Calcutta Chord link line

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Indian Railways Suburban Railway Logo.svg Calcutta Chord link line
(incl. A.C.C. link branch line)
Dankuni railway station in Howrah 01.jpg
Dankuni railway station, terminal station in Chord Link line
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerIndian Railway
LocaleWest Bengal
TerminiSealdah
Dankuni Junction
Stations
  • Total stations:15
  • Interchange stations: 8
WebsiteEastern Railway
Service
TypeCommuter rail
SystemKolkata Suburban Railway
Operator(s)Eastern Railway
Depot(s)Sealdah
Daily ridership0.291 Million
History
Opened1932; 89 years ago (1932)
Technical
Line length22 km (14 mi)
Number of tracks2
CharacterAt grade, elevated
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Electrification25 kV overhead line
Operating speedup to 100 km per hour
Route map

Legend
km
km
Up arrow
Howrah–Kharagpur line
14
0
 Andul
2
 Maurigram
NH 12
Kona
Expressway
Howrah–
Kharagpur line
Down arrow
11
 Bankranayabaz
9
 Baltikuri
Right arrow
Santragachi–Amta branch line
Up arrow
to Furfura Sharif (planned)
A.C.C. Link
branch line
Right arrow
Howrah–Bardhaman chord
Dankuni
0
FCI Siding
Dankuni Loco
Factory
NH 16
NH 19
Belghoria
Expressway
Bhattanagar
6
Rajchandrapur
4
4
 Belanagar
Bally Halt
6
7
 Bally
Left arrow
Howrah–Bardhaman main line Right arrow
NH 19
Belghoria
Expressway
PWD Road
7
 Bally Ghat
Vivekananda Setu over
Hooghly River
PWD Road
9
0
 Dakshineswar Indian Railways Suburban Railway Logo.svg Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
BT Road
Right arrow
 KM Line 5 (planned) 
10
1
 Baranagar Road Indian Railways Suburban Railway Logo.svg Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
Right arrow
Sealdah–Ranaghat line
Noapara Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
2
Noapara Metro Depot Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
Kestopur Canal
Right arrow
 KM Line 4 (u/c) 
Right arrow
Sealdah–Bangaon line
15
4
 Dum Dum Junction Indian Railways Suburban Railway Logo.svg Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
Right arrow
Patipukur Loop
line (dismantled)
Jessore Road
Belgachia Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
6
17
 Patipukur
Chitpur Rail Yard
Ultadanga Road
18
Kolkata
19
Kestopur Canal
Kolkata Circular
Railway
Down arrow
Bidhan Nagar Road
 KM Line 1 
Down arrow
18
 Bidhannagar Road
Kankurgachi Road
2
 Kankurgachi Road Junction
Narkeldanga
EMU Carshed
3
 Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt
Circular Canal
Kankurgachi
Chord line
Sealdah North
00
0
 Sealdah Main
Sealdah Kolkata Metro Logo.svg
Left arrow
 KM Line 2 (u/c)  Right arrow
Sealdah South
00
Beliaghata Diesel Loco Shed
6
 Kamardanga Halt
3
7
 Park Circus
Down arrow
Sealdah South lines
km
km
Key
 Indian Railways broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) standard gauge (1435 mm)
in use │
out of use, planned, or
under construction (u/c)
│ tunnel

The Calcutta Chord link line, also known as the C.C. link line, is a 22 km (14 mi) long branch line of the Kolkata Suburban Railway which comes under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway's Sealdah Division & Howrah Division.[1][2]

The line directly connects the Sealdah railway station (erstwhile Calcutta railway station) on the east bank of the Hooghly River with the Howrah–Bardhaman chord line at the Dankuni Junction on the west bank of the Hooghly River via the Vivekananda Setu. The Andul Calcutta Chord link line (known as the A.C.C.L. line) is a 9 km (5.6 mi) long branch line from Dankuni Junction which connects C.C. link line with the Santragachi–Amta branch line and Andul on the Howrah–Kharagpur line.[1][2][3]

History[]

The Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, a shorter link to Bardhaman from Howrah than the Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line, was constructed in 1917. In 1932, the Calcutta Chord Link Line was built over the Willingdon Bridge (now known as Vivekananda Setu) joining Dum Dum with Dankuni and opened for freight traffic, thus forming a direct link from Calcutta (now known as Sealdah railway station) to Dankuni on the Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, thus earning the line it's name.[4][5]

By 1950-51, Santragachi was heavily congested causing delays in arrival for trains bound to Howrah.[6] Two major reasons identified for the congestion were it's railway yard outstripping it's capacity and passing of freight trains of the South Eastern Railway from Kharagpur towards Chitpur and Kolkata docks taking the circuitous route via Tikiapara, Liluah, Belanagar and then finally taking the Calcutta Chord link line to Calcutta.[6]

To resolve the congestion problem, Indian Railways sanctioned the remodelling of the Santragachi railway yard in November 1962 and sanctioned the building of a direct link from Andul on the Howrah-Kharagpur line to the Calcutta Chord link line in the railway budget of 1959-60. This was to reduce the distance between Andul and Calcutta Chord from 27.5 km (17.1 mi) to 13 km (8.1 mi).[6]

The work of building the line however progressed slowly due to land acquisition problems and was finally completed on December 1968.[6] The electrification of the line was started subsequently and was completed by 1971-72.[7][8]

The ACCL line was primarily used by freight trains to bypass the congested sections near Howrah and directly connected the Eastern railway and South Eastern railway zones. However with increasing public demand, some long distance passenger trains were started in this section directly via Sealdah like the Sealdah–Puri Duronto Express in 2012.[9]

Electrification and track doubling[]

The Dum Dum-Dankuni section was electrified in 1964-65. The Andul-Dankuni section was electrified in 1971-72.[8]

The doubling of the Dankuni-Bhattanagar section of the ACCL line was sanctioned on 2013.[10] The track doubling of the Andul-Baltikuri section was completed & commissioned on 25 January 2020.[11] With the completion of the track doubling of Baltikuri-Bhattanagar section on October 2021, the entire ACCL line was doubled. This removed a critical bottleneck affecting interchange of trains between Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway.[12]

Routes and stations[]

Main line[]

Calcutta Chord link line
# Distance from Sealdah (km) Station name Station code Connections
1 0 Sealdah SDAH Eastern line / South lines
2 4 Bidhannagar Road BNXR Eastern line / Circular line
3 7 Dum Dum Junction DDJ Eastern line / Circular line
4 12 Baranagar Road BARN None
5 13 Dakshineswar DAKE None
6 15 Bally Ghat BLYG None
7 16 Bally Halt BLYH None
8 17 Rajchandrapur RCD None
9 22 Dankuni Junction DKAE Eastern line

Branch line[]

Andul Calcutta Chord Link branch line (ACCL branch line)
# Station name Station code Connections
1 Dankuni Junction DKAE Eastern line
2 Rajchandrapur RCD Eastern line
3 Bhattanagar BTNG None
4 Baltikuri BALT South Eastern line
5 Bankranayabaz BKNM South Eastern line
6 Andul ADL South Eastern line

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Howrah Division System Map" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Sealdah Division System Map" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Kharagpur Division System Map". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  4. ^ "HOWRAH DIVISION : HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - THE FIRST JOURNEY". Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  5. ^ "US Archive .org pdf download of 'History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress', 31 March 1937 by 'The Government of India - Railway Department' page 70 pdf 95" (PDF). Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d "Estimates Committee - Ninety First Report (Third Lok Sabha) - Ministry of Railways - South Eastern Railway" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  7. ^ "Speech of Dr. Ram Subhag Singh Introducing Railway Budget for 1969-70, on 19th February, 1969" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "History of Electrification". Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  9. ^ "SEALDAH-PURI DURONTO TO BE INTRDUCED". Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  10. ^ New Projects of Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, 10 December 2018
  11. ^ "South Eastern Railway PROGRESS OF WORKS UNDER DEMAND 16 (As of May'21)" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  12. ^ "ER commissions doubling of Bhattanagar -Baltikuri section". Retrieved 7 November 2021.
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