Bitragunta was a railway hub back in the days of the British and was popularly known as the Railway cantonment. The prominence of the Bitragunta continued till the 1998 when the technical developments in the Indian railways made the marshalling yards and the coal and steam engine sheds useless.
In the early days, most of the Engine drivers and guards were British and they had their houses at Bitragunta. Nearly 1000 British styled houses were there around the station and was a Anglo Indian colony called the "Little England" till the last decade of the last century. St. James CSI church was the centre of the social activities and the cemetery still holds many old British tombs.