In an initiative to recount and preserve the glorious history of the erstwhile Mayurbhanj kingdom, the Ministry of Railways has decided to build a heritage museum at the Baripada railway station, for which the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has begun a tender process involving a cost of over Rs 1 crore.
The proposed museum would display two steam engines now placed in front of the Baripada railway station, train compartments as well as the history Mayurbhanj monarchy. The Baripada railway station, which is more than a century-old, still carries the majesty of the British rule. It shows the contribution of Mayurbhanj King towards development of kingdom.
The Rupsa-Baripada-Bangriposi Narrow Gauge line was introduced by the erstwhile Mayurbhanj ruler Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo. The first section of 52 km from Rupsa to Baripada was inaugurated on January 20 in 1905.
An agreement was inked between the king and the then Bengal Nagpur Railway (now South Eastern Railway) on December 2, 1918 for expansion of 9.5 km railway from Bangiriposi to Talabandha. The project was completed on July 15, 1920.
After the merger of Mayurbhanj with Odisha on January 1, 1949, the railway section in Baripada remained neglected.
The Rupsa-Bangiriposi Narrow Gauge line constructed by the king took over 100 years to be transformed into the broad-gauge railway. The track got transformation to broad gauge on December 17, 2005.
