Sealdah–Bangaon line


Sealdah–Bangaon line
A local train at the Hridaypur railway station
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System Kolkata Suburban Railway
Status Operational
Locale West Bengal
Termini Sealdah
Bangaon
Stations 24
Services Sealdah–Barasat and Barasat–Bangaon
Daily ridership 0.5 million
Website http://www.er.indianrailways.gov.in
Operation
Opened 1884 (1884)
Owner Indian Railway
Operator(s) Eastern Railway
Character At grade
Depot(s) Sealdah
Barasat
Technical
Line length 77 km (48 mi)
Number of tracks 2
Track gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
Old gauge 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) Narrow gauge
Electrification 25 kV overhead line
Operating speed up to 100 km per hour

The Sealdah–Bangaon line connects Sealdah and Bangaon in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is connected to the Sealdah–Ranaghat line at Dum Dum Junction, the Barasat–Hasnabad line at Barasat Junction, the Bangaon–Ranaghat line at Bangaon Junction and the Bimanbandar link at Dum Dum Cantonment. This line has change-over facilities to Kolkata Metro and Kolkata Circular Railway at Dum Dum Junction. It is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system and is under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway.

History

The main line of the Eastern Bengal Railway from Sealdah to Ranaghat, was opened way back in the year 1862 and was extended the same year upto Kushtia, which is now located in Bangladesh.[1]In 1882–84 the Bengal Central Railway Company was commissioned to construct two lines: one from Dum Dum to Khulna, now in Bangladesh, via Bangaon and the other linking Ranaghat and Bangaon.[1] [1] The line was converted into 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) wide broad gauge between 1957 and 1962.[2][3] It was merged with Eastern Bengal Railway in 1903.[4]

Electrification

The Sealah-Ashoknagar sector was electrified in 1963–64.[5] The remaining line was electrified in 1970s.

Car shed

There is a large EMU car shed beside the Narkeldanga Canal, near Sealdah, which has a lot of space to accommodate locomotives. Barasat also has an EMU car shed which forms a part of that station's overall structure, having been designed to accommodate trains for rail engine and car maintenance.[6]

Tracks

The Sealdah-Bangaon Line presently has two tracks though at some stations an additional platform and track has been built to originate and halt certain local trains.

Border

Though Bangaon is the last station on this particular route, but the line extends upto the Indo-Bangladesh border and beyond that.[7][8]

Petrapole, which is the Indian side of the international border has a land customs station and handles about more than half of the 4 billion dollar trade between India and Bangladesh. With the remote possibility of improvements in the extremely narrow roads leading to the Indo-Bangladesh border, because of land acquisition problems, the principal focus is now on improving the railway system.[9]

Trains

The only and the most important train from that uses this track is the Bandhan Express which runs from Kolkata to Dhaka. Apart from that a lot of local trains ply on this route which are: [10][11]
Sealdah-Bangaon local
Sealdah-Thakurnagar local
Sealdah-Gobardanga local
Sealdah-Habra local
Sealdah-Duttapukur local
Sealdah-Barasat local
Sealdah-Madhyamgram local
Sealdah-Dum Dum Cantonment local
Sealdah-Hasnabad local
Sealdah-Basirhat local

Stations

The railway stations on this route are:

S No Railway Station
1 Sealdah
2 Bidhannagar Road
3 Dum Dum Junction
4 Dum Dum Cantonment
5 Durganagar
6 Birati
7 Bisharpara Kodaliya
8 New Barrackpur
9 Madhyamgram
10 Hridaypur
11 Barasat Junction
12 Bamangachhi
13 Duttapukur
14 Bira
15 Guma
16 Ashoknagar Road
17 Habra
18 Sanhati Halt
19 Machlandapur
20 Gobardanga
21 Thakurnagar
22 Chandpara
23 Bibhuti Bhushan Halt
24 Bangaon Junction

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Chronology of Railway development in Eastern Indian". railindia. Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  2. ↑ Moonis Raza & Yash Aggarwal. "Transport Geography of India: Commodity Flow and the Regional Structure of Indian Economy". page 60. Concept Publishing Company, A-15/16 Commercial Block, Mohan Garden, New Delhi – 110059. ISBN 81-7022-089-0. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Non-IR Railways in India". IRFCA. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  4. ↑ "Bengal Central Railway". fibis. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "History of Electrification". IRFCA. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "Sheds and Workshops". IRFCA. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Bongaon a green fresh border". Travel template. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Capexil plea to convert Petrapole LCS into port". The Hindu Business Line, 26 March 2004. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Pratim Ranjan Bose and Abhisek Law. "Customs wants better rail link through Petrapole". The Hindu Business Line, 3 April 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  10. ↑ "Trains from Dum Dum to Bangaon". India Rail Info.
  11. ↑ "Trains from Dum Dum to Dum Dum Cantonment". erail.in.
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