Kothavalasa–Kirandul line belongs to Waltair railway division of East Coast Railway zone. It was under South Eastern Railway zone until 2003. It passes through three states; Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kothavalasa–Araku–Koraput–Jeypore–Jagdalpur–Dantewara–Kirandaul line, the Jharsuguda–Sambalpur–Bargarh–Balangir–Titlagarh project and the Biramitrapur–Rourkela–Bimlagarh–Kiriburu project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya–Bolangir–Kiriburu project.[1] The Kothavalasa–Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67 under S E Railway with financial aid of Japan for transporting iron ore.[2]
This line passes hill sections of Eastern Ghats through Araku Valley. The line has a total of 58 tunnels and 84 major bridges and each tunnel is as long as 520 metres.
Electrification of the line was completed in four phases. Kirandul–Jagdalpur section was completed in 1980. Jagdalpur–Koraput section was completed in 1981. Koraput–Araku–Waltair section was completed in 1982. The Kothavalasa–Kirandul route was completely electrified by 1982.[3]
The line has a length of 445 km (277 mi),out of which 138 km (86 mi) lies in Andhra Pradesh up to Gorapur which will be joining South Coast Railway, rest of the line will remain in the Rayagada division of East Coast Railway 131 km (81 mi) lies in Odisha up to Khadapa, 194 km (121 mi) lies in Chhattisgarh up to Kirandul. The maximum route km being in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh with Odisha taking 3rd position.[4] The Kothavalasa–Kirandul section is classified as a Group E-special class line in which speed should be below 100 km/h.[5]
This line is mainly used for freight purposes which is a huge profit benefitting Waltair Division. It generated ₹2,252 crore (US$270 million) in freight earnings in 2022-23 which is a little over 25% of the total freight earnings of Waltair railway division in that financial year.[6] Iron ore from Bailadila is transported to Visakhapatnam through this line.[7]
