Headquarters of a railway zone
Bilaspur Junction (code BSP) is the headquarters station of the South East Central Railway, one of the Indian Railways zones formed in 2003, and of its Bilaspur division. Few stations of its size carry as much traffic: about 340 passenger and goods trains pass through every day, much of it coal moving from the mines of Chhattisgarh to power stations and steel plants across India.
A Bengal Nagpur Railway station
- 1889: Bilaspur station comes up with the opening of the Rajnandgaon–Bilaspur extension.
- 1890: the station building is constructed.
- 1891: the Nagpur–Asansol main line opens through Bilaspur.
- 1900: Bilaspur becomes a station on the cross-country Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line.
- 1969–70: the Rourkela–Bilaspur section is electrified, followed by Bilaspur–Nagpur in 1976–77 and Bilaspur–Katni in 1981.
- 2018: the Bilaspur electric loco shed is commissioned.
Coal country
When South East Central Railway was carved out of the South Eastern Railway in 2003, it took in the Bilaspur, Raipur and Nagpur divisions, a network built around minerals. Branch lines from the Bilaspur area serve the Korba coalfield, home of the Gevra mine, one of the largest open-cast coal mines in Asia. Long rakes of coal wagons heading for power stations are a constant sight at Bilaspur, and they explain why the division ranks among the heaviest freight loaders in India.
A clean headquarters
In the 2015–16 national cleanliness survey, Bilaspur was ranked the third-cleanest railway station in India and the cleanest zonal headquarters station.
Platform layout
BSP has 8 platforms (five island platforms and three terminus platforms), with two more under construction, on 18 tracks, at an elevation of about 292 metres.
Lines and trains
Bilaspur is on the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai trunk route between Raipur and the Odisha border, with a line north to Katni towards Jabalpur and Delhi. Vande Bharat services link it with Nagpur, and express trains run to Howrah, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. Our train schedule page has timings.
Around Bilaspur
- The Achanakmar tiger reserve and Amarkantak, source of the Narmada river, are reached by road.
- Ratanpur, with its historic Mahamaya temple, is a short drive north.