Transport in Nagpur

View from a moving automobile in the city of Nagpur, India.

Transport in Nagpur is important due to Nagpur's strategic location in central India. Though city lacks any major mass transit system[1] its road network is maintained in good condition to avoid congestion. Nagpur is well connected with four major metros of India namely Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Chennai by all three modes - road, rail and air. Auto rickshaws operate in most parts of Nagpur and are the main form of hired transport.

Railways

Nagpur Railway Station.
Nagpur Railway Station at Nagpur.

Due to its central location, Nagpur is a very important railway junction and a transit for almost all the trains that connect the country lengthwise and breadthwise, especially trains connecting India's four major metropoles (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata) located in the four corners of the country.[2]

A total of 242 trains[3] from various destinations halt at Nagpur, making it one of the most busiest junctions all over the country. These include passenger, express, mail, Duronto, rajdhani, garib rath trains. Of these 65 are daily trains and 26 terminate/originate from Nagpur. Almost 150,000 passengers board/leave Nagpur Railway Station Daily. The main railway station in Nagpur city is the Nagpur railway station, while the much smaller Ajni, Itwari, Kalamna, Kamptee, and Khapri are the other railway stations in the city's vicinity. There is a long felt need for a Nagpur metro rail service on the lines of Delhi metro, as it is expected that Nagpur is set to grow exponentially in the coming years. Recently Laursen and Toubro (LandT) was appointed to prepare a report on transport needs of Nagpur Metropoliton Area by 2020. In its report, LandT has recommended an elevated Monorail system and an MMTS (Multimodel Mass Transit System) for Nagpur. It also suggested minimum of 1500 city buses and BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) on selected routes.

Nagpur railway station was built in 1867 and is located in center of Nagpur. It is located on foot of Sitabuldi hill which has the historic fort on it. It is the headquarters of Nagpur division of central and south-eastern Indian railway lines. Another nearby station Ajni serves mostly as cargo terminal. British India had opened the Bombay–Bhusawal–Nagpur line in 1867 to link the cotton growing Vidarbha region with port city of Bombay. Later this line was extended to Howrah station on east[4] .

The main building is made up of pink sandstone just like other colonial structures of Reserve Bank of India, Vidhan Bhavan, Nagpur.[5] The building is declared as heritage site. Ministry of Indian railways has recently selected Nagpur Railway Station for development and a one time package of INR 1 billion has been allocated for its up gradation of existing station. A new flyover has been built in front of station to reduce traffic congestion.[6] Another world class station is coming up at MIHAN to serve Nagpur. Recently closed circuit camera vigilance has been put on Nagpur station.[7]

Apart from Nagpur Main Railway Station, there are several local stations within Nagpur. These include Itwari, Ajni, Kalamna, Khapri, Godhni, Bharatwada, Gumgaon, Kapmtee, Kanhan, Ramtek, Butibori. Itwari has been recently converted into terminus by South East Central Railway. It is the terminus for many passenger and local MEMU trains. Local trains run from Itwari to various north, north-east and eastern sub-suburbs of Nagpur, Ramtek>>Kanhan>>Kamptee>>Kalamna>>Itwari being the hottest for pilgrims. Many passenger trains to destinations like Chhindwara (Narrow Gauge), Jabalpur, Raipur, Gondia, Tatanagar, originate here. Apart from that many trains running on Nagpur-Howrah route halt here. Itwari is mostly used by traders and businessmen from North, North-east suburbs and eastern parts of Nagpur.

Ajni is another major station lying on Nagpur-Mumbai/Chennai route and comes under Central Railway. Almost all the trains have a brief stop of about 2 minutes at this station. This station is mainly used by residents of Central, West, South-West and Southern suburbs of Nagpur and short-distance daily travellers. Trains terminating at Nagpur get almost 80 percent emptied here. And trains originating from Nagpur filled here with almost 40 percent.

Roads

Nagpur is also a major junction for roadways as India's two major national highways (Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH 7) and Hajira-Kolkota (NH-6)) pass through the city.[2] One more highway NH 69 connects Nagpur to Obaidullaganj near Bhopal. Nagpur is also at the junction of two Asian Highways namely AH43 Agra, India to Matara, Sri Lanka and AH46 connecting Kharagpur, India to Dhule, India Moreover, Nagpur city has come in the national spotlight recently for its good roads, which were developed as part of the upgradation and renewal works under Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP), spearheaded by the erstwhile Commissioner of the Corporation Dr. T Chandrashekhar. In another development, the Inland Container Depot at Nagpur run by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has been the fastest growing inland port in the country in recent years.[8]

The new state highway, Nagpur–Aurangabad–Mumbai express highway, built on the national highway basis is also sanctioned by the state and central government. This highway connects the state capital Mumbai to Nagpur via Aurangabad and significantly reduces the distance traveled by NH 6 and NH 3 between two cities.

State and Central government (NHAI) also approved the extension of NH 204 from Kolhapur to Nagpur via Solapur, Tuljapur, Latur, Nanded, Yavatmal, Wardha and Butibori, which mainly covers all the portion covered by the current Major State Highway, MSH 3 between Butibori and Tuljapur.

One more national highway NH-26B Savner-Chhindwara-Narsinghpur is also coming in Nagpur and joining north part of India.

State transport

Nagpur is the divisional headquarters of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and also holds one of the three bus workshops in the state. MSRTC runs cheaper transport service for intercity, interstate, interstate travel. It has two bus stations in Nagpur viz. Nagpur Bus Sthanak (CBS-1) at Ganeshpeth and MorBhawan (CBS-2) at Jhansi Rani Square, Sitabuldi. It operates 1600 daily services from CBS-1 to long and short distances within state and to places in other surrounding states. It also operates 750 daily services from CBS-2 to short distances within Vidarbha. Its services include semiluxury 2+2 NEEM AARAAM, Parivartan 2+2, Asiad 2+2, and ordinary ST 2+3.Bus services are available for big cities in and around the states like Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Raipur, Satna, Rewa, Raipur, Panna, Amravati, Raipur, Jagdalpur, Bilaspur, Mandla, Katni, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Mumbai, Nanded, Akola, Jalgaon, Bhusawal, Rajnandgaon, Parbhani and Gondia.

Ordinary ST Bus 
Semi-Luxury ST Bus(Asiad) 
MSRTC Luxury ST Bus(Shivneri) 

Public Transport

Public transport bus (Starbus) in Nagpur

Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Limited (NMPL) is the company formed with elected municipal corporators on board that caters to the city public transport. It has contracted Vansh Nimay Infraprojects (VNIL) to run city buses. It has a fleet of 470 Low-floor StarBuses that serve around 250,000 citizens daily in the urban, suburban, metro areas. Of the total fleet 88 are low floor MiniBuses, and 382 are low floor 50 seater StarBuses as shown in pic. 240 buses are acquired under JNNURM and 230 are acquired under purchase-run-transfer basis by VNIL.[9]

Nagpur Metro Rail

Main article: Nagpur Metro

The Nagpur Metro Rail project is announced by the state government of Maharashtra for the city with the expenses of 4,400 Cr and 3,800 Cr Rupees for its two phases of 25 km (from Sitabuldi to MIHAN and Butibori via Airport) and 20 km (Sitabuldi to Automotive Square in Kamptee) respectively.[10] Consultants Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) will study the alignment and submit a detailed project report.[11]

The site inspection has already begun in March 2012 with the initiatives from NIT. The Rs 10,000-crore project will be executed by a new company called Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (NMRCL) formed under the NIT. NMC, Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) — that is currently developing the MIHAN project – MIDC and CIDCO are the other participating organisations. MIHAN vice-chairman UPS Madan will be the chairman of the new company and NIT chairman Parvin Darade will be its executive director.[12]

Air

Interior of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport

Nagpur's Air Traffic Control (ATC) is the busiest in India,[2] with more than 300 international flights flying over the city every day in 2004.[13] Domestic airlines such as Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Indigo, kingfisher Airlines, GoAir, Sahara and Air Deccan connect Nagpur with major cities like Mumbai (8 flights daily), Delhi (4 flights daily), Ahemdabad (2 flight daily), Pune (2 flight daily), Bangalore (2 flights daily) Indore (3 flights daily), Hyderabad (3 flights daily and 1, 4 times a week), and Kolkata (1 flight daily and another twice a week). Indigo has announced plans to start a new direct service to connect Nagpur and Chennai. In October 2005, Nagpur's erstwhile Sonegaon Airport was declared an international airport and was renamed Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.[14] Initial flights between Nagpur and Sharjah were launched by Air Arabia with the intention of tapping the strong demand for international travel within Central India.[15] In April 2006, Indian Airlines connected Nagpur and Bangkok with a non-stop twice weekly service. Likewise, Qatar Airways has started a twice-weekly service from Nagpur to Doha as well as Air India Express started flight services to Dubai 3 days a week from 24th sept 2007; SilkAir to start for Singapore & Emirates Airlines to Dubai shortly.

MIHAN

Nagpur is set to be a prominent destination on India's aviation map as the country's first ever Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) was completed on the outskirts of the city in 2006. MIHAN is expected to contribute significantly to the development of the city as well as the economically backward Vidarbha region.[16][17] Another major impetus to the budding aviation industry in Nagpur is Boeing's decision to set up a $185 million maintenance base in the city in 2006.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Roy, Ashish (12 May 2008). "Will_BRTS_solve_citys_public_transport_woes". Times of India. Times of India. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Nagpur stakes claim to lead boomtown pack". The Indian Express. Retrieved 22 June 2006.
  3. ↑ "Nagpur Arrivals".
  4. ↑ "central railways". Indian Railways. Indian Railways. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  5. ↑ "Nagpur railway station pink building". tribuneindia.com. tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 31 February 2002. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. ↑ flyover "station-road-flyover-and-passenger" Check |url= value (help). raipurprojects.blogspot.com. raipurprojects.blogspot.com. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  7. ↑ "Nagpur railway station in making". nagpurestate.wordpress.com. nagpurestate.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
  8. ↑ "Nagpur stakes claim to lead boomtown pack". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2006-06. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  9. ↑ "NMC refuses action against city bus operator". The Times of India. India. 24 April 2011.
  10. ↑ TOI NEWS - Dated: 22 Dec 2011
  11. ↑ TOI NEWS - Dated: Dec 23, 2011
  12. ↑ Indian Express News - Dated: Mar 03 2012
  13. ↑ "Nagpur: South Asia's emergent hub". The India Brand Equity Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2006.
  14. ↑ "Nagpur Airport being renamed". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 15 October 2005. Retrieved 28 June 2006.
  15. ↑ "Nagpur set to become international airport — Air Arabia to start operations from Oct 16". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 June 2006.
  16. ↑ "Nagpur to be India's first cargo hub". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  17. ↑ "Understanding Underdevelopment in Vidarbha" (PDF). IWMI-Tata WATER POLICY PROGRAM. Retrieved 22 June 2006.
  18. ↑ "Boeing to site $185 mln Indian facility in Nagpur". Reuters. Retrieved 9 September 2006.
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