Kurduvadi is a town in Solapur district in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Kurduwadi junction is situated on Barshi Light Railway It is known mainly for the

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

connecting two different rail tracks. Prior to gauge conversion it used to be a junction with different size gauge tracks.

Geography

Kurduvadi is located at . It has an average elevation of 502 metres (1646 feet).

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Kurduvadi had a population of 22,773. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Kurduvadi has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 67%. In Kurduvadi, 13% of the population was under 6 years of age.

Transport

25 km off Mumbai Solapur Highway, Kurduwadi is accessible from Tembhurni on Mumbai Solapur Highway.Kurduwadi is known mainly for the

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

railway workshop and railway junction, Kurduvadi railway station, on Central Railway of

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. A branch railway line takes off from Kuruvadi connecting

Osmanabad Osmanabad, officially known as Dharashiv, is a city and a municipal council in Osmanabad district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. The city is the administrative headquarter of Osmanabad district. It is the ...

and

Latur Latur (ISO: ''Lātūra''; formerly Ratnapur) is a city located in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra state of India country. Before 1982 Latur was a part of the Osmanabad district (now Dharashiv). The city is a tourist hub surrounded by many ...

towards East and

Pandharpur Pandharpur City (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɳɖʱəɾpuːɾ is a popular pilgrimage town, on the banks of Chandrabhaga River, Chandrabhagā River, near Solapur, Solapur city in Solapur district, Solapur District, Maharashtra, Ind ...

and

Miraj Miraj (Pronunciation: iɾəd͡z ) is a city that is part of the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad metropolitan region in Sangli district, Maharashtra. Founded in the early 10th century, Miraj was an important jagir of the Bijapur Sultanate. Chhatrapa ...

towards South-West. The branch line called Barshi Light Railway was narrow gauge until 2008. Now it has been converted to

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

. The new broad gauge track made a detour to connect Osmanabad which was not connected by railway line. The converted broad gauge track from Latur to Osmanabad was commissioned in September 2007 and the converted broad gauge track from Osmanabad-Barshi to Kurduvadi was commissioned in October 2008. Kurduvadi is a railway junction where one major railway track between

Wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

and

Daund Daund is a city, municipal council, and headquarters of the Daund tehsil in the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city of Daund is located on the Bhima River. In ancient times, a sage named Dhaumya Rishi stayed here; henc ...

and a branch line track between

Road and

intersect. The track from Daund continues to

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

towards west and to

Manmad Manmad ( ənmaːɖ is a town in Nashik district in Maharashtra, India. It is the third largest city in Nashik district, with a population of approximately 80,000. Geographically, the town lies within Nandgaon Tehsil in Nashik District. Though ...

towards north-northwest. The branch line from

towards east of Kurduvadi connects

in south-southwest and was called Barshi Light Railway as it was a narrow gauge track.

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the States and Territories of India, Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore ...

lies southeast of Kurduvadi and connects to

Bijapur Bijapur (officially Vijayapura) is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural importa ...

. A part of the narrow gauge Barshi Light Railway track from Kurduvadi to Pandharpur (52 km) was converted to broad gauge in 2001. The narrow-gauge track from Pandharpur to Miraj was converted to broad gauge in 2010. The converted broad gauge track was commissioned in the last quarter of 2010 for freight trains and February 2011 for passenger trains. Now trains run on the broad gauge track from Miraj to Kurduvadi. These include trains from Miraj to Parbhani and from Kolhapur to Solapur via Miraj. The converted Miraj-Kurduvadi railway line has shortened the railway distance between

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

, Solapur and

Parbhani Parbhani (, ) is a city in Maharashtra state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Parbhani District. Parbhani is one of the largest cities in Marathwada region. Parbhani is around away from regional headquarters of Aurangabad w ...

References

{{Reflist Cities and towns in Solapur district