Ambikapur railway station
Ambikapur, station code ABKP, is a railway station that connects the city of Ambikapur and is the connecting point of Surguja district and falls within the Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railway.
Ambikapur अम्बिकापुर | |
|---|---|
| Express train and Passenger train tation | |
| Location | Ambikapur, Surguja district, Chhattisgarh India |
| Coordinates | 23.1365°N 83.1436°E |
| Construction | |
| Parking | Available |
| Other information | |
| Status | Functional |
| Station code | ABKP |
| Zone(s) | South East Central Railway zone |
| Division(s) | Bilaspur |
History
This is one of the Railway stations that connects North Chhatishgarh with Raipur. The Railway Ministry plans to build a new 178 km (111 mi) km line between Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) and Barwadih (Jharkhand). The proposed line will reduce the distance between Mumbai and Howrah via Jabalpur by about 420.25 km (261 mi).
Britishers were the first to moot the proposal way back in 1925 to connect Ambikapur and Barwadih, both coal-rich areas, by rail. The plan was aimed to facilitate the transportation of minerals.
The Britishers knew the importance of the rail line and the work on the project was started in the early 1930s after conducting the survey, sources added. The required land for the project was also acquired. But the work was stopped during World War II and the project had been pending since then, sources said.
The new rail line will give connectivity from Howrah, Dhanbad & Ranchi to Mumbai via Lohardaga, Barkakana, Latehar, Barwadih, Ambikapur, Katni, Jabalpur & Itarsi. It would help reducing the rail distance between the two Metros. At present, both the Metros are connected by two different rail routes one via Nagpur & Bilaspur and another via Itarsi & Jabalpur.
The distance between Howrah and Mumbai via Jabalpur is 2,162.5 km (1,344 mi) km while the same via Nagpur comes to be around 1,970.5 km (1,224 mi). The railway runs maximum trains between both the Metros via Nagpur-Bilaspur section. Besides a daily Kolkata mail, a couple of weekly trains chug on Jabalpur-Itarsi section.
Sources said that the new new 178 km (111 mi) Barwadih-Ambikapur line would change the rail map route between Howrah and Mumbai. If the new line starts, it will reduce the distance between both the Metros by more than 420.25 km (261 mi), thus making it shortest route between Mumbai and Howrah by curtailing travel time by at least 6 hours 15 mins, sources added.
References
- Das, R. Krishna (3 March 2010). "Proposed new rail line to bring Mumbai, Kolkata closer". Business Standard.