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Bondamunda Junction is located about 8 Kms. east from the city center at an elevation of 236.661 meters above mean sea level. One can travel both by rail and road to Bondamunda from Rourkela Junction or Bus Terminal. The interstate highway (MDR-32) that links Barbil,Manoharpur with Jaraikela,Bisra, Rourkela passes through Bondamunda. Bondamunda is a reputed junction of the South Eastern Railway and connects Rourkela to Ranchi/Hatia, Tatanagar/Howrah, Kiribaru/Barsuan/Bimalagarh.
Further it has the second largest marshalling yard of India.
HISTORY
After independence , a lot of railway projects were undertaken by the Central Government,in order to connect the various regions of the country. The regions which were considered as potential hubs for industrial development were given the first preference. Two such industries were
Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi and Rourkela Steel Plant, Rourkela.
The heavy machineries manufactured in Ranchi was sent to different steel plants in the region and hence all the sites having steel plants were connected to Ranchi. Hence Rourkela was connected to Ranchi via a 170 kms. long railway route. Also Rourkela was connected to Barsuan iron mines via a 85 kms. long route.(this line extends upto Bimalagarh ). Both the routes branch at Bondamunda. The Bondamunda-Barsuan route via Bimalagarh was opened in 1st January,1960 while the Bondamunda-Kiribaru route commenced operations on 20th January,1963.
In the early 50’s ,when the steel plant at Rourkela was under construction, the Railways developed at marshalling yard at Bondamunda to cater to the bulk transportation requirements of the steel plant, including iron ore from Barsuan, Kiriburu, Meghataburu mines, limestone from Birmitrapur, coal from Dhanbad and finished steel products for the stock yards. With the increasing traffic on the Howrah-Mumbai route, two locomotive sheds were constructed at Bondamunda ,one was dedicated to Steam locomotives while the other homed the Diesel locomotives.
With the progress of electrification, the holding of Tata Electric Loco Shed increased, it became clear that a separate electric-loco shed was needed. The Electric Loco Shed, Bondamunda made a modest beginning in January 1983 with a loco holding of 6 WAM-4 locomotives and soon reached a holding of 50.
The combination of the three locomotive sheds i.e. Steam,Diesel and Electric,Bondamunda Junction became the largest marshalling yard in Asia. But with the closure of the steam locomotive shed in late 80’s ,it declined to the second position.Due to pressing need for freight locomotives the holding has increased to 110 electric locomotives and is set to rise even further. The shed is now undergoing a massive expansion programme.
In case of an accident or mishap hydraulic breakdown cranes are used for restoration of railway traffic by removing the debris and helping in the repairing of the track (if it happens). One such 140 tonne gottwald diesel hydraulic breakdown crane (Crane no. 142035) was acquired by the Bondamunda Junction in 1987.
CURRENT POSITION
Heavy marshalling activities can be noticed in the yard with a lot of freight locomotives(both diesel and electric) and a lot of wagons. More than 400 wagons can be noticed at Bondamunda-E and Bondamunda-D at anytime of the day. Bondamunda has about 16 flag cabins among which the major are as follows.
- Bondamunda-A
- Bondamunda-C
- Bondamunda-D(Kukuda Gate)
- Bondamunda-E
- Bondamunda-F
- Bondamunda-G
- Bondamunda-H
- Bondamunda-J
- Bondamunda-K
- Bondamunda Link B
- Bondamunda Junction
Most of the freight activity is noticed at Bondamunda-D,Bondamunda-E and Bondamunda Junction. All the above cabins have platforms as well and all the passenger as well as some express trains halt here.
The diesel locomotive shed is known for its locomotives which are generally used to haul passenger and express trains towards south of Rourkela i.e. Sambalpur onwards. Some of the locomotives registered to this shed are as follows:
- WDM-3A
- WDM-2A
- WDM-3D(Latest Version)
- WDS(Shunter)
Trains availing the facility of Bondamunda Diesel Locomotives
| 2835/2836 | Hatia-Yesvantpur Express |
| 2871/2872 | Howrah- Sambalpur Ispat Express |
| 2889/2890 | Tatanagar- Yesvantpur Express |
| 2831/2832 | Hatia- Bhubaneswar Garib Rath Express |
| 3351/3352 | Dhanbad- Allapuzha Express |
| 8005/8006 | Howrah- Koraput Samaleswari Express |
| 8451/8452 | Hatia - Puri Tapaswini Express |
| 211/212 | Rourkela - Puri Passenger |
| 3RJ/2RJ | Rourkela - Sambalpur D.M.U. |
· WAG-7
· WAG-5HA
· WAG-5HE
· WAG-5
· WAG-5A
Note-: The locomotive specifications given here are as per the observations in Rourkela and Bondamunda Junctions,many more diesel and electric locos are yet to be discovered.
The shed has consistently discharged the responsibilities assigned to it. The attitude of commitment, dedication and devotion to duty, has earned the Shed a place of pride in the South Eastern Railway.
FUTURE PLANS
A branch of the proposed freight corridor is planned to Bondamunda via Tatanagar and a large cargo terminal is also planned here.
