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.
Following is culled from various news reports: Expressbuzz.com, Orissadiary and Pragativadi.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
… the race for setting up of a port at Barunei Muhan has hotted up with four developers evincing interest. They are ArcelorMittal, Adhunik Metaliks, SPI Ports Ltd and the Chennai based Sical Logistics Ltd..
Arcelor-Mittal, the largest steel maker of the world, has proposed to set up a captive port at Barunei Muhan to the north of Mahanadi river near Paradip. It will have a cargo handling capacity of 35 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to be attained in two phases. However, the company has not indicated the quantum of investment for the port.
Similarly, Adhunik Metaliks, part of Adhunik group, plans to set up an all weather commercial port at Barunei Muhan. The project will come up in phases and the total investment in the first phase is pegged at Rs 1684 crore. It will have a cargo handling capacity of 30 million tonne when fully commissioned.
SPI Ports, a division of Rs 1316 crore SPI group, proposed to develop a minor port in the same location with an investment of Rs 1550 crore. It will have 3 berths and container traffic facility in the first phase and the number of berths will go up to 12 in later phase. The company has assured to take the traffic handling capacity 41.79 million tonne per annum by 2021.
Besides, the Chennai based Sical Logistics Ltd. proposed to set up a deep water all weather commercial port at Barunei Muhan..The project envisages an investment of Rs 3600 crore in phases and will have a cargo handling capacity of 46 million tonne per annum (mtpa) when fully commissioned.
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.
Maps of National Waterway 1 and 5 are given below.
There is a definite action plan for the construction of National Waterway 1. See details at http://iwai.gov.in/misc/nw1.pdf. It seems a major part of National Waterway 1 is scheduled to finish by 2010. National waterway 5 is a longer project and once it starts it is scheduled to take 8 years. Following is information on the current plans regarding National Waterway 5.
NATIONAL WATERWAYY -5 [EAST COAST CANAL ALONG WITH BRAHMANI RIVER AND MAHANADI DELTA]
The stretches of the waterway (1095 kms) which has been declared as National Waterway (NW) are as follows
- East Coast Canal ( Geonkhali- Charbatia) – 217 km
- Matai river (Charbatia- Dhamra) – 40 km
- River Brahmani (Talcher- Dhamra) – 265 km
- Mahanadi delta rivers (Mangalgadi- Paradip) – 101 km Total 623 km
* The waterway is located in the States of West Bengal (91 km) and Orrissa (532 km)
* For Brahmani- Kharsua-Dhamra River, Matai river and Mahanadi delta portion(406 km), the waterway is proposed to be developed with 45 m wide and 2 m deep navigational channel while for East Coast Canal portion (217 km), with 32 m wide and 1.5 m deep navigational channel.
* Developmental works envisaged are as follows:
- Widening of narrow canal
- Dredging, Excavation
- Bank protection
- Construction of barrages in Brahmani river at 5 places
- Repair of locks
- Modification of bridges & roads
- Navigational aids
- Setting up of IWT terminals (all terminals are in Orissa)
* Estimated Cost of development works (Rs 1526 crore- At 2002 prices)
- Fairway development – 1271(Cost of barrages Rs 900 cr)
- Navigational Aids – 11
- Terminals – 242
- Setting up of office – 2
Total 1526
*The cost given above is at 2002 rates as indicated by the Consultant earlier. They are revising the cost and the current cost is likely to be of the order of Rs 2950-3000 cr as tentatively informed by them
* Period of implementation- 8 years
* Identified cargo- Coal, fertilizer, cement, iron ore, paddy, rice, seeds, coconut, wheat, sugar, edible oils, bamboo, straw, jute, industrial products etc.
Following are some of the items mentioned in the article below:
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 Business line.
Kingfisher Airlines on Thursday announced it has commenced flights on five new domestic routes as part of its Summer-2009 schedule that began on March 29.
They are: Mumbai-Vadodara, Mumbai-Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad-Aurangabad and Bangalore-Kozhikode.
Following is an excerpt from a report in PTI.
The grandeur of the majestic Konark Sun Temple in Orissa is set to be reflected in the new uniforms of Air India, with both cabin crew and ground staff, readying to don designer Ritu Beri’s fashionable creations.
"There is an endless wealth of decoration from minute patterns to boldly modelled free standing sculptures in the Sun Temple, which marks the foundation for the uniforms including saris and ties for men," says Beri who has been awarded the task to design the new uniforms.
"The wheels and arches of the temple are reflected in the print created. The saris depict the sun with rays going in all directions, inspired by the wheels of the Sun god’s chariot," Beri told PTI in an interview.
… "The endeavour was to combine our rich Indian colours and motifs from the temple with the powerful and more modern combination of black and white in the borders and the ‘pallu’ of the saris," says Beri.
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.
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