Kolkata Circular Railway

Kolkata Circular Railway
A local train at the Bagbazar railway station
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
System	Kolkata Suburban Railway
Locale	Kolkata
Termini	Dum Dum Junction Majerhat
Stations	20
Services	Dum Dum-Majerhat and Majerhat-Bidhannagar Road
Website	http://www.er.indianrailways.gov.in
Operation
Opened	1984 (1984)
Owner	Indian Railway
Operator(s)	Eastern Railway
Character	At grade and elevated
Depot(s)	Kolkata Majerhat
Rolling stock	EMUs
Technical
Line length	38.8 km (24 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge
Electrification	25 kV overhead line
Operating speed	up to 100 km per hour

Kolkata Circular Railway is a railway loop line operated by the Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railways, encircling the entire city of Kolkata.

Service

The line begins and terminates at Biman Bandar station, with a total of 21 stations spread over the route's 35 kilometers length. Services on the line are operated as an extension of the Kolkata Suburban Railway, partially sharing tracks with the Sealdah South lines, terminating at Sealdah railway station (which is bypassed by the Circular Railway). There are no services which operate throughout the loop as a whole; instead, services are operated from Biman Bandar to Majerhat (via Burrabazar), and Majerhat to Biman Bandar (via Ballygunge Junction), sharing the stations Dum Dum Junction and Dum Dum Cantonment both ways. The line operates a part of longer suburban services from Budge Budge, Canning, Barrackpore, Hasnabad, Kalyani, Naihati, etc. .

The Circular Railway offers no direct interchange points with the Kolkata Metro as of 2015, though that will change once Line 3 is constructed via Majerhat. The loop line serves Kolkata railway station, one of the major intercity stations in Kolkata, as well as a number of prominent city landmarks including Prinsep Ghat and Eden Gardens. In addition, a 3.7 km (2.3 mi)-long line connecting Dum Dum Cantonment to the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport became the first such suburban railway line in India to serve an airport, and allowed extended Circular Railway operations from Dum Dum Junction and beyond. However, the poorly-patronized branch line is likely to be replaced by Line 4 of the Metro, which follows roughly the same route.

History

A photo of the Circular Railway track taken in Kolkata

With the population of the Kolkata metropolis continuing to grow, and road transport being unable to cope with demand due to bottlenecks on the roads, it was felt necessary to introduce an additional method of transportation which would ease the congestion problem particularly at peak hours. Of the various modes considered, including tramcars and trolleybuses, the railway was found to be most suitable. Unlike other metropolitan cities, Kolkata does not have a rail route running through the heart of the city, nor through the central district area where more commuters will be seeking their transport.

Previously a railway line existed between Dum Dum railway station to Ultadanga for the transport of wagons to Chitpur Goods Yard. For a considerable time, lines ran between B.B.D. Bagh and Majerhat for the transport of goods from the port area to the godowns (warehouses) of the Calcutta port along the Hooghly River. These were built during the early East Indian Railway Company (EIR) period when the river Hooghly was navigable to this area. Gradually with the silting of Hooghly, and its inaccessibility to bigger ships, these lines ceased to be used. With these existing lines being rehabilitated and small stretches of new track being laid in a few locations, a connection could be established between Dum Dum Junction and Prinsep Ghat along the bank of the Hooghly.

The original line was a single-line track with loading and unloading sidings and wharfs. A few platforms were built and simultaneous reception facilities were constructed at some stations. The line was commissioned from Dum Dum railway station to Prinsep Ghat on 16 August 1984. In fact the lines from the port of Calcutta already existed for an interchange yard for Eastern Railways, and these lines were modified/extended/realigned for the Circular Railway. Previously the trains were hauled by diesel shunters. The electrification works have been completed and four Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) trains originally destined for Sealdah during office hours have been diverted to the central business district of Kolkata directly, avoiding Sealdah station. The line has been an overwhelming success with commuters and the earnings have quadrupled with the introduction of EMUs. Once connected to Majerhat a train can easily ply up to Dum Dum to complete the circle. This has been a boon to office-goers. The Circular Railway is directly managed by the Eastern Railway. The Circular Railway is a part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway along with the Kolkata Metro to provide connectivity throughout the city. The line is a single-lined track from Tala station to Princep Ghat station, but in the platform area it becomes double-lined for crossing. From Princep Ghat the line becomes single-tracked until it reaches Majerhat.

Stations

#	Station Name			Connections	Picture
	English	Bengali	Code
(a)	Bimanbandar	বিমানবন্দর	BNBA	Under Shifting Construction[1] Kolkata Metro Line 4 and Kolkata Metro Line 6
(b)	Jessore Road	যশোহর রোড	JSOR	Under Shifting Construction[1] Kolkata Metro Line 4
(c)	Dum Dum Cantonment	দম দম ক্যানটনমেন্ট	DDC	Kolkata Metro Line 4
1	Dum Dum	দম দম জংশন	DDJ	Line 1, Kolkata Metro (Dum Dum metro station)
2	Patipukur	পাতিপুকুর	PTKR	None
3	Kolkata	কোলকাতা রেলওয়ে স্টেশন	KOAA	Major Railway Station of Eastern Railway
4	Tala	টালা	TALA	None
5	Bagbazar	বাগবাজার	BBR	Howrah - Baghbazar (Ferry Service)
6	Sovabazar Ahiritola	শোভাবাজার অহিড়ীতলা	SOLA	Howrah - Baghbazar (Ferry Service), Ahiritola - Bandhaghat (Ferry Service)
7	Burrabazar	বড়বাজার	BZB	None
8	B.B.D Bag	বি.বা.দি. বাগ	BBDB	None
9	Eden Gardens	ইডেন গার্ডেন্স	EDG	None
10	Prinsep Ghat	প্রিন্সেপ ঘাট	PPGT	None
11	Khiddirpur	খিদিরপুর	KIRP	None
12	Remount Road	রিমাউন্ট রোড	RMTR	None
13	Majerhat	মাঝেরহাট	MJT	Kolkata Metro Line 3 (under construction)
14	New Alipore	নিউ আলিপুর	NACC	Sealdah South Budge Budge section
15	Tollygunge	টালিগঞ্জ	TLG	Line 1, Kolkata Metro (Rabindra Sarobar metro station)
16	Lake Gardens	লেক গার্ডেন্স	LKF	Sealdah South Budge Budge section
17	Ballygunge	বালিগঞ্জ	BLN	Sealdah South Section
18	Park Circus	পার্ক সার্কাস	PQS	Sealdah South Section
19	Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt	স্যার গুরুদাস ব্যানার্জি হল্ট	SGBA	None
20	Bidhannagar Road	বিধাননগর রোড	BNXR	None

Trains with Extended Route

Airport extension

Kolkata's Circular Railway has been extended from Dum Dum Cantonment to Biman Bandar/Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. A 3.8 km (2.4 mi) extension from Dum Dum Cantonment station and includes two elevated stations Jessore Road and Biman Bandar. It runs at grade to UK Dutta Road and then on an elevated structure to the airport passing through Jessop, Jessore Road, VIP Road, and the domestic terminal road. This project was undertaken by the Kolkata Metro.

The Jessore Road station has been closed since 7 January 2015. The Biman Bandar station has been closed since 30 September 2016.

Proposed Stations

There is also a plan to build two more stations between Park Circus and Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt named Tangra and Beliaghata Main Road respectively.

References