Begunkodor railway station

Begunkodor railway station
Indian Railways station
Location	Begunkodor, Purulia district, West Bengal India
Coordinates	23°23′15″N 86°01′18″E / 23.3875°N 86.0217°E / 23.3875; 86.0217Coordinates: 23°23′15″N 86°01′18″E / 23.3875°N 86.0217°E / 23.3875; 86.0217
Elevation	308 metres (1,010 ft)
Line(s)	Double electrified BG
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Construction
Parking	Not available
Other information
Status	Functional
Station code	BKDR
Zone(s)	South Eastern Railway
Division(s)	Ranchi Division
History
Opened	1960
Closed	1967
Rebuilt	2009
Services
Preceding station   Indian Railways   Following station Kotshila Junction toward ? South Eastern Railway zone Purulia–Muri line Jhalda toward ?

Begunkodor railway station is a railway station of Ranchi railway division of the South Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It serves the nearby area of Begunkodor and Jhalda town in the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.^[1] Passengers deserted the station and it had come to be known as haunted in Railway records. The station was listed by Railways as one of its 10 haunted stations in India.^[2]

History[]

Begunkodor station was set up by the joint efforts of the queen of Santals, Lachan Kumari and Indian Railways in the year 1960.^[3][4]

Controversy[]

According to the villagers of Begunkodor, in 1967, a railway employee reported the sighting of a woman's ghost, and it was rumored that she had died in a railway accident. The next day he told people about it but they ignored him. A seemingly first-hand account of the incident was published, with details of what had actually happened at the time.^[5]

The real trouble started when the dead bodies of the station master and his family were found in their quarters. The station was subsequently closed as trains stopped making halts here due to alleged paranormal phenomena. It was the last movement there.

In the late 1990s the villagers formed a committee and asked the officials to reopen the station. In 2007, local villagers wrote to then Railway minister Smt Mamata Banerjee and CPIM leader Basudeb Acharia, who belongs to Purulia and was member of the parliamentary standing committee on Railways at the time. But the haunted tag remains. Acharia said that railway employees had made up the story to avoid being posted there. After 42 years, in August 2009, the railway station was finally reopened as a passenger train halt, by former Railway minister Mamata Banerjee.^[6]

However, regularly 10 trains halt here, but passengers still avoid using the station after sunset.^[3] Many ghost hunters have visited the station repeatedly confirming that there is no presence of ghosts. Presently Begunkodor railway station was being touted by certain people for some time as a ghost tourist spot to attract visitors.^[2][7]

References[]