A railway town
Bhusawal owes its importance almost entirely to the railway. When the Great Indian Peninsula Railway built its line from Bombay towards Jabalpur and Nagpur in the 1860s, it chose Bhusawal, on the Tapi river plain in Jalgaon district, as a major base. Bhusaval Junction (code BSL) is described as the biggest junction in Maharashtra and is the headquarters of Central Railway's Bhusaval division. About 289 trains serve the station, around 14 of them starting here.
Built by the GIPR
Construction of the line through this region ran from 1852 to 1865, and the sections around Bhusawal opened between 1861 and 1865. The station's original cost is recorded as about £80,000 (₹8 lakh). From here the GIPR extended its branch to Khandwa in 1866 and on to Nagpur in 1867, making Bhusawal the place where the routes to north and east India divide. Electrification, with 25 kV AC, came in 1968–69.
A giant yard
BSL has 9 platforms, but its yard is far bigger: 243 tracks in total, and it has been described as the second-biggest railway yard in Asia. Freight from Mumbai's ports to central and north India is sorted and re-formed here.
The 1919 loco shed
The GIPR opened a locomotive shed at Bhusawal in 1919; it was described at the time as the largest in Asia and the third-largest in the world. An electric workshop followed in 1974 at a cost of ₹3.52 crore, and it has been ISO certified since April 2006. Locomotives of the WAM-4, WAP-4, WAG-5 and WAG-9 classes have been maintained here.
Lines from Bhusawal
Near Bhusawal
Jalgaon, the district headquarters a short distance west, is the usual railhead for the Ajanta caves, reached by road. Trains through BSL to Mumbai, Delhi, Howrah and the south are listed in our train timetable.