • South eastern (81.24% and 83.51%),
  • South Central (85.72% and 83.62%),
  • West Central (80.99% and 84.08%),
  • South Western (91.35% and 86.15%),
  • Western (93.21% and 90.85%),
  • Northern (91.08% and 92.89%) and
  • East Central (93.65% and 98.9%).

• The loss making zones were:
  • metro Kolkata (247% and 264.38%),
  • North Eastern (151.93% and 160.88%),
  • Northeast Frontier (147.98% and 159.45%),
  • Eastern (161.3% and 152.84%),
  • Southern (118.55% and 120.79%) and
  • North Western ( 106.26% and 104.98%).

(3) Based on (1) and (2) above ECOR probably makes about 10% of Indian Railways profit.

Why does not ECOR have the track length commensurate with the earnings it makes?

Why are no serious efforts being made to correct this; especially with many planned lines being given only minimal annual budgets which in many cases are less than the annual inflation.

In terms of rail density: the average rail density (2004-05) for India is 19.13; the rail density is highest in Delhi (138.2) followed by West Bengal (43.4), Punjab (41.6), Haryana (36.1), Bihar (35.9), Uttar Pradesh (35.8), etc. while Chhatisgarh (8.6) and Orissa (14.6) are among the states with low rail densities.

(6) The data from (1-3) and (5) show that while Indian Railways is making a lot of revenue and profit from ECOR (big part of which is in Orissa) and also SER (part of which is in Orissa), both ECOR and Orissa have been grossly neglected. This is true about the past; what about the future?

Mr V. N. Mathur, Member (Traffic) of the Railway Board is reported to have said:

“We’ve submitted to the Planning Commission a Rs 251,000-crore proposal for implementation by the end of the Eleventh Plan. We’ve indicated mobilisation of Rs 90,000 crore from within and 29 per cent of the projected estimate by way of market borrowing. For the balance, we may have to approach the government for support. But then nothing has yet been finalised.”

 (8) Many expensive and highflying plans by Indian Railways for the 11^th plan, but most bypass Orissa and ECOR.

(8A) Freight Corridor: Various news reports suggest that the 11^th plan (next 5-7 years) will take up the western and eastern corridors.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/9030.html

Western Corridor: 1,483-km Delhi-Mumbai route

http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/17/stories/2006091708640400.htm reports that the “Chennai-Kolkata and Chennai-Mumbai corridors will be included in the second phase of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Project.” 

(8B) High Speed Corridors:

“Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Mumbai-Baroda-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore and Howrah-Asansol-Patna — were announced in the current rail budget.”

(8C) Metro Rails and rapid transit systems: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_India#Metro   and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore_Metro

The following are the existing or under construction/expansion metro rail projects.

• Delhi Metro
• Hyderabad Metro
• Kolkata Metro
• Kolkata Suburban Railway
• Lucknow MEMU 
• Chennai Metro
• Mumbai Suburban Railway
• Bangalore Metro
• Mumbai Metro •
• Thane Metro
• In planning:
  • Ahmedabad Metro
  • Kochi Metro
  • Goa
  • Pune

(9) In essence revenue and profit generated in ECOR is being ploughed into other parts of India, which by itself is not wrong as Orissa is a part of India, but lets analyze who are the losers: the adivasi and backward areas of Orissa (and hence of India) who are backward partly because lack of proper connectivity, and this neglect continues to keep them backward and prevents them from catching up.

No, here are the data and following it is what planning commission teams have themselves said.

(10) The tribal population percentage of the KBK districts are as follows:
Malkangiri 58.36% (+19.96% SC), Rayagada 56.04% (+14.28% SC), Nabarangpur 55.27% (+15.09% SC), Koraput 50.67% (+13.41% SC), Nuapada 35.95% (+13.09% SC), Kalahandi 28.88% (+17.01% SC), Sonepur 22.11% (+9.5% SC), Balangir 22.06% (+15.39% SC). Two adjacent districts also have high tribal population. They are Kandhamala 51.51% (+18.21% SC) and Gajapati 47.88% (+8.77% SC).  Tirbal percentage of Mayurbhanj is 57.87% and Sundergarh is 50.74%.

(11) The literacy rates in the KBK districts are abysmally low. Malkangiri 31.26%, Nabarangpur 34.26%, Rayagada 35.61%, Koraput 36.2%, Nuapada 42.29%, Kalahandi 46.2%, Balangir 54.93%, Sonepur 64.07%. Two adjacent districts also have low literacy: Gajapati 41.73% and Kandhamala 52.95%. The state average is 63.1%.

(12) Population below the poverty line in southern Orissa (of which KBK is a part) is reported to be 89.17% of the people according to the 1999-2000 NSS data and 72% of the families according to the 1997 census.

(13) From http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article174.html

Table 1 provides State level data on poverty ratios during 2004-05. The lowest poverty ratio was 5.4 per cent for Jammu and Kashmir and highest poverty ratio was for Orissa (46.4 per cent). States with poverty ratio of less than 15 per cent were Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. As against them, States with poverty ratio above 30 per cent were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Orissa.

Table 1: Number and Percentage of Population Below Poverty Line (2004-05) based on URP Consumption

Rural

Urban

Combined

State	% of Persons	No. of persons (in lakhs)	% of Persons	No. of Persons (in lakhs)	% of persons	No. of persons(in lakhs)
S.No.	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
1 Jammu & Kashmir	4.6	3.7	7.9	2.2	5.4	5.9
2 Punjab	9.1	15.1	7.1	6.5	8.4	21.6
3 Himachal Pradesh	10.7	6.1	3.4	0.2	10.0	6.4
4 Goa	5.4	0.4	21.3	1.6	13.8	2.0
5 Haryana	13.6	21.5	15.1	10.6	14.0	32.1
6 Delhi	6.9	0.6	15.2	22.3	14.7	22.9
7 Kerala	13.2	32.4	20.2	17.2	15.0	49.6
8 Andhra Pradesh	11.2	64.7	28.0	61.4	15.8	126.1
9 Gujarat	19.1	63.5	13.0	27.2	16.8	90.7
10 Assam	22.3	54.5	3.3	1.3	19.7	55.8
11 Rajasthan	18.7	87.4	32.9	47.5	22.1	134.9
12 Tamil Nadu	22.8	76.5	22.2	69.1	22.5	145.6
13 West Bengal	28.6	173.2	14.8	35.1	24.7	208.3
14 Karnataka	20.8	75.0	32.6	63.8	25.0	138.9
15 All-India	28.3	2209.2	25.7	808.0	27.5	3017.2
16 Maharashtra	29.6	171.1	32.2	146.3	30.7	317.4
17 Uttar Pradesh	33.4	473.0	30.6	117.0	32.8	590.0
18 Madhya Pradesh	36.9	175.7	42.1	74.0	38.3	249.7
19 Uttarakhand	40.8	27.1	36.5	8.9	39.6	36.0
20 Jharkhand	46.3	103.2	20.2	13.2	40.3	116.4
21 Chattisgarh	40.8	71.5	41.2	19.5	40.9	91.0
22 Bihar	42.1	336.7	34.6	32.4	41.4	369.2
23 Orissa	46.8	151.8	44.3	26.7	46.4	178.5

Note: States have been arranged in the ascending order on the basis of combined poverty ratio in 2004-05. Poverty line: Rs 356.0 in rural areas and Rs 538.6 in urban areas (Per capita monthly expenditure).

Source: Planning Commission, Press Release, March 2007.

Five States, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa accounted for 166 million poor (about 55 per cent of the total poor estimated at 302 million). This shows the high concentration of poor in these five States.

(14) Planning Commission: The Planning Commission in its report comparing the development status of economic infrastructure of Orissa, especially the KBK region, vis-à-vis the country says:

"Railways have always played an important role in economic development and rapid social transformation in all parts of the globe. It is one of the key economic infrastructures. However, it is most unfortunate that in a poor and backward state like Orissa, development of rail networks has received much less attention of the Central Government in the post-independence period. There are as many as seven districts like Boudh, Kandhamal, Deogarh, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur out of the 30 districts of the state, which do not have any railway line passing through them. In the year 1998-99, the density of railway route length per 1000 sq. km of area in Orissa was only 15.03 km as against 42.66 km in West Bengal and 19.11 km. at all-India level”.

 (15) What we are asking with respect to KBK and adivasi areas of Orissa?

We are asking the current PM and the current planning commission to pay attention to what the planning commission report says in (15) and the data in (11)-(14).

In particular, we would like the following lines to be completed during the 11^th plan.

1)     Khurda – Balangir (This brings Railways to districts of Boudha, Sonepur and Nayagarh and bring Balangir – a part of KBK- closer to the state capital. This line of 290 km, initially budgeted at 700 crores, has all the necessary studies done, and its survey was complete before May 2004. It should be targeted to be completed within the next 2-3 years.)

2)     Gunupur-Theruvali (The Orissa govt. is ready to use PPP for this. This should also be done in 2-3 years together with the broad gauge conversion of Naupada-Gunupur line)

Lanjigarh Rd – Bhawanipatna – Junagarh – Nabarangpur- Jeypore – Malkangiri – Bhadrachalam Rd in Andhra Pradesh. (The first phase of this Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh is 56 km with an estimated cost of 120 crores. 15% of it was completed before May 2004. This should be completed immediately within 1-2 years. This line lies completely within the KBK districts and when finished will bring Railways to the districts of Nabarangpur and Malkangiri. Moreover, the Malkangiri-Bhadrachalam Rd part could go through a bit of Chhatisgrah. This line will create a shorter and alternative Ranchi-Hyderabad route and bring connectivity to an area that is currently havited by many extremist groups. Not much has been done beyond Junagarh, so this must be immediately approved and work started so that the line gets completed by the end of the 11^th plan.)

Talcher – Bimlagarh (This is 154 km long and was estimated at Rs 727 crore. This will bring the tribal district of Sundergarh much closer to Orissa, connect a dangling line, and will bring passenger rail to big parts of Sundergarh. This should be completed in 3-4 years.)

(These lines connect dangling lines and will bring passenger rail to big parts of the tribal district of Mayurbhanj. Not much has been done, so this must be immediately approved and work started so that the line gets completed by the end of the 11^th plan.)

Badampahar-Keonjhar (This line also  connecst dangling lines and will bring passenger rail to big parts of the tribal district of Mayurbhanj. Not much has been done, so this must be immediately approved and work started so that the line gets completed by the end of the 11^th plan.)

1. Parlakhemundi, the district headquarter of Gajapati (part of KBK+) will be on Broad gauge rail and will be 305 kms from Bhubaneswar (the state capital).
2. Sonepur, the district HQ of Sonepur district will be on connected by rail and will be 259 kms from Bhubaneswar (the state capital).
3. Boudh, the district HQ of Boudha district will be connected by Rail and will be 217 kms from Bhubaneswar (the state capital).
4. Nayagarha, the district HQ of Nayagarha district will be connected by Rail and will be 84 kms from Bhubaneswar (the state capital).
5. Bhawanipatna, the district HQ of Kalahandi district (part of KBK) will be connected by Rail and will be 450 kms from Bhubaneswar via Balangir and 504 kms from Bhubaneswar (the state capital) via Gunupur.
6. Malkangiri, the district HQ of Malkangiri district (part of KBK) will  be connected by Rail.
7. Nabrangpur, the district HQ of Nabrangpur district (part of KBK) will be connected by Rail.
8. Balangir, the district HQ of Balangir district will now be 309 kms from Bhubaneswar instead of the earlier 397 kms.
9. Nawapara Rd, near the district HQ of Nawapara district will now be 459 kms from Bhubaneswar instead of the earlier 547 kms.
10. Rayagada, the district HQ of Rayagada district will now be 419 kms from Bhubaneswar instead of the earlier 502 kms.
11. Koraput, the district HQ of Koraput district will now be 573 kms from Bhubaneswar instead of the earlier 676 kms.
12. Titlagarh, a major junction will now be 373 kms from Bhubaneswar instead of the earlier 461 kms.
13. There will be an alternate shorter path from Ranchi to Hyderabad via Titlagarh-Bhawanipatna-Nabrangpur-Jeypore-Malkangiri-Bhadrachalam Rd

(17) Is the Indian railway under the UPA government neglecting Orissa than the previous government?

(18) In the 2004 railway budget given at http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=869 (items 35,37) the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had proposed the Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana which aimed to complete lines like Khurda-Balangir within the next 5 years. This has been completely sidelined by the UPA government. This is what he said.

(18 A) Following is the exact wording, in items 35 and 37 of the 2004 Railway budget.

    * 35. Railways have a large shelf of over 230 projects worth about Rs. 43,000 cr, for construction of New Lines, Gauge Conversion, Doubling, Electrification and Metropolitan Transport Projects. Even with the enhanced budgetary support, non-budgetary initiatives under National Rail Vikas Yojana and other cost sharing mechanisms apart from Defence funding of some projects of strategic importance, there will still be projects valuing Rs. 20,000 cr which would remain unfinished even after the next five years. A large number of these have been sanctioned on socio economic considerations with the intention of connecting remote and backward areas with the rail network. However their progress is very slow on account of inadequate funding, which causes dissatisfaction. Connecting these areas with the rail network will facilitate the economic and social development of these areas and will provide major employment opportunities during construction and thereafter. Keeping these factors in mind, it has been decided to speed up the execution and completion of these projects also in the next five years. I am happy to inform the House that this would be done through an ambitious ‘Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana’, with an additional outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore.
    *

    * 37. This decision to accelerate the completion of all projects in five years is expected, on a broad estimate, to provide yearly employment to about 3 lakh persons during the construction period. Once opened for traffic, these lines would also require about 18000 persons per year for normal maintenance and operations, on incremental basis. Apart from this, it is expected that there will be scope for indirect employment of nearly 55000 persons per year. The ‘Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana’ will go a long way in changing the economic and social scenario of the remote and backward regions of the country and bringing the people of these areas into the mainstream. Further, the demand for steel, cement, rolling stock, fittings, components, plant and machinery will also be generated, boosting the economic growth of the entire country.

(18 B) World Bank:

http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/240060/India%20%20financing%20infrastructure%20-%20addressing%20constraints%20and%20challenges.pdf
June 2006 report (page 70 above Table A8)

The second project envisaged by the railways was announced in the interim Budget of 2004- 05 and is called Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana (RARSY). This involves executing and completing hitherto sanctioned projects related to connecting remote and backward areas with the rail network till 2010. The total investments in these projects is valued at Rs.200 billion. Presumably this is to be entirely funded by budget
support.

(18 C)   http://164.100.24.208/ls/CommitteeR/Railways/16th-Report.pdf
Railway Standing Committee Report 2005-06

Page 19:

To bridge this gap and considering the slow progress, projects especially in backward, underdeveloped and remote areas due to constraint of resources, Government had announced "Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana" (RARSY) in the Interim Budget 2004-05 which envisages investment of about Rs.20,000 crore in a period of 5 years on ongoing projects taken up on socio-economic considerations. However, the funds for the Yojana are yet to be tied up. Government in has attached priority to  infrastructure development. Keeping this commitment in view, a proposal has  been mooted for creation of Remote Area Rail Infrastructure Fund for financing the RARSY. If the Government approves the funding of this Yojana, all the ongoing projects will get completed in five years. The yojana is being processed in consultation with the Ministry of Finance for approval of the Government duly identifying the funding sources. A note in this regard is under process in the Ministry for consideration of Government.

3.10 Giving the details of the new initiatives to address the foregoing funds constraints, the Chairman, Railway Board stated as under:-
"Over the last few years, certain initiatives have been taken to see how we will fund over projects so that the pace of adding new lines, gauge conversion and doubling speeds up. We have introduced funding through defence for strategic lines. We have got some of the projects declared as the national projects where the funding is given directly by the Government. We have also initiated private participation in some cases, we have also
launched the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited which is generating funds through various sources including the market borrowing. Our need was to generate about Rs.47,000 crore to take care of the projects on the shelf. Out of this, we found that we can generate about Rs.12,500 crore or so out of the normal Budgetary support as per the past trends. We would be generating about Rs.18,000 crore due to the new initiatives that have been taken in the past few years. It still leaves us a gap of about Rs.17,000 crore to take care of
the projects which are by and large non-remunerative projects but they are on the shelf. These are the projects which are connecting distant areas, backward areas. They were sanctioned on socio-economic considerations and so many other considerations. Even for the sum of Rs.17,000 crore, which is our requirement, in the year 2004, in the Interim Budget, a scheme of Remote Area Rail Sampark Yojana was introduced. We are yet to finsalise the funding pattern under this scheme. The effort is to involve the State Government’s participation into this scheme as also through other means.
We are yet to give it a final shape."

3.11 In response to the concern of the Committee as to why the completion targets of the projects are not being fixed, the Chairman, Railway Board stated as under:-

"most of these projects will not be completed in the next few years. In fact, the projects where target has not been given is because normally we give targets for projects which are going to be over in the next two to three years.  But where it is going to be a distant period and where we do not know as to how much funds would be allocated for these projects, we do not give targets for those projects. So, wherever targets are given these are the projects which will take more than two to three years to get completed depending on how much funds are given. On our part, we have tried to revive the CapitalFund to see that we can put in more money.

Page 22: Talks about National Projects

3.12 In the absence of adequate internal generation of revenues by the Railways,
the following projects has been declared by the Government as the national Projects in the National interest. The funding for these projects are ensured by the Central Exchequer in the form of additional Budgetary Support to the Railways.

(18 D) Summing up this point:

In summary, based on earlier planning commission report as excerpted in (14) the 2004 Rail budget had the scheme RARSY which would have completed KBK connectivity lines like Khurda-Blangir. But the UPA government has buried that plan and has talked about burdening the state government for these lines, which since they can not afford, basically means abandoning these lines. This approach needs to be reversed and while India and Indian Railway marches ahead it must not forget the backward and adivasi areas of India and Orissa; especially when it makes money from transporting freight (minerals) from these areas.

(19.5) While the above are finished during the 11^th plan, we will patiently wait for the 12^th plan

• for the 2^nd phase of freight corridor involving Howrah-Chennai that will pass through Orissa;
• for high speed rail between Howrah-Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam, Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam-Chennai;
• for a metro rail for greater Bhubaneswar; and
• additional lines such as Jaleshwar-Digha, Berhampur-Phulbani, Bargarh-Nawapara Road and Talcher-Berhampur.

 

Following is from a PIB release.

Six laning of 6,500 km of National Highways comprising 5,700 km of Golden      Quadrilateral and 800 km of other sections on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis following, Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) pattern has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs.41, 210 crore under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V, scheduled for completion by December 2012. List of sections of National Highways in different states is given below:

SIX LANING OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

As per Indiantelevesion.com two new AIR stations will be coming up in Soro (Balasore Dist) and Rairangpur (Mayurbhanj Dist) and 2 more FM stations will be coming up in Orissa.

New Indian Express reports that the central govt. has suggested that Orissa apply for an agricultural export zone. Following are excerpts from that article.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday hinted that an Agriculture Export Zone (AEZ) in Orissa could be considered once the proposal for the same was received by the Centre.

Ramesh, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Secretariat, told reporters that the AEZ would be established in Kandhmal for organic turmeric. …

The State Government has already identified land for establishment of the AEZ in Kandhmal where a majority of the tribals cultivate organic turmeric.

Ramesh said that he requested the Chief Minister to concentrate more on export of organic coffee from Koraput, ginger and turmeric from Kandhmal and Sal from Mayurbhanj which could generate more employment opportunities.

The Union Minister said that Orissa exported goods worth Rs 10,400 crore last year, 90 per cent of which accounted for minerals only while the handicraft and other non-traditional products had a very negligible share.

Though Orissa is known for its famous handicraft, the export of such products stood only at 3 to 4 per cent of the total export of the country. Ramesh said the State had exported marine products to the tune of Rs 350 crore last year adding that this has to cross Rs 1000 crore in the next five years.

The Centre, he said, would sanction a cold storage for perishable products in Bhubaneswar and another for marine products in Paradip soon.

Anubhuti Bishnoi in Indian Express reports on the progress towards making a 2-lane Ranchi-Vijaywada highway zig-zagging through 1219 kms of Orissa and passing though most of its tribal districts, many of which are naxalite infested. The article has a nice map showing which towns the road will pass through in Orissa. Following are some excerpts from that article. (Thanks to Manoj Sahu in Africa for mentioning this article in Agami Orissa.)

At a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways was asked to expedite finalisation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor cutting through Orissa, and take it up on a priority basis. … Around 1,219 km of the 1,729-km corridor planned between Vijayawada and Ranchi will fall in Orissa, and the state government had requested that its state highways, district and rural roads be incorporated in the corridor. Now 235.8 km of national highway sections, 878 km of state high ways and 104.5 km of rural roads will be a part of the corridor. The road from Vijayawada enters Orissa at Motu in Malkangiri district and leaves at Tiring in Mayurbhanj district on the north. … While the Ministry may not call the stretch NH as yet, with the Prime Minister taking a keen interest, it is set to be developed as per national highway standards. What that means is that tribal areas of Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhamal, Anugul, Sambalpur, Deograh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Boudh, currently insurgency hotbeds, may emerge out of the hinterlands. Confirming that the project had been put on the fast track, a senior Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways official said: “The DPR of the corridor is underway and should be ready in six-seven months.”

Note: As mentioned by Digambara a map of the route is at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=592. I removed the faulty map that Indian Express printed.

• Balasore and Baripada lobbying for medical colleges
• One year P.G. Diploma in Banking and Insurance Management: From Utkal University in collaboration with ICICI bank
• Careerpoint claims that 21 out of 55 succeeded in IIT JEE
• A pre-advertisement from Sri Sri University
• Chennai Business School forays into Bhubaneswar
• Sri Sri University project: a powerpoint presentation
• Latest status of WODC related private medical college in Rourkela
• Ads for IIT JEE, AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Medical coaching classes
• Plus two options in Berhampur
• Telegraph writes about progress and obstacles in making the Capital Hospital a medical college
• PM: Each state will have a central university
• Bhubaneswar based Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital get nod for MBBS programme from 2007-08
• Tathya.in has a hard hitting article on the IIT issue that blames the Congress leaders for their ineptitude
• Cabinet approves new scholarship scheme for tribals

 

In recent years there has been a big jump in the number of kilometers of national highways in Orissa. Following is copied from my page "Roads and Highways infrastructure in Orissa."

Road network: Orissa Roads1; Orissa Roads2; India’s NH network; India’s golden quadrilateral; the part of the GQ/NH-5 that runs through Orissa.

• National Highways in Orissa and India; its growth in recent years:
  • NH 5: Junction with NH No.6 in Jharkhand near Baharagora-Baripada–Baleshwar-Bhadrakh-Cuttack- Bhubaneswar-Khordha-Chhatrapur-Brahmapur– upto Andhra Pradesh Border. (488 kms)
  • NH 5A: Junction with NH No.5 near Haridaspur-Paradip Port. (77 kms)
  • NH 6: From Chhattisgarh Border-Lobarchatti- Bargarh – Sambalpur-Deogarh-Barakot- Kendujhargarh -Jashipur-Bangriposi-upto Jharkhand Border (462 kms)
  • NH 23: From Jharkhand Border-Panposh-Raurkela– Rajamundra-Barakot- Pala Laharha-Talcher-Jn. with NH-42 (209 kms)
  • NH 42: Junction with NH No.6 near Sambalpur– Redhakhol-Anugul-Dhenkanal- Jn. with NH-5 near Cuttack. (261 kms)
  • NH 43: From Chhattisgarh Border– Dhanpunji- Borigma- Jaypur–Koraput-Sunki- Andhra Pradesh Border. (152 kms)
  • NH 60: From West Bengal Border– Jaleswar – Baleshwar (57 kms)
  • NH 75: From Jharkhand Border to junction with NH No.215 near Parsora (18 kms)
  • NH 200: From Chhattisgarh-Machida-Jharsuguda– Kochinda- Deogarh –Talcher-Kamakhyanagar-Sukinda- Chandhikhol (440 kms)
  • NH 201: Boriguma-Ampani-Bhawanipatna– Belgan- Balangir-Luisinga-Jogisuruda-Dunguripali-Bargarh (310 kms)
  • NH 203: Bhubaneshwar-Pipili-Puri–Konark (97 kms)
  • NH 203A: The highway starting from its junction with NH-203 at Puri, connecting Bramhagiri and terminating at Satpada (49 kms)
  • NH 215: Panikoli-Anandapur-Ghatgan- Kendujhargarh– Parsora-Koira-Rajamundra (348 kms)
  • NH 217: From Chhattisgarh Border-Nauparha-Khariar- Titlagarh-Belgan- Ramapur- Baligurha-Sorada-Asika- Brahmapur– Narendrapur- Gopalpur (438 kms)
  • NH 224: Khordha-Nayagarh-Dashapalla- Purunakatak-Bauda-Sonapur-Balangir (298 kms)
• Vijaywada-Ranchi highway (approved by planning commission as reported in May 2006), [July 06] [The Orissa government has been demanding a NH from Vijaywada to Ranchi which will pass through the Naxal infested areas. 1200 km of this 2000km will be in Orissa. CM talked to planning comission about it.]
• Ongoing National Highway work in Orissa
• Future plans for Orissa: [1:april-28-05]; [2:april-28-05].
• Various phases of NHDP: [1]; [2]; [3]
• Other highway plans:
  • 4 laning of Chandikhol-Paradip by February-end of 2007
  • 4 laning of Keonjhar-Panikoili, Duburi-Talcher, Cuttack-Paradeep and Duburi-Keonjhar Highways. [June17-05-Pragativadi]
• Aim-for-with-high-priority/parts-of-it-in-Orissa-govt- plan(page4)-already:
  • Connect NH 215 (perhaps at Jajpur Rd) to Jenapur to NH200 (where it meets Brahmani) with a highway as Jenapur is the location where the National waterway will cross the railway line and Jenapur is 7 kms from where a branch of the line goes to Daitari and Bansapani.
  • Designate AP-border-Koraput-Raygada-Padampur- Berhampur (in NH5) as a National highway. (This will bring Koraput and Raygada, thus a big part of KBK, closer to BBSR) — a slight revision of what is in the plan
  • Designate Anandpur (NH 215)-Bhadrak-Dhamara port as an NH. (This will bring Dhamara port closer to Jharkhand, thus helping industries in Jharkhand and Orissa.)
  • Jagatpur-Kendrapara-Chandbali-Dhamara — make it an NH (alternative route to Dhamara port)
  • Panikoili/Kuakhia-Jajpur-Aradi-Chandabali — make it an NH (alternative route to Dhamara port)
  • Panikoili-Jajpur-Kendrapara-NH5a-Paradeep — make it an NH (alternative to Paradeep port)
• Orissa State Road Transport Company (OSRTC)
• Wide city roads:
  • Four-laning of the Airport-Dhamana Chhaka road in Bhubaneswar: [1]
  • Other Bhubaneswar Road plans: [1], [2]
• Bhubaneswar area road plans:
  • Being pursued: BBSR-Barang-Khuntuni-NH42; alternate route to Bhubaneswar-Cuttack via Barang; Khurda-Cuttack bypass via Pitapalli; Bhubaneswar (Uttara chhack) to Paradeep highway (Uttara chhack map)
  • Should be pursued: Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd station (already some Puri-Adi trains bypass Bhubaneswar. So Khurda Rd could be an alternative reliever station for Bhubaneswar. Then this road would be very important.); Patia station to Pahala in NH5 (this would be a third alternative to Bhubaneswar-Cuttack especially from the hot area of KIIT, Infocity, etc.)

(This is copied from my site on Railway infrastructure in Orissa.)

 

Most of Orissa’s rail network ( full-orissa-map, map-east-n- north-orissa, map-south-n-west-orissa) is part of the East Coast railway( map1, map2, time-table), and a small portion is part of the South eastern railway( map, plans) of Indian Railways. For trains across India see the Indian Railways Schedule, and for trains across Orissa see the ECOR schedule. Maps from IRFCA are here. India9.com has a list of stations and trains related to Orissa.

Rail network description:

• Howrah(0)… Kharagpur (116) … Lakshannath Rd (178)-Jaleswar (184)-Rajghat halt (191)-Amarda Rd (198)-Basta (203)- N Mayurbhanj Rd (207)-Rupsa Jn (213)-Haldipada (219)-Tikirapal halt (226)-Balasore (231)-Nilgiri Rd (241)- Khantapara (246)-Panpana (251)-Bahanga Bazar (256)-Soro (264)-Sabira (271)-Markona (279)-Ranital (285)- Bhadrak(291) -Baudpur(303)-Kapali Rd(308)-Kenduapada(312) -Manjuri Rd(320)-Dulakhpatna(323)-Baitarani Rd (328)- Korai(335)-Jajpur Keonjar Rd(340) – Jakhapura (348)-Brahmani PH-Jenapur(356)- New Garhmadhupur (362) -Haridaspur(372) -Dhanmandal(377)- Barithengarh(383) – Byree(388)-Sri Jhadeswar(392) – Kapilas Rd (398)- Nergundi(401)- Kendrapara Rd (409)- Cuttack(412) -Kathajori(414)-Gopalpur Balikuda(417)-Barang(424)- Patia(431)- Mancheswar (433)- Vani Vihar (437)- BBSR(440)- Lingaraj temple rd (445)- Retang(452)- Khurda Rd(459)-Argul (465)-Kaipadar Rd (468)- Dhaulimuhan(473)- Tapang(477)-Golabai(482)- Nirakarpur(485)- Bhusandapur(493)-Mukteswar(498)- Kaluparaghat (503) – Kuhuri(509)-Gangadharpur(517)- Solari(523)-Balugaon(530)- Chilika(537)- Khallikot (548)-Rambha(559)-Humma(570)-Ganjam(576)- Chhatrapur Court(584)- Chatrapur(585)- Jagannathpur(597)-Berhampur(606)-Golanthara (617)- Surla Rd(621)-…-Palasa(680)-…- Naupada (705) -…- Vijainagaram(821) -…- Visakhapatnam (882)

(ecor map)

• Haridaspur-Kendrapara-Paradeep (preliminary stage of construction; only few stations are named currently)
• Cuttack(0)-Mattagazpur(7)- Kandarpur(17)- Badakhandita(25)- Raghunathpur(32)- Gorakhnath (45) -Jhankad Sarla Rd(50)- Rahama(60)- Badabandha (73)- Paradeep(83)
• Khurda Rd (0)-Haripur(3)-Motari(8)-Kanas Rd(11)- Delang(15)- Birpurusottampur(22)-Sakhigopal(27)- Janakideipur(33)-Malatipatpur(36)-Puri (44)
• Khurda Rd(0)-Khurda Town(10.8)-Rajsunakhala (44)-Nayagarh(65.6)-Dasapalla(110.25)-Boudh (198)-Sonepur(240.1)-Bhainsapalli(274.9)-Balangir (preliminary stage of construction; only few stations are named currently)
• Sambalpur (0)-Sambalpur Rd(2)-Sambalpur city(7)- Maneswar(15)-Hatibari(28)- Jujomura(39)- Charmal (56)-Rairkhol(71)-Bamur(87)-Saragipali(97)- Handapa (111)- Boinda(118) – Jarapada(133)- Kerejanga(143) – Angul(157)-Talcher Rd (169) – Talcher(175)
• Talcher (0)-Talcher thermal(4)-Budhapank(10)- Meramondali(19)-Naya Bhagirathipur(28)- Hindol rd (32)-Sadashibpur(42)-Dandimal(46)- Dhenkanal (53)-Shyamcharanpur (58)- Joranda Rd(61)- Rajathagarh(73)- Radhakishorepur (77)- Ghantikhal (83)- Naraj Marthapur(90)-Barang(98)
• Talcher(0)-…-Rajathagara(73)-Gurudijhatia(83) – Charbatia(92)-Salagaon(96)- Nergundi(100) -…- Cuttack(112)-…-Bhubaneswar(140)
• Howrah(0)-…-Kharagpur-(115)…-TATA(249.5)-…- Rajkharswan(291.4)-…-Chakradharpur(312)-…- Bhalulata(392)-Bisra(398.6)-Bondamunda Halt (406.4) – Raurkela (413=X)-Panposh (418.7)- Kalunga(426.3)- Kansbahal (433.3)- Rajgangpur (443)-Sonakhan(450) -Sagra(456.7)- Garpos (461)-Tangarmunda (469)- Bamra(477.5)- Dharuadihi(487.2)-Bagdihi(493.4)- Panpali(499.6)- Dhutra(505.5) –Jharsuguda Jn(514.2)– Ib(523.1)- Brajrajnagar(525.8)-Belpahar(534.9)- Himgiri(548.2)- Daghora(555.3)-…-Raigarh(585.7)-…- Bilaspur(718) -…- Raipur(828.6)
• Badampahar(0)-Chhanua PH(9)- Kuladiha(16)- Rairangpur(24.5)-Aunlakhor(34)-Bahalda Rd(47)- Haludpukur(67.5)-Tata(89)
• Gurumahishasini(0)-Aunlakhor(9)
• Raurkela(0)- Quarry (8) – Kuarmunda (18)- Biramitrapur (27)
• Titilagarh(0)-Sikir(11)-Badmal(20)-Saintala(29)- Deogaon Rd(47)-Balangir(64)- Balangir Rd(66)- Loisingha(82)- Khaliapali(94) -Dungripali(106)- Barpali(121)- Bargarh Rd(140)- Attabira(158) -Godbhaga(166)-Hirakud(175)-Sambalpur(182)- Sambalpur Rd(184)-Sason(196)-Rengali(205)- Lapanga(215)-Brundamal(224)- Jharsuguda(231)
• Visakhapatnam(0)-..-Shimiliguda(121)-Araku(132)- Gorapur(142)-Darliput(155)- Padua(165)-Bheja(175)- Machhakund Rd(186)- Paliba(199)- Suku(206)- Koraput(217)- Manabar (224)- Jarati(234)- Maligura (245) – Chhatriput (252) –Jeypore(259)- Dhanapur (266) – …Jagdalpur(323) -…Kirandul(473)
• Koraput (0)-Damnjodi(19)- Kakrigumma (46) – Lakshmipur Rd (62) – Tikiri (83)-Rauli(96)- Lelligumma (113) -Bhalumaska (129)-Kautguda(155)- Singhapur Rd (164) – Rayagada (173)
• Raipur (0)-…-Khariar Rd(106)-Nawapara Rd (117)- Lakhna(131)- Harishankar Rd(147)-Truekela Rd(156)-Kantamanji(170)-Muribahal(185) – Rahenbata (196) – Titlagarh(203)- Kesigna(216) -Kandel Rd(225) – Rupra Rd(232)- Norla Rd(239)- Lanjigarh Rd(250)- Ambodola(264)- Doikallu(276) -Muniguda(289)-Bissam Cuttack (306)- Therubali (324)-Singapur Rd9(333)- Raygada (343) -Ladda (351)-…-Bobbili(414)-… –Vijainagaram(467)
• Rupsa Jn (0)-Thakurtota(6)-Jugpur(12)- Jogal(18)- Betonoti(24)-Krishna Ch Pur (35)-Jamsole(42)- Baripada (52)
• Baripada (0)-Baghra Rd(3)- Bhanjapur(4)- Kuchai(12) -Buramara(24)-Rajalukan(36)-Bangriposi (37.4) (narrow gauge, being converted)
• Balasore (0)-Nilgiri (21) (narrow gauge, used for transporting granite; defunct now?): [1]
• Naupada(0)-Tekkali(7)-Peddasana(13)-Temburu(17)- Ganguvada(25)-Patapatnam(34)- Parlakimidi (40)- Sitapuram(52)-Kashinagar(65)-Lihuri(71)- Bansidhara (79)-Palasingi(84)- Gunupur(90) (narrow gauge; being converted; Gunupur to be connected to Therubali)
• Jakhapura(0)-Sukinda Rd(8)-Baghupal(16)- Tomka(24)-Daitari(33). Tomka(0)-Tangiriapal(10)-Sagadapeta(26)-Chilikdara (39)- Harichandanpur(49)-Nilakantheswar(59)- Sitabanji(70)- Basantpur(83)-Naranpur(92)- Keonjhargarh(98)-Goaldih(109)- Porjanpur(116)- Nayagarh(130)– Jaroli(146)-Bansapani(155)-Murg Mahadev Rd(164)-Deojhar(167)-Padapahar (183)- Dangoaposi(188)-Maluka(198)-Kendposi(208)- Talaburu(217)-Jhinkpani(226)-Singhpokharia(235) –Chaibasa(242)-Pandrasali(250)-Rajkharswan(262) (between Chakradharpur and Tata) … Tata (304)
• Bolanikhadan(0)-Barabil(6)-Bara jamda(16)- Noamundi (30)-Padapahar(33)
• Gua(0)-Bara jamda(8)
• Kiriburu(0)-Karampada(6)-Tupadih(11.5)-Rangra(20)- Rakshi(30)- Bimlagarh(40)-Patasahi(48)-Chandiposh (55)- Champajharan(61)-Lathikata(70.6)-Dumetra (80)- Bondamunda Halt(86.5)
• Bondmunda Halt-Bangurkoel(0)-Bispur(7)- Nawagaon (13)- Orga(20)-…-Hatia(148); Nawagaon-Punrapani
• Barsuan(0)-Gognaposh(14.5)-Bimlagarh(21)

Current railway connectivity and Indian railway websites:

• 2007 Bhubaneswar connectivity (draft): Bhubaneswar/Cuttack/Puri/KhurdaRd (on a map)(7,7a,29,29a,30,30a,32,32a,34,34a,40,78)

• 2007 Rest of Orissa connectivity (draft): Rourkela (5,5a,32,32a,34,34a,36,36a,40,78), Sambalpur (5,5a,32,32a,34,34a,40,78), Berhampur/Chhatrapur (7,7a,29,29a,30,30a,34,34a,40), Titlagarh (34,34a,40,42,42a), Rayagada (34,34a,40,42,42a), Balasore/Bhadrakh/Jajpur Keonjhar Rd (7,7a,29,29a,30,30a,32,32a,40), Dhenkanal/Anugul/Talcher (78), Jharsuguda (5,5a,32,32a,34,34a,36,36a, 40,78), Barbil (87,87a), Bolangir/BaragarhRd (34,34a,40), Koraput (40), Baripada (32,32a), Rupsa, Keonjhargarh, Gunupur/Parlakimidi.
• Time Table: Howrah-Rkl-Mumbai(5), Mumbai-Rkl-Howrah(5a), Howrah-BBSR/Puri-Chennai(7), Chennai-BBSR/Puri-Howrah(7a), Guwahati-BBSR-B’lore/Kerala(29), B’lore/Kerala-BBSR-Guwahati(29a), Howrah-BBSR-Hyderabad(30), Hyderabad-BBSR-Howrah(30a), Puri-Delhi(32), Delhi-Puri(32a), Puri-Okha(34), Okha-Puri(34a), Dhanbad-Chennai-Dhanbad(40), Puri-Sambalpur-Puri(78), Vizag-Rayagada-Delhi(42), Delhi-Rayagada-Vizag(42a), Barbil-Howrah(87), Howrah-Barbil (87a), Patna/Danapur-RKl-Bilaspur/Durg(36a), Bilaspur/Durg-RKL-Patna/Danapur(36).
• Orissa rail history
• List of trains passing through various Orissa stations
• Seven days availability of trains leaving Bhubaneswar
• Seven days availability of trains leaving Cuttack
• Seven days availability of trains leaving Puri
• Earliest dates on which reservations are available from Puri
• Train running (late/in time/etc.) status page (by train #)
• Train departure by station name
• Trains/Fare/Reservation Availability Status Between Important Stations — Editor’s comment July 30 2005: There is a list of about 150 stations there, but the list only includes two stations in Orissa, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. They should atleast add Puri, Khurda Rd, Cuttack and Sambalpur to that list. Moreover, Khurda Road should be considered to be in Bhubaneswar area and trains that skip Bhubaneswar but pass through Khurda Road should show up when queries about Bhubaneswar are asked.
• Trainfinder between two stations
• Train reservations
• Coach positions: Southern railway
• IR time tables: Official Dec 2006 TAAG (Trains at a glance) site; a more organized Dec 2006 TAAG site.
  • 2006 Dec-2007 July ECOR time table
  • 2004-2005 ECOR time table: Vizag-Bhadrakh, Bhadrakh-Vizag, Vizag-Kirandul-Vizag, Titlagarh-Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda-Titlagarh, Rayagada-Raipur, Raipur-Rayagada, Vijainagaram-Titlagarh, Titlagarh-Vijainagaram, Talcher-Sambalpur, Sambalpur-Talcher, KhurdaRd-Angul, Angul-KhurdaRd, Puri-KhurdaRd, KhurdaRd-Puri, Raygada-Koraput, Cuttack-Paradeep–Nuapada-Gunupur, Vijaywada-Vizag, Vizag-Vijaywada, Bhadrakh-Howrah, Howrah-Bhadrakh.

Railway budgets:

• Plans in the 2007 budget
  • New Trains:
    • Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express (weekly) after gauge conversion;
    • Bhubaneswar-Ranchi Garib Rath (tri-weekly) [most likely to follow the route Ranchi-MuriJn-ChandilJn-KandraJn-SiniJn-Chaibasa- Dangoaposi-PadapaharJn-Bansapani-Kenojhargarh- Tomka-SukindaRd-Jakhapura-Cuttack-Bhubaneswar]
  • Increase in Frequency: 2843/2844 Puri-Ahmedabad Express via Rayagada (from triweekly to 4 days in a week); 2835/2836 Hatia-Yesvantpur Express (from weekly to biweekly)
  • Doubling works of Bimlagarh-Dumitra (Part), Barbil-Badajamda, Titlagarh-Raipur have been given approval.
  • Survey for doubling: Sambalpur-Talcher; Khurda Road-Puri
  • Budget Numbers
    • New lines (94 crores total as opposed to 271.85 crores in 2006-07): Koraput-Rayagada (2 crores), Talcher-Sambalpur (3 crores), Lanjigarh Rd-Junagarh (12 crores), KhurdRd-Balangir (20 crores), Haridaspur-Paradeep (20 crores), Talcher-Bimlagarh (15 crores)
    • Gauge conversion (60 crores total as opposed to 49.8 crores in 2006-07): Naupada-Gunupur (25 crores), Rupsa-Bangiriposi ( 35 crores)
    • Doubling (293 crores as opposed to 293.16 crores in 2006-07): Talcher-Cuttack-Paradeep with 2nd bridge on Mahanadi and Birupa (64 crores), Cuttack-Barang (55 crores), Barang-Khurda Rd 3rd line (88 crores), Rajathagarh-Barang (86 crores). [Sambada lists some more doubling projects that is not listed in the pink book (ecor, se). Sambada claims the total 2007-08 budget for doubling to be 449.5 crores.]
• Plans in the 2006 budget
  • New Trains: Bhubaneswar-Baripada Express (tri-weekly) ; Howrah-Puri Express(bi-weekly) [done]; Bhubaneswar-Pondicherry Express(weekly) [feb14]; Tatanagar – Yesvantpur Express via Rourkela- Sambalpur- Rayagada(weekly) [done]; Howrah-Mumbai Express (weekly)
  • Extension of trains: 7227/7228 Vasco-Vijayawada Express (4 days a week) to Howrah [done]; 8507/8508 Visakhapatnam-Nizamuddin Hirakud Express to Amritsar; 8305/8306 Raipur-Sambalpur Express to Bhubaneswar [done]; 8467/8468 Puri-Jaipur Express to Jodhpur [done]; 8563/8564 Bangalore-Visakhapatnam Prashanti Express to Bhubaneswar; 211/212 Puri-Sambalpur Passenger to Rourkela
  • Increase in Frequency: 5625/5626 Bangalore- Guwahati Express from bi-weekly to tri-weekly [done]
  • In 2006-07, Railways propose to complete over 550 kms of New Lines. The sections include : Keonjhar-Daitari of Banspani-Daitari. With the completion of the above sections, the connection of Jakhapura (near Jajpur Road, between Bhubaneswar and Jajpur Rd) to Daitari, Keonjhar, Bansapani, to Rajkharsuan (between Chakradharpur and Tata) will be complete. See map. This will create alternate paths from Bhubaneswar to Rourkela (not much shorter, if any, than BBSR-Sambalpur-RKL though), and Bhubaneswar to Tata (a bit shorter than BBSR-KGP-Tata).
  • Completion of doubling of Titlagarh-Kesinga, Sambalpur-Sarala and Jharsuguda bye-pass in Orissa. Doubling of Padapahar-Banspani have also been included in the budget. In addition, works of doubling of Sambalpur-Titlagarh have been included in the Budget. Other doubling plans include Koraput-Kirandul, Kottavalasa-Koraput, and Bhadrak-Nergundi 3rd line.
  • Budget numbers: Total of Rs 653.9 crore for Orissa in 2006-07 ( against a request of 800 crores, and 279.39 crore more than allotted in 2005-06.): Rs 19 crore for the Lanjigarha Rd – Bhawanipatna – Junagarh, Rs 23 crore for the Khurda Rd- Balangir, Rs 155.58 crore Daitari-Keonjhar-Banspani, Rs 44 crore for Haridaspur-Paradip, Rs 20 crore for Angul-Duburi- Sukinda Road, and Rs 10 crore for Talcher-Bimalgarh. Rs 15.89 crore has been sanctioned for gauge conversion of Rupsa-Bangiriposi (Simlipal), Rs 34 crore for gauge conversion of Nuapada-Parlakimidi-Gunpur project, and Rs 293.16 crore for 12 doubling projects for 2006-07 as against Rs 170 crore for 2005-06.
  • 2006-07 Budget details at: Pink Book: ECOR details, SER details; Green Book: ECOR, SER.
• Past Railway budgets: 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06.
• Railway proj ects in Orissa — 2004 budgetary provisions
• Requests from Orissa legislator’s in Loksabha debates: [2005: Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Braja Kishore Tripathy, Ananta Nayak, Bikram Keshari Deo, B. Mahtab, Arjun Sethi, Brahmananda Panda, Kharabela Swain, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Mohan Jena]
• A twelve year railway budget plan for new lines and gauge conversion in Orissa: [April,1-2006]

New lines, gauge conversions, doublings: [Hindu-April05]

• Hurdles: 2006-07 ECOR allocation, 2006-07 SER allocation, Baripada-Bangiriposi problem (see page 8-9 of 2006-may-CAG report)
• New lines in progress or recently completed plus wish list for immediate consideration
  • Daitari-Banspani 155 km, estimated cost Rs 590 corres, 78% complete by May 2004. [map]
  • Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna-Junagarh 55.67 km, Rs 120 crore, 15% complete on May 2004. [map] Editors note: Highest priority should be to have the following link: Malkangiri (southwestern tip of Orissa) to Jeypore (next to Koraput) to Nabarangpur to Junagarh-Bhawanipatna-Lanjigarh (in Kalahandi district), where Lanjigarh is just south of Titlagarh. (This will bring railways to the districts of Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi in KBK.)
  • Haridaspur-Paradip 82 km, Rs 340 crore, 4.25% complete but on fast track. [map], [Statesman:March2006]
  • Sukinda Road-Angul 90 km, Rs 415 crore, 0.2% complete on May 2004, but on fast track. (Sukinda Rd is in between Jajpur Road and Daitari) [map].
  • Talcher-Bimlagarh (Total: 154 km, Rs 727 crore) [map] [ This will make the shortest distance between BBSR to Rourkela to 308 kms: BBSR-Talcher (114) + Talcher-Bimlagarh(154) + Bimlagarh-Rourkela(40). Other alternate paths between BBSR-Rourkela are: BBSR-KGP-Rourkela (440-115+412-115= 325+ 297=622); BBSR-Talcher-Sambalpur-Rourkela (440); BBSR-Jakhapura-Daitari-Bansapani-Rajkharswan- Rourkela (92+38+155+108+122=515); BBSR-Bansapani-Padapahar-Bolanikhadan-?- Kiriburu-Bondamunda-Rourkela (285+28+32+ 15+85+7=452). ]
  • Khurda Road-Bolangir 290 km, Rs 700 crore, 6% (survey) complete by May 2004. [map]
  • Gunupur-Therubali: [map]
  • Bangriposi-Gurumahishasini: see mention in 2005 budget — section 91.III.11 (connecting Gurumahishasini to Bangiriposi and then having broad gauge till Rupsa gives the path TATA-Baripada-Rupsa; [an alternate demand by people]); [SER plan], [SER plan2], [map]
  • Chakulia-Buramara: [SER plan], [SER plan2], [people’s demand]
  • Jaleswar-Digha: [SER plan], [SER plan2]
  • Wishlist: Kiriburu-Bolanikhadan (about 10 kms) — will result in the path Rourkela-Bimlagarh-Kiriburu- Barbil-Bansapani-Jakhapura-Cuttack- Bhubaneswar: [google-image], [map].
  • Wishlist: Naraj-Khordha-Khurda-Road line as part of a circular rail for the Bhubaneswar area, Khordha-KhurdaRd should be constructed immediately as part of the KhurdaRd-Balangir line, then complete the Khorda-Naraj part and then make Khorda another reliever station for Bhubaneswar. Then there should be a train running between Cuttack-Barang-Bhubaneswar- Khurda Rd-Khordha-Naraj-Barang at frequent intervals.
  • Recently completed or planned to be completed: Koraput-Raygada (Dec 1995), Talcher-Sambalpur (Aug 1998), Rupsa-Baripada (Sept 2005), Daitari-Bansapani (scheduled – 2006/07).
• Gauge Conversion:
  • Naupada-Gunupur, 90 km, Rs 89 crore, just starting. [map].
  • Rupsa-Bangiriposi: Rupsa-Baripada is already done (see item 108 2005 budget; [trial-run]) [map]; [Rupsa-Baripada DMU from Sept’19 05]
• Doubling projects:
  • 32-km Raghunathpur-Cuttack stretch on the Cuttack-Paradip section
  • 24-km stretches between Norla Road and Lanjigarh Road and between Titlagarh and Kesinga on the Titlagarh-Lanjigarh section on the Raipur-Vizag route
  • Sambalpur-Rengali (22.7 km)
  • Rajathgarh-Barang (31.5 km)
  • Khurda Road-Puri (15.3 km)
  • Cuttack-Barang (11.7 km)
  • Khurda Road-Barang (35 km)
• New lines under consideration: surveying stage (Baragarh-NawaparaRd, Gunupur-Therubali and Puri-Konark survey are mentioned in 91.II.5, 91.II.1 and 91.II.3 of 2005 budget):
  • Jeypore-Kottameta new BG rail link, 128 kms
  • Puri-Konark new BG rail link, 30 kms
  • Phulbani-Berhampur new BG line, 175 kms
  • Talcher/Hindol Road -Gopalpur/Berhampur new BG rail link, 245 ms
  • Talcher-Bimlagarh new BG rail link, 130 kms
  • Bargarh-Nawapara Road new BG link via Padampur, 120 kms
  • Jeypore-Nawarangpur new BG line, 45 kms (and then extended to Junagarh)
  • Jeypur-Malkangiri
  • Editor’s wish list: Therubali-Angul-Keonjhar-Badampahar (will result in the paths Jeypore-Koraput-Rayagada- Therubali-Angul-BBSR, Jeypore-Koraput-Rayagada- Therubali-Angul-Sukinda-Jajpur Rd-Balasore- Howrah, Kirandul-Jeypore- Koraput- Rayagada- Therubali- Angul-Keonjhar-Bansapani-Ranchi, Jeypore – Koraput-Rayagada-Therubali-Angul- Keonjhar -Badam Pahar-Jamshedpur)
  • Editor’s wish list: Jajpur Rd- Jajpur-Aradi- Chandbali- Dhamara port
  • Other links in Orissa govt’s list: Raygada-Gopalpur, Jaleshwar-Digha, Keonjhar-Badampahar.

Future Plans:

• Rail Traffic Projections: [NewIndPress:Aug9-05]
• A twelve year railway budget plan for new lines and gauge conversion in Orissa: [April,1-2006]
  • Orissa CM demands more fund and trains in rail budget of 2006
• New trains, extension and increased frequencies: wish list for 2007 and beyond
  • Goal: Better connectivity between BBSR and Rourkela.
    • Introduce a BBSR-Rourkela half day Intercity train and/or extend BBSR-Sambalpur train to Rourkela. [BBSR-Rourkela distance is Rourkela-Jharsuguda (102) + Jharsuguda-Sambalpur (49)+ Sambalpur-Talcher(175) + Talcher-Barang(98) + Barang-BBSR (16) = 440km] So a BBSR-Howrah (437 km) Janashtabdi/Dhauli kind of timing, or the BBSR-Vijag (443km) Intercity timing would be ok. For example: If it starts from BBSR at 6 AM then using the 8413 timing it can reach Sambalpur by 11 AM and can reach Rourkela by 1:40 PM. Then it can leave Rourkela by 2:30 PM and reach BBSR by 10:10 PM. If this is successful then have another train with the opposite timing. I.e., leaving Rourkela at 6 AM reaching BBSR at 1:40 PM and leaving BBSR at 2:30 PM and reaching Rourkela at 10:10 PM. Extend Puri-Sambalpur and Rayagada-Sambalpur expresses to Jharsuguda so that passengers from BBSR/Puri/CTC can connect to many of the trains that go west (to Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad etc.) from Jharsuguda.
  • Goal: More frequency between BBSR and Mumbai: Do one or more of the following.
    • Easiest: Extend Visakha-Express to Mumbai.
    • Next: Extend the newly extended 8305/8306 Raipur-Bhubaneswar express to Mumbai (via Nagpur) [Alternatively extend this train to Bhopal via Nagpur]
    • Extend Vidarbha or Sevagram Express (between Mumbai and Nagpur) to Bhubaneswar (via Raipur-Titlagarh-Bargarh-Sambalpur-Dhenkanal) [Also increases connectivity to Nagpur]
    • Increase frequency of weekly 2145/2146 BBSR-Mumbai express(so that twice a week it goes in the current route via Anugul-Sambalpur, twice a week it goes via Vijainagaram-Rayagada- Titlagarh- Raipur, and thrice a week via Vizag-Koraput- Rayagada-Raipur); [Similar to the trains connecting Puri-BBSR to ADI.]
  • Goal: Increase connectivity between Western Orissa and Allahbad-Delhi ( Public demand):
    • Extend 8601 Hatia Jammu Tawi express (now via Allahbad and Delhi) to Sambalpur (via Rourkela) first and may be after a year all the way till Bhubaneswar
    • Extend 2817/8603 Hatia-Delhi Samjhouta Express (via Allahbad) to Sambalpur (via Rourkela).
    • Increase frequency of Vizag-Delhi(now planned to be extended to Amritsar) express and on the new days let it take the route of Vizag-Koraput-Rayagada-Titilagarh-Balangir- Sambalpur and then follow the rest of the schedule.
  • Increase frequency of BBSR Rajdhani (perhaps once or twice plying through Sambalpur, once plying through Keonjhar, and going beyond BBSR to Viskhapatnam);
  • Goal: Better connection between western Orissa and South India, especially Hyderabad ( Public demand) [There are direct trains from Rourkela/Sambalpur to Bhubaneswar, Howrah, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, but none to Hyderabad currently]:
    • Extend 6512 Bilaspur-Bangalore Express (via Hyderabad) to Rourkela or via Rourkela to Hatia/Ranchi or Tata.
    • Extend Vizag-Hyderabad Godavari express to Rourkela.
    • Introduce a Tata-Hyderabad Express going through Rourkela. [This should be happening soon, as Tata has excellent connections to all parts of India except to Hyderabad. May be ECOR can chip in towards this.] (Note in 2006 budget a new weekly Tata- Bangalore express is proposed. This may be routed through Hyderabad.)
  • Have a new Rayagada-Raipur (343 kms) day time express and Balangir-Vijainagaram (336 km) day-time express.
  • Increase frequency of weekly BBSR-Bangalore express and extend it to Mysore;
  • A Bhopal-Nagpur-BBSR-Puri train. (Bhopal and Nagpur are very close to Orissa but are not properly connected to BBSR by Rail.)
  • Extend Dhanbad-Tata Subarnreka express to Bhubaneswar.
  • Extend 8102 Muri express (Tata/Hatia-Jammu Tawi) to Bhubaneswar via Keonjhar (on the Hatia part) and Bhubaneswar via Kharagpur and Balasore on the Tata part.
  • A weekly Puri-Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur-Jabalpur-Bhopal-Kandla express
  • Extend Puri-Jodhpur express to Jaisalmer
  • A weekly Puri-Jaipur-Bikaner express
  • A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Tuticorn express
  • A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Cape express
  • A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Trivendrum express
  • A weekly BBSR-Chennai-Mangalore-Calicut express.
  • Once Daitari-Bansapani line is completed: a Tata-Puri passenger as well as a BBSR-TATA Intercity express via Keonjhar. [BBSR-Tata distance via Keonjhar will be about 421Kms: BBSR-Jakhapura (92) + Jakhapura -Tomka(24) + Tomka-Bansapani(155)+ Bansapani- Rajkharswan(108) + Rajkharswan-Tata(42)] Just for reference: BBSR-KGP-Tata = (440-115) + (249-115) = 325+134 = 459 kms.
  • Once Daitari-Bansapani line is completed, run one of the BBSR-SiniJn-Delhi train via Keonjhar on some of the days. (BBSR-Kenojhar-Sini = 410 kms while BBSR-Tata-Sini=486 kms)
  • a daily North Orissa Express train between Baripada and Puri. (in 2006-07 plan there is a thrice daily Baripada-BBSR train. This train is operational now.)
  • extend one of the trains to Delhi to beyond say Chandigarh/Jammu
  • a daily train between Baripada and Sambalpur;
  • a daily train between Rourkela and Berhampur;
  • a daily train between Paradeep and Berhampur;
  • extend 8447/8448 BBSR-Koraput express upto Jeypur;
  • increase frequency of 5639/5640 weekly Puri – Guwahati express;
  • once the line between Howrah-BBSR is completely electrified [done Dec 1 05] an almost non-stop twice a day, 4 hrs each way train between Howrah-BBSR;
  • Extend Konark express to start from Baripada as well as 2145/2146 BBSR-Mumbai express to start from Baripada. [There are direct trains from Balasore to BBSR, Howrah, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, but none to Mumbai. In general all train going west that start from BBSR should be extended to Balasore];
  • make a reliever station to Bhubaneswar with express halts at Patia. It is 1 km to the right of Magnetic Square in this map, and 2 km to the top of Patia square in this map. Note that this station is 3 km from Infocity, 1 km from KIIT, 2 km from Silicon, 3.5 km from Trident, 2 km from Koustuv, 2 km from College of Engg, 2 km from CIPET, 5 km from Fortune tower, etc.
• People’s demand: [Pioneer July’05: Extension of Raipur-Sambalpur intercity express to Bhubaneswar instead of Sambalpur [in 2006-07 plan], completion of Khurda-Balangir Railway Line, extension of Bhubaneswar -Sambalpur intercity express to Titilagarh instead of Sambalpur]
• Orissa integration plan (July 2005):
  • Now: lots of trains in the route Howrah- Kharagpur -Balasore-BBSR-Berhampur- Palasa-Vizag and Howrah-Rourkela-Mumbai; and many trains in the line Sambalpur-Dhenkanal-Bhubaneswar.
  • in 5 years: 2 fast express trains daily between: Koraput-Raygada-Gunupur-BBSR, Tata-Baripada- Rupsa-BBSR, Rourkela-Bansapani-BBSR, Chakradharpur-Keonjhargarh-Bhubaneswar; every two hours during the day trains between Puri-BBSR, Paradeep-BBSR, Berhempur-BBSR, Dhenkanal-BBSR, Bhadrakh-BBSR
  • in 10 years: 2 express trains daily between Junagarh-Bhawanipatna-LanjigarhRd-Titlagarh- Balangir-Phulbani-BBSR, 1 express train daily in the route Rourkela-Bimlagarh-Talcher-BBSR

Rail freight corridor: [TOI-Oct20-05] RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Limited) : projects, public notices

• Orissa related projects: 11:Kharagpur-BBSR electrification, 12:BBSR-Kottavasla electrification, 14:Talcher-Paradeep doubling with new bridges on Mahanadi and Birupa, 15:Daitari-Bansapani-Jakhapura new line and electrification, 19:Angul-Sukinda new line, 20:Jakhapura-Haridaspur 3rd line, 26:Rajathagara-Barang doubling, 27: Cuttack-Barang doubling, 28: KhurdaRd-Barang 3rd line, 43:Angul-Sukinda electrification, 44:Haridaspur-Paradeep newline (11 out of 48 projects on March 16 2007 were in Orissa)
• Orissa related public notices: Rajathagara-Barang doubling resettlement plan (rehabilitation plan), Cuttack-Barang doubling resettlement plan (rehabilitation plan), Barang-KhurdaRd resettlement plan.