The Grand Chord rail line, a section of the Gaya-Dhanbad railway line, is 117 years old. It was inaugurated on December 6, 1906, with a steam engine train running from Dhanbad to Gaya. The initial cost of building the 281-mile long line was 4.15 crore rupees. The line's inauguration ceremony took...
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place at Gujhandi station, where the then Viceroy, Lord Minto, laid a silver-plated bolt near a rail joint to mark the commencement. The Grand Chord line features a unique tunnel built through three mountains in the 'Ghati' section, which continues to be a defining feature of the line. The line has been rapidly expanding since India's independence in 1947, and it is now the highest revenue-generating section of the railway network. It is also the section with the highest number of employees. The construction of the Grand Chord line shortened the distance between Kolkata and Delhi by approximately 80 kilometers. The 22-kilometer-long 'Ghati' section, which rises from 387 meters above sea level at Gujhandi to 187 meters at Gurpa, is built on a steep slope of 1:80 meters through the Chotanagpur hills. The maximum speed of trains on the uphill line was initially 65 kilometers per hour, but it was increased to 80 kilometers per hour on December 22, 2012. Currently, plans are underway to run high-speed trains between Kolkata and Delhi at speeds ranging from 160 to 180 kilometers per hour. The railway is undergoing construction of a cemented wall around the entire line and extending the railway line.