Grand Chord

Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur, (Asansol), (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, (Uttar Pradesh), previously known as Mughalsarai Junction, and covers a stretch of 450.7 km (280.1 mi).[1] The Coal India Corridor line that branches off from Dhanbad Junction and rejoins the Grand Chord at Son Nagar Junction is another major coal loading hub. It is a fully electrified, quadruple line section from Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay to Son Nagar and double line section from Son Nagar to Sitarampur . There are plans to triple the lines from Son Nagar to Dhanbad to accommodate the increasing traffic. . The entire line lies under the jurisdiction of three divisions, Mughalsarai railway division , Dhanbad railway division and Asansol railway division. The Grand chord section is the lifeline of the country, 2nd busiest railway section of India after Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh (previously known as Mughalsarai Junction) Main Line section, on which coal, steel and other important goods are moved from Eastern section to Western and Northern sections of the country. In the down direction, the traffic consists of mostly food grains, fertilizers and empty wagons for coal loading in the Jharkhand and West Bengal coal fields. Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction is a transit division and the main objective is to maintain mobility of high density traffic. The present capacity of the Grand Chord is being optimally utilized. Traversing through Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand as well as parts of the fertile Gangetic plains of Bihar, the Grand Chord covers a stretch of 450.7 km (280.1 mi). The Grand Chord is renowned for its remarkable controlling of passenger traffic, despite being burdened with freight traffic.

Grand Chord
Gaya Junction lies on the Grand Chord line
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerIndian Railways
LocaleWest Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh
Termini
Service
Operator(s)Eastern Railway, East Central Railway
History
Opened1900
Technical
Line length450.7 km (280 mi)
Number of tracks2/3
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
ElectrificationElectrified
Operating speedup to 160 km/h (99 mph)
Route map

  
 
to Mughalsarai–Kanpur section
 Up arrow
of Howrah–Delhi main line
and Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line
 Mughalsarai Junction
 Right arrow
to Sitarampur
via Howrah–Delhi main line
 Chandauli Majhwar
 Karmanasa River
Uttar Pradesh
Bihar
border
 Bhabua Road
 Sasaram
 Dehri-on-Sone
Nehru Setu bridge
across Son River
 Son Nagar
 Left arrow to Barkakana
 Anugrah Narayan Road
 Gaya Junction
Gaya Junction
 Right arrow Patna–Gaya line
 Falgu River
 Right arrow Gaya–Kiul line
Bihar
Jharkhand
border
 Gujhandi
 Right arrow to Tilaiya (under construction)
 Koderma Junction
 Left arrow to Hazaribagh Town
 Right arrow to Madhupur
 Barakar River
 Hazaribagh Road
 Parasnath
 NSC Bose Gomoh
 Left arrow to Bokaro Steel City
 Left arrow to Adra
Dhanbad
 Barakar River
Jharkhand
West Bengal
border
 Right arrow
to Mughalsarai
via Howrah–Delhi main line
 Asansol Junction
 Down arrow to Howrah
km

The railways first came to eastern India in 1854, and the Calcutta–Delhi railway link, with a distance of more than 1,642 km (1,020 mi), became operational by 1866. With the increase in traffic it became necessary to construct an alternative route.

With this in view, the Grand Chord section was planned. The Grand Chord section was opened in December 1906 by Lord Minto, then Viceroy and Governor-General of India with a function at Gujahandi.[1] With the opening of the Grand Chord route, the distance between Calcutta and Delhi was reduced by 192 km (119 mi). The cost of construction was around ₹415 lakh (equivalent to ₹14 billion or US$170 million in 2023).[2]

The Grand Chord section is critically important even today, handling major passenger trains on the Howrah–Delhi route, particularly all the Rajdhani Expresses from Howrah, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi and the entire freight traffic, particularly coal, handled by the Dhanbad division of East Central Railway.

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) encompasses a double-line electrified traction corridor from Haldia on the Eastern Railway to Khurja on the North Central Railway (1,270 km or 790 mi) via Grand Chord, Khurja to Dadri on NCR double-line electrified corridor (46 km or 29 mi) and Single electrified line from Khurja to Ludhiana (412 km or 256 mi) on Northern Railway. The total length works out to 1,379 km (857 mi). So in the Grand Chord section its total 4 parallel track will be run to ease traffic movement on this busy route.

The EDFC will traverse 6 states and is projected to cater to a number of traffic streams – coal for the power plants in the northern region of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan from the Eastern coal fields, finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizers, limestone from Rajasthan to steel plants in the east and general goods. The total traffic in UP direction is projected to go up from 38 million tonnes in FY2005-06 to 116 million tonnes in FY2021–22.

Trains on the route

In c. 1970, it was said that a goods train passes by every 20 minutes on the Grand Chord line. Now, the frequency has become around 5 minutes making it one of the busiest routes in India. More than 50 mail and express trains use this shorter route apart from 2 dozens of passenger trains.

Some important trains on the route
  1. Howrah Rajdhani Express (via Gaya)
  2. Sealdah Rajdhani Express
  3. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro, Tatanagar)
  4. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Adra)
  5. Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express (via Sambalpur)
  6. Ranchi Rajdhani Express (via Bokaro, Gaya)
  7. Ranchi Rajdhani Express (via Daltonganj)
  8. Howrah–Ranchi Shatabdi Express (via Bokaro, Dhanbad)
  9. Howrah–New Delhi Duronto Express
  10. Bhubaneswar–Duronto Express
  11. Sealdah–Bikaner Duronto Express
  12. Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Humsafar Express
  13. Godda-New Delhi Humsafar Express
  14. Ranchi–New Delhi Garib Rath Express
  15. Howrah–Anand Vihar Yuva Express
  16. West Bengal Sampark Kranti Express
  17. Odisha Sampark Kranti Express
  18. Jharkhand Sampark Kranti Express
  19. Gaya–Anand Vihar Garib Rath Express
  20. Howrah–Jodhpur Express
  21. Ajmer–Sealdah Express
  22. Kalka Mail – The oldest running passenger train of India
  23. Poorva Express (via Gaya)
  24. Garbha Express
  25. Howrah–Jaisalmer Superfast Express
  26. Purushottam Express
  27. Ara–Ranchi Express
  28. Parasnath Express
  29. Howrah–Gwalior Chambal Express
  30. Howrah–Agra Cantt/Mathura Chambal Express
  31. Howrah–Indore Junction Shipra Express
  32. Jharkhand Swarna Jayanti Express (via Bokaro)
  33. Mahabodhi Express
  34. Deekshabhoomi Express
  35. Gaya–Chennai Egmore Weekly Superfast Express
  36. Howrah–Bhopal Weekly Express
  37. Doon Express
  38. Neelachal Express (Via. Bokaro)
  39. Nandankanan Express (Via. Adra)
  40. Patna–Hatia Express
  41. Shalimar (Howrah) Express
  42. Pratap Express
  43. Black Diamond Express
  44. Coalfield Express
  45. Patna - Ranchi Janshatabdi Express
  46. Purnia Court - Hatia Kosi Express
  47. Sealdah–Amritsar Jallianwalla Bagh Express
  48. Tatanagar–Amritsar Jallianwalla Bagh Express
  49. Kolkata Mail via Allahabad
  50. Ganga Damodar Express
  51. Ganga Sutlej Express
  52. Garib Nawaz Express
  53. Howrah–Ranchi Intercity Express via Adra
  54. Dhanbad–Patna Intercity Express
  55. Dhanbad–Gaya Intercity Express
  56. Patna–Bhabua Road Intercity Express
  57. Howrah–Ranchi Intercity Express via Tatanagar
  58. Ranchi–Varanasi Express
  59. Ranchi–Kamakhya Express
  60. Shaktipunj Express
  61. Haldia–Anand Vihar Terminal Superfast Express
  62. Bhubaneswar–Anand Vihar Weekly Superfast Express via Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bokaro
  63. Shabd Bhedi Superfast Express
  64. Howrah–Lalkuan Express
  65. Durgiana Express
  66. Kolkata–Agra Cantonment Express
  67. Kolkata–Agra Cantonment Superfast Express
  68. Santragachi–Anand Vihar Superfast Express
  69. Jasidih–Pune weekly Express
  70. Shalimar-Gorakhpur Weekly Express
  71. Gaya-Lucknow Ekatmata Express

References
  1. "The Grand 'old' Chord". The Hindu. 4 December 2006.
  2. "Grand rerun of Raj rail route - Railways enact Lord Minto's flag-off at Gujhandi to celebrate 100 years of Dhanbad-Gaya chord line". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 9 January 2011.
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