East Coast Railway zone

2021-07-08T12:24:07Z

2409:4062:185:CAD0:4C5A:2314:B26F:D3CB: /* Divisions */

{{short description|Railway zone in India}}
{{unreferenced|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox rail
| railroad_name = East Coast Railway
| logo_filename = East Coast Railway Zone.webp
| logo_size = 200px
| system_map = Indianrailwayzones-numbered.png
| map_caption = 15-East Coast Railway
| map_size =
| marks =
| image =
| image_size =
| image_caption =
| locale = [[Odisha]]<br /> [[Chhattisgarh]]<br /> [[Andhra Pradesh]]<br /> 
| start_year = {{start date and age|2003|4|1}}
| gauge = {{Track gauge|66in|lk=on}}
| old_gauge =
| electrification = {{25 kV 50 Hz}}
| length =
| hq_city = {{rws|Bhubaneswar}}
| website = {{URL|eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in/}}
}}

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 railway station|Bhubaneswar]].

==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 on 1 April 2003. Waltair division of Andhra Pradesh separated from this zone on 27 February 2019, Waltair division of Odisha created a new division i.e, Rayagada division.

==Divisions==
The geographical jurisdiction of East Coast Railway zone extends over three states encompassing almost all of [[Odisha]] and Bastar, Mahasamund and Dantewada districts of [[Chhattisgarh]] and a minor part [Palasa, Sompeta and seven other stations] of Srikakulam district in [[Andhra Pradesh]]. The zonal headquarters is at [[Bhubaneswar]] in Odisha.

The zone has three divisions: [[Sambalpur railway division|Sambalpur]], [[Khurda Road railway division|Khurda Road]] and [[Rayagada railway station|Rayagada]].

==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 [[Bhubaneswar railway station|Bhubaneswar]], [[Cuttack railway station|Cuttack]], [[Chatrapur railway station|Chatrapur]], [[Puri railway station|Puri]], [[Sambalpur railway station|Sambalpur]], [[Khurda Road Junction railway station|Khurda Road]], [[Balugaon]], [[Rayagada railway station|Rayagada]], [[Brahmapur railway station|Brahmapur]], [[Angul railway station|Angul]], [[Dhenkanal railway station|Dhenkanal]], [[Balasore railway station|Balasore]], [[Bhadrak railway station|Bhadrak]], [[Balangir railway station|Balangir]], [[Jajpur Keonjhar Road railway station|Jajpur Keonjhar Road]], [[Titlagarh Junction|Titilagarh]], [[Koraput railway station|Koraput]], [[Mahasamund railway station|Mahasamund]], [[Jagdalpur railway station|Jagdalpur]], [[Kendujhargarh railway station|Kendujhargarh]], [[Palasa railway station|Palasa]] and [[Barbil railway station|Barbil]].

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

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
| title = East Coast Railway Gallery
| align =
| footer =
| style =
| state =
| height =
| width =
| captionstyle =
| File: East Coast Railway written in Devanagari on an inspection special at Visakhapatnam.jpg
| alt1=
| East Coast Railway written in Devanagari
| File:
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| Write a caption here
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| Write a caption here
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}}

==Rail infrastructure==
* Electric Loco Shed- [[Angul railway station|Angul]]
* Carriage Repair Workshop- [[Mancheswar railway station|Mancheswar]], Bhubaneswar
* MEMU Shed- [[Khurda Road Junction railway station|Khurda Road]]

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

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="background:#cfcfcf; text-align:center;" | Division !! colspan="2" | Total kilometre !! colspan="2" | Electrified kilometre
|-
!Track
!Route
!Track
!Rout
||-
|-
|-
| '''Total'''||'''5,214'''||'''2,677'''||'''3,371'''||'''1,543'''
|}

===Railway lines===
ECoR zone has below tracks. All are {{Track gauge|5ft6in|lk=on}} [[broad gauge]]. The sections are:-

# [[Bhadrak railway station|Bhadrak]]-[[Bhubaneswar railway station|Bhubaneswar]]-[[Khurda Road Junction railway station|Khurda Road]]- Double Electrified BG line [92 Railway stations]
# [[Talcher]]-[[Cuttack railway station|Cuttack]] Double Electrified BG line [21 Railway stations]

# [[Titlagarh Junction]]-[[Mahasamund]] Single Diesel BG line [15 Railway stations] (Electric Doubling of this line is currently underway)
# [[Cuttack railway station|Cuttack]]-[[Paradip]] Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
# [[Khurda Road Junction railway station|Khurda road]]-[[Puri]] Double Electrified BG line [11 Railway stations]
# [[Sambalpur Junction]]-[[Talcher]] Double electrified BG line [16 Railway stations]
# [[Titlagarh Junction]]-[[Sambalpur Junction]] Single Electric BG line [16 Railway stations] (Electric Doubling of this line is currently underway)
# [[Sambalpur Junction]]-[[Jharsuguda Junction]] Double Electrified BG line [10 Railway stations]
# [[Rayagada]]-[[Koraput railway station|Koraput]] Single Electric BG line [15 Railway stations](Doubling of this line is currently underway)
#[[Naupada Junction]]-[[Gunupur]] Single Diesel BG line [14 Railway stations]
#[[Jakhapura Junction]]-[[Banspani]] BG line [17 Railway stations]

==Loco sheds==

* [[Electric Loco Shed, Angul]]
* [[Electric Loco Shed, Visakhapatnam]]
* Diesel Loco Shed, Visakhapatnam

==External links==
* [http://eastcoastrail.indianrailways.gov.in East Coast Railway Official Website]

==See also==

* [[All India Station Masters' Association (AISMA)]]
* [[Zones and divisions of Indian Railways]]
* [[Indian Railway Signal Maintainers Union (IRSTMU)]]
*[[South Coast Railway zone|South Coast Railway]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Indian Railways}}

[[Category:Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:East Coast Railway Zone| ]]
[[Category:Zones of Indian Railways]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Odisha]]
[[Category:2003 establishments in India]]

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East Coast Railway zone