Grand Chord

Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Jabalpur–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur, (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh, previously known as Mughalsarai Junction, and covers a stretch of 450.7 km (280.1 mi).[1] It is a fully electrified, triple line section from Mughalsarai to Gaya and double line section from Gaya to Asansol. The Grand chord section is the lifeline of the country, 2nd busiest railway section of India after Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh (previously known as Mughalsarai Junction) Main Line section, on which coal, steel and other important goods are moved from Eastern section to Western and Northern sections of the country. In the down direction, the traffic consists of mostly food grains, fertilizers and empty wagons for coal loading in the Bihar and West Bengal coal fields. Mughalsarai is a transit division and the main objective is to maintain mobility of high density traffic. The present capacity of the Grand Chord is being optimally utilized. Traversing through Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand as well as parts of the fertile Gangetic plains of Bihar, the Grand Chord covers a stretch of 450.7 km (280.1 mi).

Grand Chord
Gaya Junction lies on the Grand Chord line
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerIndian Railways
LocaleWest Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh
TerminiSitarampur
Mughalsarai Junction
Service
Operator(s)Eastern Railway, East Central Railway
History
Opened1900
Technical
Line length450.7 km (280 mi)
Number of tracks2/3
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
ElectrificationElectrified
Operating speedup to 160 km/h (99 mph)
Route map

  
 
to Mughalsarai–Kanpur section
of Howrah–Delhi main line
and Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line
 Mughalsarai Junction
to Sitarampur
via Howrah–Delhi main line
 Chandauli Majhwar
 Karmanasa River
Uttar Pradesh
Bihar
border
 Bhabua Road
 Sasaram
 Dehri-on-Sone
Nehru Setu bridge
across Son River
 Son Nagar
 to Barkakana
 Anugrah Narayan Road
 Gaya Junction
Gaya Junction
 Patna–Gaya line
 Falgu River
 Gaya–Kiul line
Bihar
Jharkhand
border
 Gujhandi
 Koderma Junction
 to Hazaribagh Town
 to Giridih
 Barakar River
 Hazaribagh Road
 Parasnath
 NSC Bose Gomoh
 to Bokaro Steel City
 to Adra
Dhanbad
 Barakar River
Jharkhand
West Bengal
border
to Mughalsarai
via Howrah–Delhi main line
 Sitarampur
 to Asansol Junction
km

The railways first came to eastern India in 1854, and the Calcutta–Delhi railway link, with a distance of more than 1,642 km (1,020 mi), became operational by 1866. With the increase in traffic it became necessary to construct an alternative route.

With this in view, the Grand Chord section was planned. The Grand Chord section was opened in December 1906 by Lord Minto, then Viceroy and Governor-General of India with a function at Gujahandi.[1] With the opening of the Grand Chord route, the distance between Calcutta and Delhi was reduced by 192 km (119 mi). The cost of construction was around ₹415 lakh (US$580,000).[2]

The Grand Chord section is critically important even today, handling major passenger trains on the Howrah–Delhi route, particularly all the Rajdhani Expresses from Howrah, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi and the entire freight traffic, particularly coal, handled by the Dhanbad division of East Central Railway.

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) encompasses a double-line electrified traction corridor from Haldia on the Eastern Railway to Khurja on the North Central Railway (1,270 km or 790 mi) via Grand Chord, Khurja to Dadri on NCR double-line electrified corridor (46 km or 29 mi) and Single electrified line from Khurja to Ludhiana (412 km or 256 mi) on Northern Railway. The total length works out to 1,379 km (857 mi). So in the Grand Chord section its total 4 parallel track will be run to ease traffic movement on this busy route.

The EDFC will traverse 6 states and is projected to cater to a number of traffic streams – coal for the power plants in the northern region of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan from the Eastern coal fields, finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizers, limestone from Rajasthan to steel plants in the east and general goods. The total traffic in UP direction is projected to go up from 38 million tonnes in FY2005-06 to 116 million tonnes in FY2021–22.

Trains on the route

In c. 1970, it was said that a goods train passes by every 20 minutes on the Grand Chord line. Now, the frequency has become around 5 minutes making it one of the busiest routes in India. More than 50 mail and express trains use this shorter route apart from 2 dozens of passenger trains.

Some important trains on the route
  1. Pratham Swatrantata Sangram Express
  2. Howrah Rajdhani Express (via Gaya)
  3. Sealdah Rajdhani Express
  4. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro, Tatanagar)
  5. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Adra)
  6. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Sambalpur)
  7. Ranchi Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro, Gaya)
  8. Ranchi Rajdhani Express (via Daltonganj)
  9. Howrah–Ranchi Shatabdi Express (via Bokaro, Dhanbad)
  10. Howrah–New Delhi Duronto Express
  11. Bhubaneswar–Duronto Express
  12. Ranchi–New Delhi Garib Rath Express
  13. Howrah–Anand Vihar Yuva Express
  14. West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express
  15. Odisha Sampark Kranti Express
  16. Jharkhand Sampark Kranti Express
  17. Gaya–Anand Vihar Garib Rath Express
  18. Howrah–Jodhpur Express
  19. Ajmer–Sealdah Express
  20. Kalka Mail – The oldest running passenger train of India
  21. Poorva Express (via Gaya)
  22. Garbha Express
  23. Howrah–Jaisalmer Superfast Express
  24. Purushottam Express
  25. Parasnath Express
  26. Howrah–Gwalior Chambal Express
  27. Howrah–Agra Cantt/Mathura Chambal Express
  28. Howrah–Indore Junction Shipra Express
  29. Jharkhand Swarna Jayanti Express (via Bokaro)
  30. Mahabodhi Express
  31. Deekshabhoomi Express
  32. Sealdah–Bikaner Duronto Express
  33. Gaya–Chennai Egmore Weekly Superfast Express
  34. Howrah–Bhopal Weekly Express
  35. Doon Express
  36. Neelachal Express (Via. Bokaro)
  37. Nandankanan Express (Via. Adra)
  38. Patna–Hatia Express
  39. Shalimar (Howrah) Express
  40. Pratap Express
  41. Black Diamond Express
  42. Coalfield Express
  43. Patna - Ranchi Janshatabdi Express
  44. Purnia Court - Hatia Kosi Express
  45. Sealdah–Amritsar Jallianwalla Bagh Express
  46. Tatanagar–Amritsar Jallianwalla Bagh Express
  47. Kolkata Mail via Prayagraj
  48. Ganga Damodar Express
  49. Ganga Sutlej Express
  50. Garib Nawaz Express
  51. Howrah–Ranchi Intercity Express via Adra
  52. Dhanbad–Patna Intercity Express
  53. Dhanbad–Gaya Intercity Express
  54. Patna–Bhabua Road Intercity Express
  55. Howrah–Ranchi Intercity Express via Tatanagar
  56. Ranchi–Varanasi Express
  57. Ranchi–Kamakhya Express
  58. Shaktipunj Express
  59. Haldia–Anand Vihar Terminal Superfast Express
  60. Bhubaneswar–Anand Vihar Weekly Superfast Express via Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bokaro
  61. Shabd Bhedi Superfast Express
  62. Howrah–Lalkuan Express
  63. Durgiana Express
  64. Kolkata–Agra Cantonment Express
  65. Kolkata–Agra Cantonment Superfast Express
  66. Santragachi–Anand Vihar Superfast Express

References
  1. "The Grand `old' Chord". The Hindu. 4 December 2006.
  2. "Grand rerun of Raj rail route - Railways enact Lord Minto's flag-off at Gujhandi to celebrate 100 years of Dhanbad-Gaya chord line". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 7 December 2006.
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