BALASORE Baleshwar
Indian Railways station
General information
Location	Station Road, Balasore, Odisha India
Coordinates	21°30′05″N 86°55′13″E / 21.5014°N 86.9203°E / 21.5014; 86.9203
Elevation	16 m (52 ft)
Owned by	Indian Railways
Operated by	South Eastern Railway
Line(s)	Howrah–Chennai main line Balasore–Gopinathpur Nilgiri siding line
Platforms	4
Tracks	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Connections	RAILWIRE wifi available by Google
Construction
Structure type	Standard (on-ground station)
Parking	Available
Other information
Status	Functioning
Station code	BLS
Zone(s)	South Eastern Railway
Division(s)	Kharagpur
History
Opened	1896
Electrified	Yes, Double electrified line
Previous names	Bengal Nagpur Railway
Passengers
Daily more than 130000
Services
Preceding station Indian Railways Following station Tikirapal Halt towards Howrah Junction South Eastern Railway zone Howrah–Chennai main line Nilgiri Road towards Chennai Central
Location
BALASORE Location in Odisha Show map of Odisha BALASORE Location in India Show map of India

Balasore railway station serves Balasore, Remuna, Chandipur, Bhograi, Nilagiri, Odisha in Balasore district and other districts like Mayurbhanj, Kendujhargarh and Bhadrak for boarding major trains like Duronto, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Humsafar Express and many more trains that do not stop at Bhadrak station in the Indian state of Odisha.

Facilities

There are four platforms in Balasore railway station. Generally platforms 1,2 and 3 are used for long-distance trains like express and mail trains and platform no. 4 is used for suburban and local DEMU, MEMU trains.^{[clarification needed]}

Balasore railway station has a computerised reservation office, cloak room, waiting room, retiring room, and refreshment room. This station is provided with Railwire free wifi by Google. One can download movies and music at high speed for 30 minutes after which speed will be reduced.^[1] Balasore railway station has a double-bedded air-conditioned retiring room, 6 double bedded non-air-conditioned retiring rooms and a six-bedded dormitory, many small shops are available at all the platforms, water vending machine is also available in all platforms.^[2]

Passenger movement and train performance

Balasore railway station is an A-grade station. Balasore railway station serves around 130,000 passengers every day. It is a major station in the state of Odisha where all the trains going from Howrah to Chennai make a scheduled stop. Many trains like Bhubaneswar rajdhani express, Bhubneswar-New Delhi duronto express and Howrah–Yashvanantapur Humsafar express, Puri-Howrah shatabdi express halt here. Other trains like Antodaya express and other AC superfast, mail trains have a regular halt in this station. Though this station lacks connectivity to some western states but one can easily get connecting trains from any major station like Bhubaneswar, kharagpur which have frequent connectivity from Balasore railway station. There is a long-standing demand of direct train to Mumbai from Balasore. But the government never paid attention on this demand of locals.^[3]

History

During the period 1893 to 1896, 1,287 km (800 mi) of East Coast State Railway was built and opened to traffic. Bengal Nagpur Railway's line to Cuttack was opened on 1 January 1899.^[4] The 514 km (319 mi) long northern section of the East Coast State Railway was merged with BNR in 1902.^[5]