East Coast Railway zone

The East Coast Railway (abbreviated ECoR) is one of the 18 railway zones of Indian Railways. It came into existence on 1 April 2003. The headquarters of the zone are at Bhubaneswar.

For the British railway operator, see East Coast (train operating company).

East Coast Railway
15-East Coast Railway
Overview
HeadquartersBhubaneswar
LocaleOdisha
Chhattisgarh
Andhra Pradesh
Dates of operationApril 1, 2003 (2003-04-01)–
Technical
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)
Electrification25 kV 50 Hz AC
Other
Websiteeastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in

History

Consequent upon the parliament's approval, East Coast Railway was the first of the seven new zones to be inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda on 8 August 1996. The Officer-on-Special Duty took over charge of the newly declared Zone on 16 September 1996. Initially, only one division namely Khurda Road was attached to this railway.

Subsequently, the zone became fully operational with effect from 1 April 2003.

Divisions

The geographical jurisdiction of East Coast Railway zone extends over three states encompassing almost all of Odisha and Bastar, Mahasamund & Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh and Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The zonal headquarters is at Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

The zone has three divisions: Sambalpur, Khurda Road and Waltair.

Electrification

The East Coast Railway line integrated with the commissioned Howrah-Chennai electrified trunk route on 29 November 2005. There was a missing link between Kharagpur and Visakhapatnam stations and all trains from Howrah towards Chennai side had to undergo a locomotive change from electric to diesel at Kharagpur and vice versa at Visakhapatnam in order to pass through Odisha. Even trains from New Delhi such as the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani had to undergo the change at Kharagpur. This frequent loco change on a trunk route became a time-consuming and inconvenient process. With electrification along the 765 km Kharagpur-Visakhapatnam stretch, trains got speeded up and the need for double headed diesels for high speed express trains was eliminated thus saving on diesel consumption and a cleaner travel. Additionally the line branching off Khurda road towards Puri was also electrified. Gradually the Cuttack-Angul line, Cuttack-Paradeep line and branch line from Jakhapura towards Barbil got electrified too.

Major railway stations

The major railway stations in the entire zone are Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Chatrapur,Puri, Srikakulam road railway station,Vizianagaram Junction, Sambalpur, Khurda Road, Balugaon, Rayagada, Brahmapur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Bhadrak, Balangir, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Titilagarh, Koraput, Mahasamund, Jagdalpur, Kendujhargarh, Palasa and Barbil.


Most of the major stations fall in the state of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

East Coast Railway Gallery
  • East Coast Railway written in Devanagari

Rail infrastructure

Routes

East Coast Railway zone has about 273 railway stations with a track length of 5214 km spread as follows:-

DivisionTotal kilometreElectrified kilometre
Track Route Track Rout -
Total5,2142,6773,3711,543

Railway lines

ECoR zone has below tracks. All are (1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)) broad gauge. The sections are:-

  1. Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Khurda Road- Double Electrified BG line [92 Railway stations]
  2. Talcher-Cuttack Double Electrified BG line [21 Railway stations]
  1. Titlagarh Junction-Mahasamund Single Diesel BG line [15 Railway stations] (Electric Doubling of this line is currently underway)
  2. Cuttack-Paradip Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
  3. Khurda road-Puri Double Electrified BG line [11 Railway stations]
  4. Sambalpur Junction-Talcher Double electrified BG line [16 Railway stations]
  5. Titlagarh Junction-Sambalpur Junction Single Electric BG line [16 Railway stations] (Electric Doubling of this line is currently underway)
  6. Sambalpur Junction-Jharsuguda Junction Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
  7. Rayagada-Koraput Single Electric BG line [15 Railway stations](Doubling of this line is currently underway)
  8. Naupada Junction-Gunupur Single Diesel BG line [14 Railway stations]
  9. Jakhapura Junction-Banspani BG line [17 Railway stations]

Loco sheds

See also

References
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