Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
New Cooch Behar Junction is an important railway station at Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerIndian Railways
LocaleWest Bengal
Termini
Service
TypeRail line
Operator(s)Northeast Frontier Railway
History
Opened1894 onwards
Technical
Track length72 km
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Old gaugeNarrow gauge 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) (1894–1910)
Metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) (1910–2007)
ElectrificationYes
Operating speed100 Km/Hr
Route map

km
Up arrow
0
Alipurduar Junction
Right arrow
3
Alipurduar Court
5
Alipurduar
15
Baneswar
UpperLeft arrow
Left arrow
23
New Cooch Behar Junction
Up arrow
Down arrow
27
Cooch Behar
37
Dewan Hat
41
Bhetaguri
48
Dinhata College Halt
50
Dinhata
57
Falimari
closed MG section
65
Gitaldaha Junction
67
Gitaldaha Ghat
India
Bangladesh
border (
broken bridge
over Dharla River
)
68
Mogalhat
Down arrow
62
New Gitaldaha
67
Abutara Halt
72
Bamanhat
closed MG section
India
Bangladesh
border
80
Bhurungamari
84
Pateswari
Dudhkumor River
91
Sonahat
Bangladesh
India
border
Dudhkumor River
closed MG section
Up arrow
97
Golokganj
Right arrow
Down arrow
km

The Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line is an Indian railway line connecting Alipurduar Junction with Bamanhat. This 72-kilometre (45 mi) track is under the jurisdiction of Northeast Frontier Railway.

History

Cooch Behar State Railway

The Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR) was a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway line that was built between Jayanti in the current Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India to Lalmonirhat in the current Lalmonirhat district in Bangladesh before partition between 1893 and 1898. The line originated from Jayanti near the foothills of Eastern Himalayas and went via Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Dinhata and Gitaldaha to finally join the narrow-gauge track of Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway at Mogalhat. This line was later brought by Eastern Bengal Railway in 1899.[1]

Eastern Bengal Railway

The Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway was constructed as a narrow-gauge line from Teesta railway junction to Mogalhat in 1882 by Eastern Bengal Railway. As a part of linking with the 581 kilometres (361 mi) long Katihar–Raiganj–Dinajpur–Parbatipur–Rangpur–Kaunia main metre-gauge line the Kaunia–Mogalhat–Gitaldaha NG section was converted to metre gauge from 1901 to 1902. The 25.27 kilometres (15.70 mi) long Gitaldaha-Golakganj section was built as a part of the main metre-gauge line in 1902 via Bamanhat & Sonahat. This metre-gauge line was further extended to Amingaon via Fakiragram & Kokrajhar in 1906. The Jayanti–Gitaldaha junction section was converted to metre gauge in 1910.[2]

Post Partition

With the partition of India in 1947, the Assam links to Bengal were snapped. Further the Gitaldaha–Mogalhat rail transit point became defunct as the railway bridge over Dharla River was washed away in floods. The 72 kilometres (45 mi) Alipurduar–Bamanhat section and 47.7 kilometres (29.6 mi) Fakiragram-Golakganj sections were cut off as well and became isolated metre gauge sections. As a part of the Assam Link project a 301.8 kilometres (187.5 mi) line was constructed between Kishanganj and Fakiragram in 1948. Thus these 2 sections became branch lines. Fakiragram was connected with a new 57.6 kilometres (35.8 mi) line via Boxirhat to New Coochbehar in 2010-12.

Gauge conversion

The Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge and was reopened to public in 2007.[3] A new station called the New Gitaldaha station was built to be used instead of the old Gitaldaha junction. The Fakiragram–Golakganj–Dhubri section was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge during 2010. Golakgunj was linked with New Cooch Behar with a new line in 2012 as a part of the New Maynaguri-Jogighopa project.[4][5]

References

  1. "Cooch Behar State Railway".
  2. "Eastern Bengal Railway main line".
  3. Srivastava, V.P. "Role of Engineering Deptt in Meeting Corporate Objectives of Indian Railways" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  4. "NFR project as of October 31 2017" (PDF). North East Frontier Railway. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  5. "Mamata flags off two trains- Dhubri-Kamakhya link after 22-year wait". The Telegraph. 14 September 2010. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2011.

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