Grand Chord

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Grand Chord" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Grand Chord
broad gauge
Electrification	Electrified
Operating speed	up to 160 km/h (99 mph)
Route map Legend Mughalsarai–Gaya section     to Mughalsarai–Kanpur section of Howrah–Delhi main line and Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line Mughalsarai Junction to Howrah–Delhi main line Chandauli Majhwar Karmanasa River Uttar Pradesh Bihar border Bhabua Road Sasaram Junction to Ara Dehri-on-Sone Son River Son Nagar to Barkakana Anugrah Narayan Road Gaya Junction Asansol–Gaya section Gaya Junction Patna–Gaya line Falgu River Gaya–Kiul line Bihar Jharkhand border Gujhandi to Tilaiya (under construction) Koderma Junction to Hazaribagh Town to Madhupur Barakar River Hazaribagh Road Parasnath NSC Bose Gomoh to Bokaro Steel City to Adra Dhanbad Barakar River Jharkhand West Bengal border to Howrah–Delhi main line Asansol Junction to Howrah km

Grand Chord is part of the

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

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

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

References