East Central Railway(ECR) General Manager Chhatrasal Singh conducted a footplate inspection of a BOBRN rake on the Gurpa-Gujhandi Ghat section on Thursday, May 7, 2026. He was accompanied by Principal Chief Operations Manager Indu Rani Dubey.
This Gurpa-Gujhandi ghat section has a ruling gradient of 1:80. The alignment passes through hilly terrain with rock cuttings and three tunnels along the route.
As this section was constructed prior to independence, the operation of BOBRN wagons was previously not undertaken due to limited tunnel clearance heights and structural obstructions.
However, ECR, in collaboration with IIT-ISM Dhanbad, successfully completed tunnel redesign and dimensional enlargement; consequently, a trial run for the operation of empty BOBRN rakes on the Down Line has now become possible.
This will facilitate running of BOBRN rakes in the Gurpa-Gajhandi Ghat section and will lead to an improvement in wagon turnaround times for the Barh, Barauni, and Salakati (Northeast) NTPC power plants. Prior to this development, coal transportation to the Barh and Barauni NTPC plants via the Gurpa-Gujhandi Ghat section was exclusively carried out using BOX-N rakes.
Currently, following the loading of coal into BOBRN rakes within the Dhanbad Division, coal is transported to the Barh, Barauni, and Salakati (Northeast) NTPC plants via the Pradhankhanta–Asansol–Jhajha route. This takes longer compared to using the Grand Chord(GC) Line. On the return journey as well, empty BOBRN rakes are received by the Dhanbad Division via this same route.
Henceforth, return of BOBRN rakes to the Dhanbad Division will now be possible via the Gurpa–Gujhandi Ghat section of the GC Line reducing wagon turnaround time, increasing availability of rakes and higher loading volumes.
