| ASANSOL DIVISION - At a Glance |
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Asansol Division was established in 1925. This is one of the oldest Divisions in the Indian Railways and has always been in the forefront of operations, both freight and passengers. As far as Eastern Railway is concerned, Asansol Division is referred to as the heart of operations, being at the crossroads of the Grand Chord route via Gaya and the main line route via Patna.
The Division extends on the main line from the outer signal of Khana Junction in the East to the outer signal of Jhajha station in the West. On the Grand Chord line, the administrative control of Asansol Division is upto the outer signal of Pradhankhunta. The territorial jurisdiction of this Division also extends over such branch lines as Andal-Sainthia, Madhupur-Giridih, Jashidi-Baidyanathdham, Andal-Topsi-Barabani-Sitarampur and Bhimgara-Palasthali. It serves the densly populated states of West Bengal and Jharkhand covering 7(seven) districts viz. Barddhaman and Birbhum in West Bengal and Dhanbad, Giridih, Dumka, Deoghar, Jasidih - all in Jharkhand and Jamui & upto Jhajha(Outer) in Bihar. With a total 493 route Kilometres, the Division has unique distinction of having quadruple line (two up and two down) from Khana to Sitarampur. This division bifurcates the Main line and Grand Chord line leading to Delhi. Andal, the largest marshalling yard in Asia is under this division. It serves the coal mines, Steel and fertilizer industries under its jurisdiction. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, the only Electric Loco manufacturing workshop is situated in this Division. The division has links to S.E.Rly. through Adra. The division has got the largest goods yard at Andal, apart from Sitarampur and Barakar. The marshalling of wagons at Andal is done by a hump yard fitted with mechanical retarders. It has large number of collieries to serve and loads an average of 1300 wagons daily. Apart from this it handles about 4400 wagon FW units daily. The main commodities dealt are coal from Raniganj, Mugma, Jamtara and Giridih, steel products from Durgapur and IISCO at Burnpur, petroleum product from Rajbandh and huge parcel traffic from Asansol and Jasidih. |