Balangir Junction railway station

Balangir Junction
Indian Railway
General information
Location Balangir, Odisha
India
Coordinates 20°42′N 83°30′E
Elevation 185 m (607 ft)
Owned by Indian Railways
Operated by East Coast Railway
Line(s) Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line and Khurda Road–Bolangir line (under construction)
Platforms 5
Tracks 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Construction
Structure type Standard (on-ground station)
Parking Available
Other information
Status Functioning
Station code BLGR
Zone(s) East Coast Railway
Division(s) Sambalpur
History
Opened 1931
Rebuilt 2018
Electrified Yes
Previous names Bengal Nagpur Railway
Passengers
75000 per day
Services
Preceding station Indian Railways Following station
Bichhupali
towards ?
East Coast Railway zone
Khurda Road -Bolangir line
Terminus
towards ?
Loisingha
towards ?
East Coast Railway zone Deogaon Road
towards ?
Location
Balangir Junction is located in Odisha
Balangir Junction
Balangir Junction
Location in Odisha
Balangir Junction is located in India
Balangir Junction
Balangir Junction
Location in India

Balangir Junction railway station is a railway station which serves Balangir district in the Indian state of Odisha.

History

The 79 km (49 mi) Vizianagaram–Parvatipuram line was opened in 1908–09. The Parvatipuram–Raipur line was completed in 1931. In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kottavalasa–Koraput–Jeypore–Kirandaul line ( Dandakaranya Project ), the Titlagarh–Bolangir–Jharsuguda Project and the Rourkela–Kiriburu Project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya Bolangir Kiriburu Project. The Sambalpur–Titlagarh line was opened to traffic in 1963.

Railway reorganisation

The Bengal Nagpur Railway was nationalised in 1944.Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 with the portion of East Indian Railway Company east of Mughalsarai and the Bengal Nagpur Railway. In 1955, South Eastern Railway was carved out of Eastern Railway. It comprised lines mostly operated by BNR earlier. Amongst the new zones started in April 2003 were East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway. Both these railways were carved out of South Eastern Railway.

Khurda Road–Balangir rail link

The Khurda Balangir rail link was surveyed in 1945 but the project was sanctioned in 1994–95. The stretch of only 41.5 kilometres (25.8 mi) from Khurda Road to Rajsunakhala has been constructed out of the 289 kilometres (180 mi) project. The work on infrastructure started in 2007. The state government has signed Memorandum of Understanding with Indian railways to undertake some parts of the project on cost sharing basis. The project which was initially estimated to be 1,000 crore (US$130 million) is now estimated to be nearly 2,000 crore (US$250 million) after almost 20 years of delay due to low budgetary provisions and issues of land acquisition. This rail line will link cities of Nayagarh, Boudh and Sonepur with Bhubaneswar and Balangir. Smaller towns like Dasapalla, Banigocha and Manipur will also be linked by this rail line. Work at Balangir side of this project has also started.

Electrification

Electrification of the Titlagarh–Sambalpur–Jharsuguda was completed in 2018.