Dhanbad Junction railway station

Dhanbad Junction Railway Station, station code DHN, is a railway station of the Indian railway serving the city of Dhanbad, the headquarters of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the largest railway station in Jharkhand, handling over 100 trains and 100,000+ passengers every day. Dhanbad is also the headquarters of the Dhanbad Rail Division of the East Central Railway zone. Grand Chord rail-line that connects Howrah and New Delhi passes through Dhanbad junction. Dhanbad is located at 23°47′32″N 86°25′42″E.[3] It has an elevation of 235 metres (771 ft).

Dhanbad Junction
Regional rail and Light rail station
Dhanbad Junction
Location	Station Road, Dhanbad, Dhanbad district, Jharkhand India
Coordinates	23°47′32″N 86°25′42″E
Elevation	235.00 metres (771.00 ft)
Owned by	Government of India
Operated by	Indian Railways
Line(s)	Asansol-Gaya section of Grand Chord, Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line , Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line, Dhanbad- Singrauli line, Dhanbad-Bhojudih-Adra Line
Platforms	7
Tracks	11
Construction
Structure type	In Development
Parking	Available
Other information
Status	Operational
Station code	DHN
Zone(s)	East Central Railway
Division(s)	Dhanbad Railway division
History
Opened	1880 (1880)
Rebuilt	1956 (1956)
Electrified	1960 (1960)
Previous names	Dhanbad
Traffic
Passengers	100,000+
Route map km to Asansol–Gaya section of Grand Chord 56 Koderma to Hazaribagh / Barkakana to Giridih / Madhupur 8 Hirodih 16 Samatanr 21 Jadudih 25 Parsabad Barakar River 36 Chaube 47 Hazaribagh Road 57 Chichaki 65 Chaudhuribandh 74 Parasnath Parasnath Hill 1,350 metres (4,430 ft) NH 2 / Grand Trunk Road 82 Nimiaghat 92 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Gomoh to Barkakana and Hatia 101 Matari 106 Nichitpur to Railways in Jharia Coalfield / Katrasgarh 112 Tetulmari 117 Bhuli (halt) to Railways in Jharia Coalfield / Jharia 121 Dhanbad to Asansol–Gaya section of Grand Chord
Location
Dhanbad Junction Location in Jharkhand

Railways in Jharia Coalfield
km km to Barkakana 0 to Gaya to Bokaro 0 30 50 N.S.C Bose Gomoh Chandrapura 34 17 5 Kochargara (from Gomoh) 9 Telo (from Gomoh) Chandrapura TPS Patrakulhi Colliery Dugda Coal Washery 30 Dugda Halt Dhanabd-Chandrapura line 44 Khario Halt KKC Main Siding Jamunia River 39 Khanudih KKC Link Siding Jamuniatanr Halt 27 Adra-Gomoh line Jamuni Halt 24 37 Benidih 22 Phulwartanr 21 Budora Halt Jamuniatand 38 Tundu Colliery 18 Tundu Halt Kharkhari 35 24 Ramakunda Halt Malkera-Kharkhari defunct loop line Mucheraidih 32 Dhanbad-Chandrapura line Mahuda Junction 30 20 Matari Murulidih Colliery to Talgaria 0 17 Sonardih Halt Moonidih Colliery 14 Tentulia Malkera 24 15 Nichitpur Malkera-Katrasgarh defunct colliery line Katrasgarh 13 Salanpur Colliery Angarpathra Halt 11 Sijua 10 Dhanbad-Gomoh line Bansjora 08 Baseria Halt 06 9 Tetulmari Kendua Colliery Kusunda 04 Kusunda-Jharia branch line (dismantled) 4 Bhuli Block Hut Diamond Crossing of defunct Dhanbad-Jharia line 0 Dhanbad Adra-Gomoh line 5 Dokra Halt to New Giridih under construction 9 Pradhankhunta Junction TSBD Colliery to Asansol Tata Sijua 20 Kankanee Colliery Layabad 18 Pradhankhunta-Pathardih line Dhanbad-Jharia-Pathardih line (dismantled) Layabad Coking plant K.S.T Siding Karkend 16 2 Dhansar Halt Pootkee Colliery 4 Bastakulha Halt 6 Nayakanali Halt Ballihari Colliery 7 Jharia Jitpur Colliery 8 Kujama Halt Bhaga Goods Shed 9 Lodna Bhaga 10 10 Bagdigi Halt 11 Barari Bazar Halt Jamadoba Halt 07 Barari Colliery 14 Rakshitpur C.K. Siding JBO Washery Patherdih-Rakshitpur loop under construction Mohalboni 06 14 Patherdih Bazar Bhowrah 04 16 27 Patherdih Junction 22 Sindri Block Hut Pathardih Washery Sudamdih Washery Chasnalla Colliery 25 Sindri Marshalling Yard Sudamdih 00 30 27 Sindri Town to Bhojudih 0 Sindri FCI siding km
Sources: [1] [2]

Grand Chord
Gaya–Mughalsarai section      to Mughalsarai–Kanpur section of Howrah–Delhi main line and Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line Mughalsarai Junction 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 to Barkakana Anugrah Narayan Road Gaya Junction
Asansol–Gaya section  Gaya Junction Patna–Gaya line Falgu River Gaya–Kiul line Bihar Jharkhand border Gujhandi Koderma Junction to Hazaribagh Town to Giridih Barakar River Hazaribagh Road Parasnath NSC Bose Gomoh to Bokaro Steel City to Adra Dhanbad Barakar River Jharkhand West Bengal border to Mughalsarai via Howrah–Delhi main line Sitarampur to Asansol Junction

One of the largest and busiest railway junctions, it is arguably the most important station on the Grand Chord. In fact Dhanbad is the junction at which the Grand Chord really diverges from the CIC section. CIC rail line starts from Dhanbad and ends at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh. Besides the CIC section there was a direct line to Ranchi which goes through Bokaro and Chandrapura. Most trains bound for Ranchi take this route. Dhanbad has a rail connectivity with the other major parts of the country such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Pune, Guwahati, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj etc. Another rail line passing through the district, starts at Kharagpur and ends at Gomoh, this rail line comes under South Eastern Railway. Dhanbad is connected with most of the states through rail network. Every train passing through Dhanbad has a stop here. This Station is facing a serious problem of connectivity. And losing its importance after closure of Dhanbad-Chandrapura rail line. Platform 6-7 is fading away now. but Mahuda Junction is just 19 km by road become the substitution for Dhanbad and nearby places for different trains after closure of Chandrapura Dhanbad line.

There used to be another railway line from Dhanbad connecting it to Jharia and Pathardih. The line used to intersect the CIC section, requiring a Diamond Crossing. Now that the line has been dis-mantled, the Diamond Crossing is no longer operational. Previously when there were much less trains from Ranchi and adjoining areas, Dhanbad along with Tatanagar railway station served as the main railway stations for the entire state of Jharkhand.

Overview

The entire belt between Durgapur (158 km from Howrah), and all the way up to Dhanbad and beyond is industrialized. Apart from factories, there are many coalmines, some closed now, and some with fires burning deep in the mineshafts. The mining area extends for a large area, mostly to the south of the tracks. Quite a portion of the track passes through cuttings, where the surrounding area is higher than the track level, resulting in the profusion of characteristic small masonry bridges crossing the tracks." This description is from "Gomoh loco shed and CLW trip record" by Samit Roychoudhury.[4]

History

The East Indian Railway Company extended its lines to Katrasgarh via Dhanbad in 1894.[5]

In the Railways in Jharia Coalfield, amongst the major sections of EIR were the Dhanbad-Phularitand section (21.6 km) opened in 1894 to Katrasgarh and extended to Phularitand in 1924, and the Dhanbad-Pathardih section opened in 1903.[6]

New developments

In February 2012, The Indian Railways had planned to set up a Railway Station Development Corporation (RSDC) that will work on improving the major railway stations including Dhanbad Junction by building and developing Restaurants, shopping areas and food plaza for commercial business and improving passenger amenities[7]

Electrification

The Kumardhubi-Dhanbad, Pradhankhanta-Pathardih and Dhanbad-Gomoh sectors were electrified in 1960-61.[8]

Facilities

The station houses all the major facilities like waiting rooms, computerized reservation facility, dormitory, retiring rooms, cafeteria, bookshop, food plaza etc.[9] Existing facilities are being revamped for developing it as model station. The Railway station is a divisional headquarters of East Central Railway and houses a number of non-passenger related facilities like loco sheds, washing lines etc. in its premises. From 21 November 2016 free RailWire WiFi facility is also available. If You have to come on Manaitand and Joraphatak Area then come across the Platform No. 7 & If You have to reach central area of Dhanbad then come across the Platform No. 1 main gate. You can also get various types of Magazines, NewsPapers, and more facilities on Platform No. 1,2 & 3.

Escalator has been installed in platform 2 and 3 at the station. This proves to be of high help to the senior citizens and the handicapped.

External video
Video of Rajdhani Express from Dhanbad Junctionretrieved 8.03.2012

Transport and connectivity

Dhanbad station is very well connected by roadways. There is a bus stand just outside the railway station, where buses for nearby cities like Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bokaro, Asansol and Durgapur are easily available.

Outside the station, there is a taxi stand wherein a lot of taxis are always available.

Dhanbad along with Ranchi and Jamshedpur were provided with buses under JNNURM scheme, for city transportation. These buses can be used for local transportation.

Autos remain the mainstay of civilian transport in the city. These autos can be used to travel throughout the length of the city, using very nominal fares.

Significance

Dhanbad Jn is a Category A1,[10] station as well as the divisional headquarters. It is the largest station in the adjoining area, and every train has a halt here. Lying centrally on the Grand Chord it is flanked by Gaya Junction on the Delhi side and Asansol railway station on the Howrah side. It is not uncommon to find long distance trains getting their locomotives and rakes (occasionally) changed here. All the Duronto Express passing through Dhanbad have a technical stoppage here. Due to shortage in spaces, Dhanbad does-not have any loco-shed at present. It used to have a steam loco shed earlier. It has a trip loco shed at its outer section, has its electric loco shed at Gomoh and its diesel loco shed at Patratu. Being the largest station in the area it finds a very heavy patronage and a huge number of passengers use this station every day. A lot of people from adjoining districts like Bokaro, Koderma, Giridih come to Dhanbad early morning to catch the 'morning trains' to various destinations like Kolkata, Durgapur, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Patna, Burdwan and Gaya. Dhanbad also became the 1st station in the country to have an AC double-decker express running till Howrah Junction which is now discontinued.

Trains

Dhanbad is the second most profitable division after Mumbai to Indian Railway in terms of revenue generation. Dhanbad Junction's location on the Delhi Kolkata Grand chord route, makes it served by numerous express and superfast trains from all over the country. Several electrified local passenger trains also run from Dhanbad to neighbouring destinations at regular intervals.

See also

• Dhanbad

References

1. "Adra Division Railway Map". South Eastern Railway.
2. "East Coast Railway System Map" (PDF). East Coast Railway.
3. "Dhanbad Junction". Wikimapia. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
4. "Gomoh loco shed and CLW trip record". Indian Railway Reports. IRFCA. Missing or empty |url= (help)
5. E.R., Gee. "History of Coal Mining in India". pages 314-315. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
6. "Chapter VII - Communications" (PDF). Dhanbad district administration. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
7. "Railways to set up body to develop stations". The Times of India. 11 February 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
8. "History of Electrification". information published by CORE (Central Organization for Railway Electrification). CORE (Central Organization for Railway Electrification). Retrieved 17 July 2013.
9. "List of Locations (Irrespective Of States) Where Computerized Reservation Facilities Are Available". Official website of the Indian Railways. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
10. "Dhanbad Railway Station to provide a host of amenities shortly | RailNews". railnews.co.in. Retrieved 30 June 2014.

External links

Dhanbad travel guide from Wikivoyage

• "Coal town station first in state to score an A1". telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 30 May 2014.