Kharagpur Junction railway station

FunctioningStation codeKGP Zone(s) South Eastern Railway zone Division(s) KharagpurHistoryOpened1898–1899; 125 years ago (1899)ElectrifiedYesPrevious namesBengal Nagpur RailwayPassengersMore than 5,00,000 daily Services

Preceding station	Indian Railways			Following station
Jakpur towards Howrah Junction		South Eastern Railway zone Howrah–Chennai main line		Hijli towards Chennai Central
		South Eastern Railway zone Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line		Nimpura towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Preceding station	Kolkata Suburban Railway			Following station
Girimaidan towards Midnapore		South Eastern Line Main line & Kharagpur–Bankura–Adra line		Jakpur towards Howrah Junction

Route map

Legend km Asansol–Tatanagar– Kharagpur line Kharagpur–Puri line Kharagpur–Bankura– Adra line Kalaikunda Kharagpur–Bankura –Adra line Nimpura Nimpura Through Yard Nimpura Goods Yard Girimaidan Hijli Kharagpur-Puri line 0 Kharagpur NH 60 7 Jakpur 13 Madpur 19 Shyam Chak 24 Balichak 27 Duan 30 Radhamohanpur 35 Haur 39 Khirai km Kangsabati River 44 Panskura Raghunathbari 20 to Ghatal (planned) Rajgoda 28 48 Narayan Pakuria Murail Saheed Matangini 33 51 Bhogpur Tamluk 36 00 54 Nandaigajan Nandakumar 10 57 Mecheda Nandakumar-Balaipanda new line (planned) 43 Keshabpur Chak Simulia 49 Satish Samanta Halt Bargoda 51 Mahishadal Moyna 60 Barda Balaipanda 66 Basulya Sutahata NH 41 Haldia Energy Power Station Haldi River 71 Durgachak Lavan Satyagrah Smarak 21 HPCL Siding Deshapran 33 Indorama Checmicals Siding Deshapran-Kendamari new line (planned) Gholpukur 74 Durgachak Town New Krishnanagar 77 Silpaprabesh Hampigram Haldia Industrial Belt Nandigram Kendamari Henria 39 Haldia Dock Complex Nachinda 52 Kanthi 63 79 Bandar ICF Haldia Sitalpur 69 81 Haldia Sujalpur 71 Ashapurna Devi 76 Kolaghat Thermal Power Station Badalpur 78 60 Kolaghat Kanthi-Egra new line (planned) Rupnarayan River Raipur 64 Deulti Satmile 67 Ghoraghata Paschimbatya 70 Bagnan Balighai Bagnan–Amta line (planned) Egra Damodar River Bhatda 78 Kulgachia Dubda 79 Bir Shibpur Paniparul Road Pujali–Uluberia line (planned) Depal 83 Uluberia Champa River 85 Phuleswar Ramnagar (Bengal) 86 88 Chengel Egra-Digha new line (planned) Fort Gloster Jute Mill Tikra 88 91 Bauria Digha–Jaleswar line (planned) 95 Nalpur Digha 94 Ambuja Cement 97 Abada Sankrail Goods yard 99 Sankrail Delta Jute Mill 103 Andul 105 Mourigram Santragachi–Amta branch line Hindustan Industries and Engineering 108 Santragachi Padmapukur NH 12 (Kona Expressway) Guest Keen Williams 109 Ramrajatala 111 Dasnagar Shalimar │ Shalimar rail yard 112 Tikiapara Howrah–Bardhaman main line & Howrah–Bardhaman chord 115 Howrah km Sources:[1][2][3][4]

Location
Kharagpur Junction Location in West Bengal Show map of West Bengal Kharagpur Junction Location in India Show map of India

v t e Kharagpur
Legend
km to Asansol-Tatanagar-Kharagpur line Kalaikunda Nimpura Giri Maidan Hijli to Kharagpur–Bankura–Adra line to Kharagpur–Puri line Kharagpur Jakpur to Howrah-Kharagpur line
Source:Google Maps

Kharagpur Junction railway station is a railway station in Kharagpur of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also the fourth longest railway station by platform length after Hubli Junction railway station, Gorakhpur Junction railway station and Kollam Junction railway station. It is an A-1 category station of Indian Railways.^[5]

History

Kharagpur Junction came up in 1898–99. On one side, Bengal Nagpur Railway's Kharagpur–Cuttack line was opened on New Year's Day in 1899. On the other hand, the opening of the bridge over the Rupnarayan River at Kolaghat, on 19 April 1900, connected Howrah with Kharagpur. Kharagpur was also linked with Sini the same year. The line was ready in 1898–99. The Kharagpur–Midnapore branch line was opened to traffic in 1901.^[6]

Infrastructure

After Hubballi Junction, Gorakhpur, and Kollam Junction in Kerala, Kharagpur has the world's fourth-longest railway platform with a length of 1,072.5 metres (3,519 ft).^[7][8][9] Remodelling of Gorakhpur railway station was completed and the new platform inaugurated on 6 October 2013. Till then Kharagpur held the distinction of having the longest platform in the world for many years.^[10] Kharagpur also has the Asia's largest Railway Solid State Interlocking (SSI) system.^[11]

Platform nos. 1 and 3, and 2 and 4 of Kharagpur Junction are continuous. The 24-coach Coromandel Express stops at the start of platform no. 3 and its tail extends some distance into platform no. 1.^[7] Aloo Khasa is one of the famous dish found at the Kharagpur railway platform.

Background

It is the busiest junction station in South Eastern Railway Zone after Howrah. Hence, it is termed as Gateway to South Eastern Railway. It is one of the fifty highest railway reservation in India. It is a junction which connects Howrah to Mumbai, Chennai, Adra/Purulia and New Delhi via Tatanagar as well. It also connects Bhubaneshwar to New Delhi. Everyday approximately 275 trains pass through this station which includes freight traffic. In terms of passenger traffic it handles 176 trains on a daily basis. So, in a bid to decongest Kharagpur station and speed up locomotives, South Eastern Railway has decided to develop Hijli (close to IIT Kharagpur) as an alternative station for Kharagpur.^[12] Now most of the new trains coming from Balasore side and going towards Adra or Tatanagar stop at Hijli and bypass Kharagpur. In order to increase passenger commute between Kharagpur and Hijli, new EMU services have been introduced between these two stations.

The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line is classified under Route A of Indian Railways which allows trains to run at maximum permissible speed of 160 km/h. However, as a result of the automated block section between Howrah and Kharagpur, the speed is restricted to 130 km/h. The Howrah–Kharagpur section has been identified as one of the high-density automatic block signaling routes on Indian Railways. Thus plans are to deploy Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) on this section to mitigate the risk of signal passed at danger (SPAD) by loco pilots leading to accidents.

Gallery

• 
  The Howrah–Puri Shatabdi Express at Kharagpur
• 
  An aerial view of the station
• 
  An EMU at Kharagpur
• 
  The station
• 
  The station
• 
  Entrance and ticket booking office at night
• 
  Coromandel Express halted at Kharagpur Junction
• 
  Railway station entrance (Bogda/South side)

References

External links

Kharagpur travel guide from Wikivoyage

• Kharagpur Railway Division
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
• Kharagpur Municipality
• Media related to Kharagpur railway junction at Wikimedia Commons