As per the schedule below, both Dhauli express and Puri-Kendujhargarh express, after their extensions to Puri and Barbil respectively, would need two rakes each. Barbil to Kendujhargarh is 112 kms but it is scheduled to take five to 5:30 hrs to cover that.
A discussion in IRFCA piqued my interest to find the Intercity trains from Bhubaneswar/Puri. Intercity was defined as: "express trains that start in the morning for a destination and return by the evening and are catering to comman man, so we should exclude Shatabdis." Such trains from/to Bhubaneswar/Puri are:
I think within a year there will be a new Intercity connecting:
The following extensions should also happen in a couple of years:
I think the following two day time trains (not strictly inter-cities) make sense and should be pursued:
Finally, if the BBS-Rourkela intercity works well then another such intercity with reverse timings need to be introduced.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.
According to a railway press release the delay in completion of Villupuram – Mayiladuthurai gauge conversion has affected the introduction of 5 new trains and the extension of two services on the section. These services were announced in various budgets. The Chennai Egmore – Nagore Express and Bhubaneswar – Rameswaram Express (2007 budget), …
Southern Railway General Manager M.S. Jayanth said the section would be opened by January as some work on passenger amenities were going on.
Following is from http://eastcoastrailway.gov.in/.
Bhubaneswar, October 29, 2009
Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce eight new trains, extension of four trains, and increase in frequency of two trains
along with change of timings for 19 trains in ECoR for the New Time Table to be implemented with effect from 1st November 2009.
NEW TRAINS
Two daily new trains, five weekly new trains, one bi-weekly new train will be introduced in E.Co.Rly. Date of introduction for these trains will be notified.
One daily new Intercity train will be introduced between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar. 8105 Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity express will leave Rourkela at 05.30a.m and will arrive at Bhubaneswar at 01.00p.m. 8106 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela Intercity Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 01.35p.m and will arrive at Rourkela at 09.30p.m.
One daily new express train will be introduced between Rourkela and Koraput. 8107 Rourkela-Koraput Express will leave Rourkela at 04.45p.m and will arrive at Koraput at 07.30a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 8108 Koraput-Rourkela express will leave Koraput at 05.00p.m and will arrive at Rourkela at 07.00a.m on the next day.
One new weekly DURANTO non stop Super Fast Express will be introduced between Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. 2281 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Duranto Super Fast non stop express shall leave Bhubaneswar at 08.15a.m on every Sunday and will arrive New Delhi at 06.05a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2282 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Duranto Super Fast
non stop Express will leave New Delhi at 01.00p.m on every Monday and will arrive Bhubaneswar at 11.05a.m on the next day. There will be no commercial stoppage for this train.
One new weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Puri and Surat. 2743 Puri-Surat Super Fast express will leave Puri at 07.50p.m on Sunday via Sambalpur, Titilagarh & Raipur and will arrive Surat at 03.20a.m on Tuesday. In the return direction, 2744 Surat-Puri Super Fast Express will leave Surat at 08.30a.m on every Tuesday and will arrive Puri at 04.15p.m on the next day.
One new weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Puri and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai). 2746 Puri-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) Super Fast express will leave Puri at 05.25a.m on Tuesday via Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Raigarh & Bilaspur and will arrive LTT at 01.35p.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2745 LTT-Puri Super Fast Express will leave LTT at 00.15a.m on every Thursday (Wednesday night) and will arrive Puri at 08.50a.m on every Friday.
One new weekly Express will be introduced between Puri and Kamakshya. 5643 Puri-Kamakshya express will leave Puri at 10.15p.m on Saturday via Howrah & Malda Town and will arrive Kamakshya at 04.20a.m on Monday. In the return direction, 5644 Kamakshya-Puri Express will leave Kamakshya at 11.45p.m on Thursday and will arrive Puri at 08.00a.m on Saturday.
One new weekly Express will be introduced between Howrah and Yeshvantpur. 2847 Howrah-Yeshvantpur express will leave Howrah at 11.30p.m on Sunday via Bhubaneswar and will arrive Yeshvantpur at 09.15a.m on Tuesday. In the return direction, 2848 Yeshvantpur-Howrah Express will leave Yeshvantpur at 08.00a.m on Thursday and will arrive Howrah at 08.00a.m on Friday.
One new bi-weekly Super Fast Express will be introduced between Visakhapatnam and LTT. 2749 Visakhapatnam-LTT bi-weekly superfast express will leave Visakhapatnam at 09.00a.m on Wednesday and Saturday and will arrive LTT at 1.05a.m on the next day. In the return direction, 2750 LTT-Visakhapatnam Express will leave LTT at 12.25p.m on Thursday and Sunday and will arrive Visakhapatnam at 02.45p.m on the next day.
EXTENSION OF TRAIN
Four trains will be extended in the new time table. Date of extension for these trains will be notified.
8425/8426 Bhubaneswar-Raipur-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express, 8413/8414 Paradeep-Bhubaneswar-Paradeep Intercity express and 2821/2822 Howrah-Bhubaneswar-Howrah Dhauli Express will be extended to Puri. Similarly, 8416/8415 Puri-Kendujhargarh-Puri Express will be extended to Barbil in the new Time Table.
INCREASE IN FREQUENCY:
2443 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express will run four days a week instead of earlier two days. This train will now leave Bhubaneswar on every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. In the return direction, 2444 New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express will leave New Delhi on every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Now this Rajdhani will run three days a week w.e.f. 3rd October 2009 and the services of this train for running in fourth day in the week i.e. from Bhubaneswar on Thursday and from New Delhi on Tuesday will be notified.
2739/2740 Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam express will now run daily instead of earlier four days a week which will be notified.
CHANGE IN DAYS OF SERVICE
5639 Puri-Guwahati express will now leave Puri on Tuesdays instead of earlier Saturday with effect from 3rd November 2009. 5640 Guwahati-Puri Express leaving Guwahati on Thursday will now leave on Sunday with effect from 1st November 2009.
CHANGE IN TIMINGS
The timings of 19 trains have been changed from 05 minutes to 45 minutes in the new time-table. These trains are 7479 Puri-Tirupati Express, 8410 Puri-Howrah Jagannath Express, 2896/2888 Puri-Howrah weekly, 2882 Puri-Howrah Garib Rath Express, 2898 Bhubaneswar-Puducherry, 2830 Bhubaneswar-Chennai, 8411 Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity Express, 8518 Visakhapatnam-Korba Express, 8509 Visakhapatnam-Nizamabad Express, 8309 Sambalpur-Nizamabad Express, 8507 Visakhapatnam-Amritsar Express (via Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur), 2880 Bhubaneswar-LTT Express, 8452 Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express, 2739 Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Garib Rath Express, 210 Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger and 222 Puri-Angul Passenger.
Similarly the timings of 2801 Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express at Cuttack and 2841 Howrah-Chennai Coromandal Express at Brahmapur have been changed for midnight adjustment.
Sd/-
Sr.PRO
Update: Biswarup Basu in an IRFCA posting pointed out that based on the current schedule this train is competitive with the 8005/06 Koraput-Howrah Express; 1 hr 5 minutes faster towards Howrah and 15 minutes slower in the other direction. So many may not mind traveling end-to-end on this train. He thinks there is enough traffic to introduce a daily train in this route.
East Coast Railway is running eight pairs of a special train between Sambalpur and Howrah via Angul. Following is its schedule.
From end-to-end connectivity point of view the path taken by this train is longer than the regular Sambalpur-Rourkela-HWH path.
However, this train would give a direct connection between Howrah and places like Angul, Talcher and Dhenkanal. A train in this route with different times and more stops could also provide direct and useful connection between Sambalpur/Redhakhol/Angul/Talcher/Dhenkanal and Jajpur Rd/Bhadrakh/Balasore. Perhaps ECOR is exploring a regular train in this route.
Update: Aug 18, 2009 – As Dilip comments below the train should start its maiden run any day now.
Dilip Mohanty writes the following in an IRFCA posting:
The much awaited Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Express (declared in the current budget in an addition to the 57 new trains) remains a mystery. A leading local daily named "SAMBAD" has reoprted that the train will start within a few weeks and the Railways Authorities at Rourkela have already received an additional time table for this train. It reports that the train will depart Rourkela at morning 05:15 hours and reach Bhubaneswar at 13:15 hours in the afternoon. After a stay of about 30 minutes at Bhubaneswar, it will depart at 13:45 hours and reach Rourkela at 21:45 hours(an expected Superfast). This train is supposed to be operated by South Eastern Railway.
This train will bring up some new convenient 1-change connections.
Here we consolidate the announcements in the 2009 interim budget, in the July 2009 budget and in Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha during the debates after the budget announcements. (See also this news report regarding some of the trains below.)
New trains:
New trains passing through Orissa:
Extension of Trains:
Increase in frequency:
Some past announcements that have not yet been implemented:
The budget speech is at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Budget_2009-10/Speech_English_2009-10.pdf. The budget highlights is at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Budget_2009-10/Speech_English_2009-10_Highlight.pdf. The Pink book is at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/Budget_2009-10/pink_index.htm. In it the Orissa related numbers are in:
As of now certain files are not there yet. The files that shows the profitability of various zones are the appendix files. (An example of a 2008-09 file is http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/budget-0809/budget-books/Works/ECOR/APPXI_0809_ECOR.pdf.) The similar files for 2009-10 are not there yet.
The Lok sabha debate pages are at http://164.100.24.209/newls/textofdebate.aspx. In there, look for 15th Lok Sabha and the debates during 2nd July 2009 to 7th August 2009.
The Rajya Sabha web page is http://rajyasabha.nic.in/. The verbatim proceedings is available at http://164.100.47.5:8080/debatenew/show.aspx. In there, possibly in the archive, look for the 217th session.
Update 2:In the Lok Sabha the Rail Minister Mamta Banerjee made some statements regarding Orissa. They are:
Update: Some of the news reports (Breaking newsonline, Dharitri) mention three other new trains for Orissa. They say that the Rail minister mentioned them in Lok Sabha although they are not part of the budget speech. Those trains are:
It seems Mamtadi is fond of Puri.
Indian Express has a nice article on the history of Parlakhemundi light railway. Following are some excerpts.
Paralakhemedi Light Railway (PLR) was two feet six inches gauge railway. It was the brainchild of the erstwhile Raja of Paralakhemedi. The Kimedi country, consisting of Paralakhemedi, Paddakimedi and Chinna Kimedi, was under a single ruler till 1607. Paralakhemedi came under the British influence in 1768.
East Coast Railway came into existence in the year 1893 with the construction of the Cuttack-Khurda Road-Puri line, covering a distance of 96 kms and its subsequent link along the East Coast up to Vijayawada — junction point of Southern Maratha Railway and Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway. As a result, a stretch of 1280 kms of East Coast Railway, covering the entire coastal stretch of Cuttack, Khurda Road, Puri, Palasa, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, was opened for traffic between 1893 to 1896. East Coast Railway brought rail line to Naupada in 1894. The Raja of Paralakhemedi decided to connect his capital with Naupada, which was only 40 kms away. With the government giving sanction in 1898, work began in full earnest. The line was opened to traffic in 1900. This railway line was built at a cost of Rs 7 lakh.
Due to a change in the policy of the British Government, the Bengal Nagpur Railway, popularly known as the B.N.R, took over the northern section of East Coast Railway from Vizianagaram to Cuttack, including the Branch Line of Puri, by 23-01-1902. Accordingly, the working of the PLR was taken over by the Bengal-Nagpur Railway in 1902. In the first few years, the PLR had incurred losses but after 1910, it started making marginal profits and after 1924-25, the profits increased. This motivated the Raja to extend the line to Gunupur in two phases in 1929 and 1931. There were now a total of ten stations between Naupada and Gunupur. Tekkali, Paddasan, Temburu, Ganguvada, Patapatnam, Paralakhemedi, Kashinagar, Lihuri, Bansidhara and Palasingi.
The management of BNR was taken over by the Government of India in October 1944. On 14-04-1952, at the time of the re-grouping of the Indian Railways it became part of the Eastern Railway. The merger of B.N.R. into Eastern Railway, however, did not last long and on 01-08-1955 it was merged with newly constituted South Eastern Railway. During the SER centenary celebrations in 1987, set of four postage stamps were released. One of the stamps featured the PL 691 locomotive.
The standard type of locomotive on PLR was the 20 ton 0-6-4 tank locomotive with small (27 inch diameter) coupled wheels and an axle load of only 4.75 tons. …
The foundation-stone was finally laid for the Naupada-Gunupur gauge conversion work at Naupada on September 27, 2002. With effect from April 1, 2003, PLR became a part of the newly formed East Coast Railway. The line was finally closed for gauge conversion on June 9, 2004.
— VIKAS SINGH, RAIL ENTHUSIAST
Courtesy National Rail Museum
Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.
The broad gauge railway line between Naupada and Parlakhemundi, a long-cherished dream of people in parts of Srikakulam and Gajapthi districts, is ready and the mandatory trial run of train on this 40 km new rail track, which was postponed because of election code, will be carried out anytime after April 23.
…
The 40 km. stretch between Naupada and Parlakhemundi is part of gauge conversion project between Naupada and Gunupur covering a total distance of about 90 km.
According to authorities concerned, the trial run would be followed by introduction of departmental trains and heavy duty machines. Then the Commissioner of Railway Safety, an independent authority with headquarters at Kolkata, would issue clearance for running regular passenger trains. The total cost of the project was Rs.168 crores and so far Rs.120 crores had been spent. The remaining work between Parlakhemundi and Gunupur is also progressing well and is likely to be completed soon.
Work on major bridges in this stretch had already been completed. According to authorities, linking work is likely to be completed by June. There is some problem in procuring ballasts for this track. However, authorities are confident of overcoming this.
The Orissa government should push for a passenger train in this line to be included in the new budget.
Following is from a report in Hindu.
A bi-weekly express between Nizamabad and Sambalpur will be introduced on March 23. The train No.8310 will leave Nizamabad at 6.15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays, arrive/leave Secunderabad at 9.25 p.m. before reaching Sambalpur at 8.15 p.m. the next day. This service will commence on March 24.
The train no 8309 will depart from Sambalpur at 8.15 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays, will arrive/leave at Secunderabad at 8.20/8.40 a.m the next day. It will reach Nizamabad at 11.50 a.m. This service will commence on March 23.
This train will connect the Sambalpur-Titlagarh-Rayagada part of Orissa with Hyderabad. With this the direct connectivity between Sambalpur and major cities in the southern states will be as follows:
Earlier in February, Ranchi-Varanasi Express was extended to Sambalpur twice a week. With that extension, Sambalpur’s direct connectivity to other parts of India are as follows:
Jharsuguda Junction is only 50 kms from Sambalpur. If one takes into account trains throughJharsuguda then the connectivity to Mumbai and Kolkata skyrockets, to Delhi and Ahmedabad increases significantly and to Pune is added.
Naraj Station lies across Kathjodi river about 1 km away from the bridge. It is about 2 kms from the proposed 2nd campus of Ravenshaw university, 3-4 km from Bidanasi-CDA and within 1 km from the proposed Sri Sri University.
Several trains in the BBS (Bhubaneswar)-SBP (Sambalpur) line such as 2893 (BBS-BLGR superfast), 8304 (Puri-SBP Intercity), 8405 (Puri-ADI), 8507 (VSK-ASR) skip Cuttack and go via Naraj without stopping there. By developing the Naraj station a bit more, developing the road between the station and the bridge, and introducing stops at Naraj station people in Cuttack will be able to easily access these trains.
Many trains between Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur do go via Cuttack.
However, the reason some trains (especially intercity trains) from Bhubaneswar towards Sambalpur skip Cuttack and go via Naraj is that they save 24 kms if they go via Naraj.
This saving will be very important if an intercity between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela is to be introduced. Currently the fastest connection between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela is 2832/33 HTE Garib Rath. It covers 443 kms and takes 7 hr 50 minutes. By skipping Cuttack and using Naraj as an access point to Cuttack the distance will reduce to 419 kms (See 2893 and 2832 distance between Bhubaneswar and Dhenkanal for the difference), which is more comfortable for an intercity train.
Naraj is really very close to Cuttack; much close to Cuttack than Barang or the proposed station between Barang and Patia. Also, Naraj station is much closer to the newer parts of Cuttack (such as CDA and Bidanasi) than the Cuttack station. Also, a lot of development is planned near Naraj that includes the Sri Sri University, National Law University and 2nd campus of Ravenshaw University. The following map from wikimapia shows where Naraj station lies vis-a-vis Cuttack. In the map below Naraj station is in the left bottom corner.
(Thanks to an IRFCA poster for the pointer.)
See details at http://www.google.co.in/mobile/default/sms/#. The number to SMS is 9-77-33-00000.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
The Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the Howrah-Sambalpur Ispat Express up to Titlagarh from March 1. The train will leave Sambalpur at 4.50 pm and arrive at Titlagarh at 8.20 pm. In the return direction, the train will leave Titlagarh at 5.20 am and arrive at Sambalpur at 8.35 am to go Howrah. The train will stop at Hirakud, Bargarh Road, Barpali, Balangir and Saintala between Sambalpur and Titlagarh. The timings and stoppages of the train between Sambalpur and Howrah will remain unchanged.
With this extension and the proposed new train between Koraput and Rourkela, there will be 4 daily trains in the Titlagarh-Balangir-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela segment of western Orissa. The other two are Koraput Howrah express and Dhanbad-Allepey express. In addition there are the Yeshavantpur-Hatia (biweekly) and Yeshavantpur-Tata (weekly) express.
The Titlagarh-Sambalpur sector has two more daily trains: Raipur-Bhubaneswar express and Rayagada-Sambalpur Express.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Indopia:
Passengers to Kolkata would now have as many as three Rajdhanis to choose from, with the Railways deciding to extend Bilaspur Rajdhani up to Howrah with immediate effect.
At present, Howrah and Sealdah Rajdhanis connect Delhi to Kolkata.
However, the extension will be on an experimental basis for four months a release issued by Northern Railway said.
The extension would also benefit the people of the steel city of Rourkela, located between Bilaspur and Howrah, as they had been for long demanding a Rajdhani linking to the national capital.
The proposed revised timings are:
2441 (From HWH Friday and Saturday w.e.f 27.02)
HWH: 21 25
TATA: 01 00
ROU: 03 15
Brajrajnagar: 05 02
Raigarh: 05 52
Champa: 07 05
BSP: 08 40
NDLS: 06 05
2442 (From New Delhi Wednesday and Thursday w.e.f 25.02)
NDLS: 20 40
BSP: 17 20
Champa: 18 12
Raigarh: 19 19
Brajrajnagar: 20 17
ROU: 22 20
TATA: 00 50
HWH: 04 30
Composition: AC1: 1, AC2: 3, AC3: 4, PC: 1.
Note that Brajrajnagar is 12 kms from Jharsuguda Jn and 60 km from Sambalpur.
Update: A new train and another frequency increase may be in the offing. They are:
Following is excerpted from http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/budget-0910/ENGLISH-Speech-0910.pdf.
New Trains:
Increase in frequency:
They are:
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
Indian Railways has planned major infrastructure facilities like freight nodal points, container park and a coaching complex to cater to the proposed Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region in Paradeep.
… Mr KC Jena chairman of Railway Board said that “Paradeep is poised to emerge as one of the major industrial hubs in Orissa and it is also the site for the proposed PCPIR in the state. A master plan is being prepared for the Paradeep region and according to this plan, the Railways will set up infrastructure facilities like freight nodal points, container park and a coaching complex.”
Mr Jena said that the Railways is also committed to boost connectivity in the Paradeep region which includes the 82 kilometer Paradeep to Haridaspur broad gauge line, being taken up at an investment of INR 577.78 crore. East Coast Railway has acquired 1,146 acres of private land out of the total of 1,653 acres of land required for the project. This project being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited is scheduled for completion by March 2011.
… On the 290 kilometer Khurda Road to Bolangir project, Mr Jena said that “Work is already in progress for the first 36 kilometer stretch of the project and the fund for the second phase of the project is likely to be sanctioned in this year’s railway budget.” He added that the project had suffered delay due to land acquisition problems and a fast track committee for railway projects formed under the chairmanship of the Orissa Chief Secretary was making efforts to expedite the process of land acquisition.
Mr Jena added that the overall outlay for the various railway projects in Orissa stood at INR 1,049 crore in 2008-09, compared to INR 764 crore in the previous fiscal and the sanctioned figure excludes the projects being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.
… the CVR Navayuga Group on Monday inked an MoU sign with the State Government to develop a Greenfield port at Astaranga in Puri at a investment of Rs 6,000 crore. Astaranga is one of the 13 sites identified by the State Government for development of minor ports in the State.
… Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Navayuga Engineering had plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore in Phase 1 at Astaranga with a capacity of to move 25 million tones of cargo. "With the completion of the Phase -II and Phase-III, the total investment made at the location will be Rs 6,000 crore with a capacity of 60 million tonne," he said, adding that the project was estimated to yield revenue of Rs 20 crore per annum for Government during Phase-1 and Rs 1,000 crore per annum by the completion of Phase -III.
The project in its entirety shall be implemented over a period of eight years with Phase-1 being completed within 48 months. 10, 000 jobs will be created. The scope of the project also includes construction of a 50-km rail link to connect Astaranga with mainline at Khurda via Sakhigopal.
A report in Hindu has some more details. Following are excerpts.
The Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Orissa for the development of a modern deep water, all-weather, alongside-berthing, mechanised port at the Astaranga area located in Puri district, according to a company release.
The MoU was entered on a build, own, operate, share and transfer (BOOST) basis. …
The first phase was planned to be made operational in four years. As per the concession agreement, all investment for the project should be arranged by the developer; the revenue share to the Government was fixed at five per cent for the first five years, eight per cent for sixth to 10th year, 10 per cent for 11th to 15th year and 12 per cent for the remaining period of 15 years.
The MoU had a provision of 30 years concession period and could be extended by an additional 20 years. The detailed concession agreement is to be signed within six months.
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