Steel City lacks connectivity to the National Capital

Connectivity to the national capital i.e. New Delhi is an important aspect for every nook and corner of the country. May it be politics, business, job, education, administration or any other issue, the first preference of each citizen of India is the national capital. Hence with the railway budgets, every person aspires for a train to Delhi from his city, town, village or district, may it be any new train or an extension or just a link.
Unfortunately that does not happen, thanks to the poor political and administrative system of the country. The burning example of this neglect is the steel city of Rourkela, which has the potential to be one of the most advanced regions of the country, however is lagging behind due to neglect, step-motherly attitude and poor leadership on various fronts.

Rourkela is the third largest city of the state both area wise and population wise housing more than 7 lakhs of population, while Greater Rourkela is home to about 9 lakhs people. About 12 lakhs people of East Sundargarh, some parts of Keonjhar district and some parts of Jharkhand state are directly or indirectly dependable on Rourkela Junction, the largest railway station of the region. This station has 14000 footfalls daily which amounts to 51.1 lakhs passengers annually, thus catering to a huge population but unfortunately is neglected in terms of connectivity to other parts of the country, especially the national capital.
The only connectivity to Delhi, Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Express bears the brunt of any natural calamity or any insurgent activity and is often diverted on Angul-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda route causing a lot of inconvenience to the commuters of Rourkela and surrounding areas.

Puri-Nizamuddin Utkal Express was started during 1960’s in order to connect the holy city of Puri, capital city of Bhubaneswar, Steel city of Rourkela with the national capital of Delhi. This train proved a boon for the people of Rourkela, who were linked with Delhi on one side and Bhubaneswar-Puri on the other side. Also this train benefitted the people of Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore who were linked with Rourkela. In due course of time other trains from Puri-Bhubaneswar to New Delhi were introduced e.g. Neelachal, Purusottam, Rajdhani etc. ,but these trains used the shorter route via Mughalsarai-Kanpur instead of taking a long route via Bilaspur-Katni.

During 1990’s another train meant for exclusive connection between Western Odisha and the national capital was launched. This train was scheduled to ply between Sambalpur and Nizamuddin and was named as Hirakud Express after the famous landmark of Sambalpur i.e. Hirakud Dam. A link train to from Jharsuguda, i.e. Rourkela-Jharsuguda-Nizamuddin Link Express connected the steel city with the national capital. So any how Rourkelites enjoyed dual connectivity to Delhi.
Unfortunately that did not last long and this link service from Jharsuguda to Rourkela was withdrawn. Mean while with the opening of Talcher-Sambalpur route this train was extended to Bhubaneswar and finally to Visakhapatnam still retaining the name of Hirakud Express.
Meanwhile the number of trains connecting Bhubaneswar to Delhi has increased to 9, (including one Duronto Express) while the same old train Utkal Express is the only hope to Delhi from Rourkela. It should be noted that luxury trains like Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express have almost zero passengers between Bhubaneswar and Tatanagar and a majority of seats lie vacant between these stations. Similarly Puri-New Delhi Neelachal Express (triweekly) has a large number of passengers from Rourkela itself, who travel either to Tatanagar or Bhubaneswar/Puri to board this train.

This train i.e. Neelachal Express being a triweekly train, is being demanded to ply via Angul, Sambalpur, Rourkela,Jharsuguda,Tatanagar on the remaining 3 days. Similarly Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express which runs 4 days via Tatanagar has almost no passengers between Cuttack and Tatanagar, hence this train can also be diverted on the same route via Angul,Sambalpur,Rourkela which will fetch a number of passengers.
Turning to the other side of the coin, Rourkela seems to be the only steel city in India, which is poorly connected to the national capital. In comparison to other steel cities of India, Rourkela has only one train to Delhi, while Bokaro Steel City and Tatanagar have 6 trains for Delhi. Durgapur, being located on Howrah-Delhi Mainline enjoys the service of 11 trains while another one is available from Asansol , thus totaling the count at 12.

Durg ,the most important station of Durg-Bhilainagar Urban Complex operates 5 trains to Delhi, while the Southern City of Visakhapatnam has 4 trains to the national capital. What is ridiculous that out of the 6 trains from Tatanagar to Delhi, 5 trains are from Odisha (including Rajdhani and Sampark Kranti)! Instead of catering to the needs of the people of the state, these trains are used to satisfy the neighboring Jharkhand State.
Hence for the benefit of the people of Odisha, new trains can be introduced, old trains can be diverted or extended as follows

•Rourkela-Amritsar Brahmani Mail (Biweekly) via Jharsuguda, Bilaspur ,Katni, Gwalior, H.Nizamuddin, Ambala Cantt.

•Extension of 12877/12878 New Delhi-Ranchi Garib Rath Express to Rourkela

•Diversion of 12875/12876 Puri-New Delhi Garib Rath Express via Angul, Sambalpur, Rourkela,Tatanagar (3 days a week)

•Diversion of 12443/12444 Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Naraj, Angul, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Tatanagar (2 days a week)

By implementing the above proposals we can surely improve our connectivity to Delhi to a large extent.

New Train to North-East

As declared in the Railway Budget , this year, a new train between is all set to begin its journey from the North-Eastern hub of Guwahati to the Commercial Capaital of India , Mumbai. 15612 Guwahati(Kamakhya)-Lokmanya Tilak(T) Karmabhoomi Express, an unreserved general class train meant exclusively for labourers and working class will set off on its maiden journey, this Friday. This train will run via Howrah,Tatanagar, Rourkela,Bilaspur,Nagpur etc. hence all these cities will have connectivity to the North Eastern corner of India.

15612 will arrive at Rourkela every Saturday evening at 8:25 pm and leave at 8:45 pm, while 15611 Lokmanya Tilak (T)-Guwahati Karmabhoomi Express will arrive at Rourkela
every Thursday afternoon at 1:20 pm and depart at 1:40 pm.

Tech institute holds event for toppers

Telegraph reports

Siddharth Tripathy, a Class XI student of Delhi Public School, Rourkela, aims to be a particle physicist and work on nano molecules.

Sarthak Panigrahi of IMS Rourkela also aspires to be a doctor and wants to know more about biomolecules and nano technology.

Unlike many teens of their age, the duo feel that being a scientist or researcher can be as “interesting and cool” as being a software developer working abroad and earning huge bucks!

The two were among the 120 meritorious students from the state who reached the capital today to attend a programme on Youth for Leadership in Science organised by the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT). The two-day programme witnesses the participation of Class X rank holders of 2010, from CBSE, ICSE and Board of Secondary Education, Orissa. As many as 49 students from CBSE, 20 from ICSE and 51 students from the state board BSE — all those who secured marks between 95 to 97 per cent — accompanied their parents and teachers to attend the interactive session. The event included special lectures, demonstrations and audio visual shows. The programme aimed to encourage young students to discover science as an exciting, rewarding and fulfilling career.

“Our basic aim is to help students get the right direction where they can utilise their skills to the optimum. The effort is to tell them that science can be rewarding,” said senior scientist Srikant Sharma. Speaking at the inaugural session, programme director, IMMT, B.K. Mishra invited the participants to involve themselves in activities of the institute.

While throwing light on important and interesting research programmes being pursued at IMMT, Mishra said the institute would help interested students pursue short-term projects.

While scientist Siddhartha Panda, department of chemical engineering, IIT-Kanpur, gave an introductory lecture on application of sensors, scientists of IMMT spoke on issues involving chemical, physical and biological sciences with specific reference to cutting-edge scientific and technological innovations

“It was very interesting to listen to the experts. Such lectures provide us the stimulus to think,” said Shivani Nanda, a participant.

“Its not that students think science is un cool. The reason is lack of enough encouragement towards research. Most of us remain unaware of the opportunities and advantages research offers and there is none to guide,” said Sritam Patri another participant.

Following the lectures, participants visited various research facilities of IMMT and interacted with the speakers and scientists of IMMT. “ “The students will be felicitated at the end of the two days programme,” Sharma said.

Parliamentary body to take up ESIC medical college issue

A report from Daily Pioneer

The Parliament Standing Committee on Labour of Parliament, under the chairmanship of MP Hemanand Biswal, on Wednesday heard the representatives of trade unions, Rourkela Steel Plant, Central Labour Commissioner, Provident Fund Commissioner and Employee's State Insurance Corporation.

The Committee heard the views of the trade union leaders who demanded that the tribals should be given their due share in jobs by the RSP. They demanded that the tribal workers including casuals workers must he granted dignity of labour and extended all statutory benefits for safeguarding their health, safe working environment, social security and equal wages for equal work.

The Committee took note of the demands of the trade union leaders who asserted that the people living in the far-flung areas, away from the State capital, were in dire need for medical colleges and hospitals.

They demanded that the Committee lend their weight and authority on the Union Government so that profit-making public sector units in remote areas of the State accept their social responsibility including the ESIC, so that more hospitals and medical colleges are set up in far-flung areas of the State enabling the poor, the disadvantaged and marginalised groups could reap the benefits of development. The chairman of the Committee Biswal and members shared the views and resolved to take up the matter appropriately with the Government.

Positive note for second Brahmani Bridge

Work has started on the expansion of Barkot-Biramitrapur stretch of National Highway(NH)-23, which has paved the way for establishment of second bridge on Brahmani river at Panposh. The initial budget for this project has been estimated at Rs.862 crores by the National Highways Authority of India(NHAI), for which tender process has been initiated and work orders are expected by July 2011.

Several industries have been established between Biramitrapur and Rajamunda in the last decade which includes sponge iron plants and other small and medium industries. Daily thousands of heavy vehicles ply in the mineral rich belt of Koida and Bonai,due to which the expansion of this vital highway has been demanded, a number of times. Also the need for another bridge on Brahmani river at Panposh has increased to a large extent. In the last few years, protests and road blockades have been organized on these vital issues, owing to which the decision to expand this "lifeline of Sundargarh" has been approved.

The highway authority has planned to convert the 75 km. stretch from Biramitrapur to Rajamunda to 4 -lane and the 40 km stretch from Barkot to Rajamunda to 2-lane from existing 2-lane and single lane respectively, which also includes the above mentioned bridge.

SHG grows under RSP patronage

Daily Pioneer reports

Rourkela: The Sri Sai Self Help Group (SHG) of Jabaghat village formed by 10 women in 2008 was brought under the wings of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP)’s Project Kishori, a special initiative launched by the RSP in 2009 and the members were given training in various nuances of management as well as different income generation activities like food processing, mushroom cultivation and improved chullah-making. The encouraging response from the buyers bolstered the spirit of the girls and emboldened them to cross the threshold of their village and venture into marketing their products in Rourkela. The girls sold pickles under the brand name Srishti and some other products like masala badam and chuda badam in the melas.

RDSC to bat for ESIC medical college

 A report from Daily Pioneer

http://dailypioneer.com/304429/Rourkela-body-to-bat-for-ESIC-medical-college.html

Members of the Rourkela Development Steering Committee which has been presently taking up the demand for early running of trains to north India via Rourkela, have decided to submit a memorandum to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour to press its demand of an ESIC medical college and hospital at Rourkela during the panel’s visit here on December 21.

The committee has further decided to hold a meeting soon which Sundargarh MP Hemanand Biswal will be urged to attend.

At this meeting the names of members of a delegation will be finalised who will be meeting the Union Labour Minister and top Central Government officials in Delhi under the leadership of Biswal to reiterate the demand of an ESIC medical college at Rourkela.

If despite this, the demand is ignored by the authorities the steering committee would file a PIL on the issue in the High Court, said committee leader Bishnu Mohanty.

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DRM requested for more time on amenities

A meeting was organized by the administration with Chakradharpur DRM, Sri Achal Khare and members of the Passenger Steering Committee, Rourkela on various railway related issues.The meeting was held at RDA Conference Hall in Uditnagar,where the DRM took on the issues seriously and requested the members of the committee to co-operate with him. Concrete steps would be taken by the division for Utkal Express and Hatia-Bhubaneswar Garib Rath Express within a month, assured the DRM.

He stated that the timings of Bhubaneswar bound Garib Rath Express would be changed from 11:30 PM to 11 PM and Utkal Express will ply on its normal route within a month. Also proposals would be sent to East Coast Railways to change the timings of Tapaswini Express from 7:15 PM to 9 PM.

He further assured that sufficient steps would be taken for biweekly plying of  Tata-Chhapra Express , Hatia-Gorakhpur Maurya Express and Ranchi-New Delhi Garib Rath Express from Rourkela. The meeting was attended by Nihar Ray, Subrat Patnaik,Gurmeet Singh,Bishnu Mohanty,Kalindi Badjena,Niranjan Rout,Mahesh Wazir,Santosh Singh  from Pssenger Steering Committee, Municipality Chairperson Rashmibala Mishra, Pravin Garg, ADM Rourkela, Police Administration and Railway Authorities
   

Steel City to be back on air map

Indian Express reports

http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/steel-city-to-be-back-on-air-map/231718.html


ROURKELA: Air connectivity to the booming Rourkela City may soon be a reality. If things fall in place, the Deccan Charters may end the two decades of drought and launch a commercial flight from March.

Amid mounting demands from several quarters for setting up an air link, a meeting was convened under the chairmanship of Rourkela ADM Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav to pave way for necessary ground clearances. The meeting, among other things, discussed measures to obtain mandatory flight and air terminal clearances from the Director-General of Civil Aviation and security go ahead.

Issue of refuelling was also discussed and it was decided that the available airstrip of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) would be equipped to handle small size commercial aircraft.

To start with, the Deccan Charters have agreed to press into service its 18- seater Beech 900D aircraft.

Today’s meeting is a sequel to the one convened by the State Government on November 22.

Among others, Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Subrat Patnaik, Deccan Charters vice-president Sanjay Sehgal, representatives of RSP, National Institute of Technology- Rourkela and local business community attended.

Steel city remains deprived of train service to Delhi

Daily Pioneer reports

Despite the very presence of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)-run steel plant, this steel city is allegedly being neglected by the Indian Railways even though it earns huge revenue from here.

For years together, the railway authorities have been urged to run more trains via Rourkela to Delhi, but to no avail while the only train, the Kalinga Utkal Express (Puri-Haridwar), passing through the city here, has been terminated since June 1 this year on the pretext of growing Maoist menace following which the locals are forced to go either to Jharsuguda or Tatanagar to board a train to Delhi.

In the wee hours of May 28, the Maoists had blown up the Gyaneswari Express in between Kharagpur-Tatanagar near Jhargram causing over 60 casualties. Since then, the South Eastern Railways (SER) has terminated running of trains in the night hours on this route and has rescheduled the timing of many trains. Surprisingly, the railway authorities also changed the route of the Kalinga Utkal Express, the only direct train to Delhi for the Rourkelites, and thenceforth, the people here have to go to Tatanagar or Jharsuguda to board a train to Delhi.

The people wonder as to why the railway authorities changed the route of the train when they could have easily rescheduled its timings as they did with the other trains. Moreover, if there is a security problem, the Kalinga-Utkal Express could start from Tatanagar or Rourkela early in the morning as there are already other trains from Puri and Bhubaneswar to Delhi in the same morning hours. The railway authorities instead mindlessly diverted its route via Angul, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda, which is a great injustice to the Steel City, the aggrieved locals view.

Even a number of trains, running to Howrah via Rourkela, have also been terminated to run after 9 pm since then following which many trains are forced to stay stranded full night at the station here and the passengers have a harrowing experience as the markets here get closed by 9 pm.

When contacted, Station Manager GB Mohapatra said, all decisions are taken at the Garden Rich and they are just to carry them out.

Considering the difficulties of the passengers, who are to board for Delhi, a passenger train has been introduced from Rourkela to Jharsuguda to catch the Utkal Kalinga Express on a stop-gap arrangement, Mohapatra informed. He also admitted that despite the stop-gap arrangement, it is difficult for the aged and passengers having more luggage.

Regarding the difficulties of the stranded train passengers he said, it was in the beginning and in course of time the timings have been arranged in such a way that the trains will not to get stranded here.

About the probability of the normal running of trains he said, the only information available with him is that for the 36th time, the termination of the night-running trains has been extended till December 16.

The Road and Rail Users’ Committee (RRUC) president Amulya Baral alleged, it is all due to the conspiracy of the railway authorities and lack of will of the political parties, the people are suffering.

Need to be mentioned that, the leaders and their supporters from both the BJD and Congress parties had turned the railway station here into a war field in a bid to take the credit for the introduction of new trains on February 13 and March 31 this year when the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar and Rourkela-Koraput Intercity Expresses were flagged off from here respectively. However, the same political leaders prefer to keep mum against the apathetic attitude of the railway authorities.

On the other hand, the irate Gurudwar Sri Guru Singh Sabha has called for a rail roko on December16 here to register their protest.

Feasibility of the new Rourkela Railway Division

A few days back a memorandum was submitted with Union Railway Minister, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble CM of Odisha, State Railway Ministers and other important officials of Indian Railways on the issue of creating a new East Coast Railway Division headquartered at Rourkela. The factors influencing this demand were

1.Repeated neglecting attitude of Chakradharpur Division and South Eastern Railways
2.Advanatges of East Coast Railways e.g faster growth in East Coast Railways
3.Creation of a new Railway Zone at Visakhapatnam.

However there are some people, who are ignorant of the potential of Rourkela and in order to achieve their goal , are haphazardly going for the inclusion of Chakradharpur Division under East Coast Railways or including the SER and SECR parts of Odisha in Sambalpur Division of East Coast Railways. Their logic is that since Rourkela is located near , the divisional headquarters e.g. Sambalpur and Chakradharpur , it is not possible to establish a headquarter at Rourkela.
Rourkela is 101 kms. from Chakradharpur and 150 kms. from Sambalpur . There are a number of railway divisional headquarters in India which are located within a distance of 10 kms. to 150 kms.
Some of these divisions are as follows :

 SECUNDARABAD(South Central)-HYDERABAD(South Central)- 10 kms.

 VARANASI(North Eastern)-MUGHALSARAI(North Eastern)- 17 kms.

 HOWRAH(Eastern)-SEALDAH(Eastern)- About 20 kms. –Within the city limits

 MUMBAI(Western)-MUMBAI(Central)- Within the city limits

 GUNTUR(South Central)-VIJAYAWADA(South Central)-34 kms,

 ASANSOL(Eastern)-ADRA(South Eastern)- 50 kms.

 ASANSOL(Eastern)-DHANBAD(East Central)- 59 kms.

 TIRUCHIRAPALLI(Southern)-MADURAI(Southern)-60 kms.

 AHMEDABAD(Western Railways)-VADODARA(Western Railways)- 100 kms.

 SONPUR(East Central)-SAMASTIPUR(East Central)- 110 kms.

 BILASPUR(South East Central)-RAIPUR(South East Central)- 111 kms.

 HOWRAH(Eastern)-KHARAGPUR(South Eastern)-116 kms.

 JAIPUR(North Western)-AJMER(North Western)- 135 kms.

 BANGALORE(South Western)-MYSORE(South Western)- 139 kms.

 ALLAHABAD(North Central)-VARANASI(North Eastern)- 142 kms.


Why not Chakradharpur Division or South Eastern Railways?

It should be noted that except South Eastern Railways all other Railway Zones have approved at least one divisional headquarter in each state administered by them. South Eastern Railway Zone is perhaps the only railway zone in India which has not given a divisional headquarter in all the states administered by it, the burning example is Odisha. While more than 600 kms. (including 406 kms. of Chakradharpur Division) of railway route in Odisha is administered by South Eastern Railways, it has not provided a divisional headquarter in the state.

South Eastern Railways has four railway divisions under its jurisdiction i.e. Adra, Kharagpur, Chakradharpur and Ranchi. While the former two are in West Bengal, the later duo are in Jharkhand. According to some trusted sources, there was a proposal for creation of Rourkela Division along with Sambalpur, Khurda Road and Visakhapatnam under East Coast Railways, however the proposal was cleverly put aside due to the conspiracy of some vested interest groups.

Why not Sambalpur Division?

Sambalpur Division of East Coast Railways has around 954 kms. of railway route under its administration, which covers a major part of Western Odisha. The total revenue of this division for a period of 21 months was calculated Rs. 563 crores which means an annual revenue of Rs. 322 crores! While only Sundargarh district pays a revenue of Rs. 800 crores to Railways and with neighboring Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts the figure goes upto Rs. 2000 crores. Further entire Sambalpur Division is non-electrified while each and every route of the proposed Rourkela Division is electrified, hence no question of extension of Sambalpur Division to other areas.
The new Rourkela Division has around 550 kms. of existing railway route which is a little bit less than that of Nanded Division of South Central Railways(619 kms.) and after the creation of the proposed Talcher-Bimalagarh(154 kms.), Bansapani-Bimalagarh(45 kms.), & Kiriburu-Bolanikhadan(30 kms.), Kiriburu-Gua(25 kms.), Jharsuguda-Sundargarh Town-Talsara( around 100 kms.), the expected route kms. of Rourkela Division will shoot up to 895 kms.


Why Bondamunda?

Bondamunda ,which is located at a distance of 7 kms. from Rourkela Junction, is the second largest marshalling yard of Asia, but when it was established in 1960’s , it was the largest marshalling yard in Asia, covering a huge area. There were three locomotive sheds in Bondamunda -: Steam, Diesel and Electric, but now only two i.e. Diesel and Electric exist after the closure of the Steam locomotive Shed. More than 300 locomotives are sheltered at Bondamunda, which is the second highest in the country after Visakhapatnam. Bondamunda is the largest locomotive shed , not only of South Eastern Railways ,but entire Eastern India. Bondamunda is an important junction connecting the main Howrah-Mumbai route with the route connecting Rourkela and Ranchi. Bondamunda connets the mines of Kiriburu and Barsuan with Rourkela, with a branch line. Hundreds of acres of railway land are lying vacant and are easily being encroached. Many railway bungalows are also lying vacant and have turned into “ghost houses” without proper care. All these bungalows can be used for office works and other purposes of Rourkela Division. Further the ARM office at Bondamunda needs to be upgraded into DRM office.

Hence Rourkela Division should be constituted immedietly.

Special Train to ply between Hatia and Nagpur

The Telegraph reports

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101209/jsp/orissa/story_13275224.jsp

The South Eastern Railway has decided to ply a special train from the state capital to Nagpur during winter. The train will run on December 13, 20 and 27 and January 3, 10, 17, 24 and 30. From Nagpur, it will come back on December 14, 21 and 28 and January 4, 11, 18, 25 and February 1.

It will chug off from Hatia at 10pm and will reach Nagpur at 1.15pm on the following day after passing through Bano, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Raigarh, Champa, Bilaspur, Raipur, Durg and Gondia. From Nagpur, it will leave at 2.55pm.

While the number of train going to Nagpur is 0811, the one coming from Hatia is 0812.

Senior transportation manager, Ranchi Railway Division, S.C. Banerjee said they decided to ply the train in view of the year-end rush. He added that passengers could start booking their tickets right away. On normal days, there is no direct train from Ranchi to Nagpur. As the train will pass through Odisha and Chhattisgarh before reaching Nagpur, people of these states will benefit the most.

The special train will have 22 coaches. These include four general compartments, 13 sleeper coaches, two AC-III coaches and one AC-II apart from two coaches designated as goods carriage. The Ranchi railway division has already announced another special train from Ranchi to Jaynagar in Bihar. This train will run from December 9 to January 10.

The departure time from Ranchi is 8.30pm.

It will ply on Mondays and Thursdays and start the return journey from Jaynagar on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Modernisation work to hit train movement via Jharsuguda

Here is an extract from Daily Pioneer

http://dailypioneer.com/302016/Modernisation-work-to-hit-train-movement-via-Jharsuguda.html

The authorities at the East Coast Railway have decided to cancel and short-terminate from December 8 some trains running through Jharsuguda Road railway station for commencement of Non-Interlocking work there.

The 212 Puri-Rourkela passengers will be short terminated at Rairakhol from December 8 to December 13, 2010 and will run back as 211 Rourkela-Puri Passenger from Rairakhol. Similarly, 211 Rourkela-Puri passengers will be short terminate at Jharsuguda and will run back as 212 Puri-Rourkela passenger from Jharsuguda. During the same period the 334 Titlagarh-Jharsuguda passengers will be short terminated at Sambalpur and will return back as 333 Jharsuguda-Raipur passengers from Sambalpur.

In that period the 212/211 Puri-Rourkela-Puri passenger will be cancelled between Jharsuguda & Rairakhol and the 334/333 Jharsuguda-Raipur-Jharsuguda passenger will be cancelled between Jharsuguda & Sambalpur from both the directions.

The railway authorities have expressed regret for the inconveniences caused to the commuters due to the decision.

Step-motherly attitude of South Eastern Railways, No local train for Rourkela!!

Neglecting Odisha, seems to have become a hobby for Indian Railways. It should be noted that a number of local trains operate in the neighboring states of Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, West Bengal,Andhra Pradesh, Bihar etc. but not in Odisha. (A compensatory service operates between Balasore and Kharagpur only).

Taking the case of South Eastern Railway, this zone gets its maximum revenue from Odisha especially Sundargarh,Keonjhar and Jharsuguda districts but this region is the most neglected part in the whole country. The huge revenue generated by this region is utilized for the betterment of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Maximum number of EMU/MEMU /DEMU local trains operate in Kharagpur Division only.

While Chakradharpur Division operates 3 pair MEMU Local trains between Kharagpur and Tata; 1 pair of trains between Muri and Tata and another pair between Asansol and Tata , no such service operates in Odisha, from where this division gets its lion’s share revenue.

Following is the list of some local trains operating in South Eastern Railways

MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) Passenger trains

• Howrah-Kharagpur : 116 kms. (2 pairs)

• Tata-Kharagpur :134 kms.(3 pairs)

• Midnapore-Howrah : 129 kms.

• Midnapore-Jhargram : 52 kms.

• Muri-Tata :104 kms.

• Muri-Ranchi : 65 kms.

• Tata-Asansol : 119 kms.

• Adra-Purulia :41 kms.

• Adra-Asansol :50 kms.

• Adra-Bankura : 53 kms.

• Adra-Midnapore : 155 kms.

• Balasore-Kharagpur : 116 kms.


DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Units) Passenger trains

• Digha-Santragachi

• Baripada-Rupsa-Balasore :70 kms. (2 pairs)

• Rupsa-Baripada

• Rupsa-Balasore

• Kharagpur-Jhargram ;39 kms

• Jhargram-Ghatsila : 59 kms.

It should be noted that Kharagpur-Midnapore MEMU Special train operates for a distance of only 13 kms. ! Also Rourkela-Sambalpur DMU has been officially downgraded to a pair of passenger trains i.e. Rourkela-Jharsuguda and Jharsuguda-Sambalpur.


Our ignorant leaders with their outdated mandates demand for DMU trains instead of demanding DEMU or MEMU trains. They are totally unaware of such commuter trains playing in different parts of the country. The burning example is that no such commuter train plies in Odisha part of East coast Railway , while many do ply in Andhra part of East Coast Railway.

A lot of fuel is wasted by diesel locomotives an also it caues a great deal of air pollution, while electric locomotives or units do not cause air pollution and the operating and maintainance cost is much lower than diesel locomotives. The electrical units can be stationed at Bondamunda since it has an electric locomotive shed.

It should be demanded to play MEMU trains between Rourkela and Jharsuguda & Rourkela and Tatanagar

Further Rourkela-Jharsuguda-Sambalpur Passenger should be upgraded to a DEMU passenger.

Rourkela Railway Division demanded

Rourkela :In a memorandum to the Union Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other higher authorities of Indian Railways, the members of Rourkela Development Forum & Rourkela Railfanning Association have urged for the creation of a new East Coast Railway Division headquartered at Rourkela.
Justifying their demand they have mentioned that Sundargarh, Jharsuguda and Kendujhargarh districts of Odisha , account for the heavy revenue generated by Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway Zone, but unfortunately remain the most neglected regions in comparison to rail connectivity and facilities in other parts of the country.
The mineral rich Chotanagpur Plateau region popularly known as “Ruhr of India” due to its innumerable industries and mines, comprises of the mineral rich Sundargarh, Kendujhargarh and Jharsuguda Districts of Odisha from where Iron Ore and other minerals are transported throughout the country. Further the region houses a number of heavy industries like Rourkela Steel Plant, OCL-Rajgangpur; Adhunik Metalliks; L&T- Kansbahal , Bhusan Steel and Power; Vedanta etc. which pay a huge amount to the railways for transportation of raw materials as well as finished products. Hence a lot of freight activity is noticed in this region, which has made Chakradharpur Division the highest revenue generating division in the country, a number of times.
They have further mentioned that out of the total 741.705 route kms. of Chakradharpur Division, 405.907 kms are located in the state of Odisha covering about 50 stations out of the total 87 stations of Chakradharpur Division. Only Sundargarh district generates about Rs 800 crores annually, which accounts for 40% of the total revenue generated by Chakradharpur Division. Similarly Jharsuguda is an emerging industrial hub with a number of operating mega projects, while a number of industries are in the offing. Kendujhargarh is popular for its innumerous mines. Its natural that the people will have high expectations from the Railway Budget every year but most of the times they are met with empty hands, they alleged.
The region which is considered as one of the most backward pockets of the country with a huge tribal population, has been deprived of the basic railway infrastructure and this is considered as the biggest stumbling block in the development of the region and its principal urban center, Rourkela – Rajgangpur- Jharsuguda area. Lack of proper communication facilities and infrastructure has led to the increase of naxalite activities in the region.
Less number of trains, poor maintainance of stations, no developmental activity, poor connectivity, zero railway projects, lack of proper health care etc, are some of the examples to be mentioned. Not even 10 percent of the total revenue generated is spent on this area., A number of times ,many organizations from Rourkela have raised vital issues with the higher authorities of South Eastern Railways, but they seem to have taken no interest in all these.
Every time due to natural calamity or any insurgent activity, Rourkela has to bear the brunt as trains are either cancelled or diverted, as it is happening in case of Utkal and Samaleswari with no alternative arrangement.
Talcher-Bimalagarh railway route which could have been a boon to the tribal districts of Sundargarh and Keonjhar also provide connectivity to Coastal Odisha, is being overlooked since 1885 after the positive cost and benefit analysis. Even now the funding is much less for this project and the current rate it will take more 20 years to be completed.
On the contrary, East Coast Railways has created a saga of success and development, since its establishment in 2003. The rapid growth of East Coast Railways can be judged by its excellent maintainance of even its low class stations, they further added.
Currently Waltair (Visakhapatnam) Division of East Coast Railways considered to be developed as a new railway zone including the Andhra districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagram. Hence in the same justified manner, Rourkela Division should be constituted with the Odisha districts of Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Jharsuguda, which will benefit more than 50 lakhs people.
Rourkela-Biramitrapur ; Rourkela-Nuagaon ; Rourkela-Jaraikela ;Rourkela-Barsuan Mines ; Rourkela-Jharsuguda-Belpahar-Kotarila ; Talcher-Bimalagarh ; Bansapani-Bimalagarh ; Kiriburu-Gua ; Kiriburu-Bolanikhadan ; Jharsuguda-Sundargarh-Talsara ; Gua-Padapahar-Kendujhargarh are some of the routes that should be included in Rourkela Division.
The vacant bungalows in Bondamunda can be used for activities of the railway division and the ARM office at Bondamunda can be upgraded to DRM office. Rourkela has sufficient infrastructure and potential to be the headquarters of the new division, asserted the forum

Centre's assurance on 2nd Brahmani Bridge and industrial security

Rourkela : A delegation of Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industries, headed by Chairman Subrat Patnaik, returned home after meeting cabinet ministers on various burning issues of the city. In a press meet held at Brahmani Club, the members of the chamber were made aware of the assurances made by the ministers and authorities.

Chairman Subrat Patnaik told that the delegation comprising of former Chairman Gauri Shankar Agarwal, B.N.Patnaik, P.C.Nayak, Vinod Agrawal and Secretary Rajesh Agrawal discussed with the concerned ministers on various issues like second bridge on Brahmani river, industrial safety, regular air service between Rourkela -Kolkata and Bhubaneswar. He also added that they were accompanied by former CM and present MP of Sundargarh Sri Hemananda Biswal, MP and industrialist Navin Jindal and Rajya Sabha MP Sri Mangala Kisan. They held meetings with Coal minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal, Civil Aviation minsiter Praful Patel and Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath. They discussed the upgradation of NH-215 and 23 and construction of second bridge on Brahmani river with Kamal Nath on which he assured that he will take accurate steps. He also said that the tender process for NH-215 has been completed and that for NH-23 would be completed by March next year. In a memorandum to Coal Minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal. the demanded for sufficient coal supply for the industries. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has assured the delegation that air connectivity will be established between Rourkela,Bhubaneswar and Kolkata