Rourkela Junction railway station (station code:- ROU) is a railway junction located in the north-western part of the Indian state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

and serves

Rourkela Rourkela () is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of the state capital Bhubaneswar and is ...

Sundergarh district Sundargarh District is a district in the northwestern part of Odisha state in eastern India. Sundargarh district is bounded by Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh in the west, Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh in the North-West, Simdega district o ...

. Rourkela is the third-largest

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

in Odisha.

History

Rourkela railway station came up with the opening of the Nagpur–Asansol main line of

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

in 1891. It became a station on the crosscountry

Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line (also known as Mumbai–Kolkata line) is a railway line in India connecting Kolkata and Mumbai via Nagpur. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1900. Sections The trunk line has been treated in more deta ...

in 1900. Rourkela was connected to Barsuan iron ore mines in 1960. In earlier days the railway station of Rourkela was within the village of Mahulpali. The railway station gained in importance with the setting up of India's first public sector steel plant at Rourkela in the nineteen fifties. It was electrified in 1961–62.

Busy station

Rourkela railway station is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway. 11 trains originate at Rourkela and 111 trains(including weeklies and bi-weeklies) pass through it. It is situated on the Kolkata–Mumbai South Eastern railway line which is a major route connecting the two metros of India. Rourkela is connected to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Asansol, Dhanbad, Ranchi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Patna, Vishakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, Raipur, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Jammu & Kashmir and Ranchi.

Bimlagarh–Talcher project

The long line connecting Bimlagarh on the Bondamunda–Barsuan branch line and Talcher on the Sambalpur–Talcher–Barang branch line, was sanctioned in 2004–05 and construction is in progress. This line when complete would reduce the distance between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, the state capital, from 460 km (via Sambalpur) to 300 km.

Electric Loco Shed, Rourkela

Electric Loco Shed, Rourkela is the 3rd electric loco shed of Chakradharpur Division, South Eastern Railway. It has a holding capacity of 200 Electric locomotives.

References

External links

Trains at Rourkela
{{Railway stations in Odisha Railway stations in Sundergarh district Railway junction stations in Odisha Chakradharpur railway division Railway stations in India opened in 1891 Transport in Rourkela