Sealdah–Bangaon line

Sealdah–Bangaon line
(incl. Barasat–Hasnabad & Ranaghat–Bangaon branch lines)
Sealdah–Bangaon line ; (incl. Barasat–Hasnabad & Ranaghat–Bangaon branch lines)
	A local train at the Hridaypur railway station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	West Bengal
Termini	Sealdah; Bangaon
Stations	24
Website	Eastern Railway
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Kolkata Suburban Railway
Services	Sealdah–Bangaon, Barasat–Hasnabad & Ranaghat–Bangaon
Operator(s)	Eastern Railway
Depot(s)	Sealdah; Barasat
Daily ridership	0.5 million
History
Opened	1884; 137 years ago
Technical
Line length	Sealdah–Bongaon: 77 km (48 mi); Barasat–Hasnabad: 52 km (32 mi); Ranaghat–Bangaon: 33 km (21 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	At grade
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
Old gauge	Barasat–Basirhat Light Railway 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge
Electrification	25 kV overhead line
Operating speed	up to 100 km per hour
Route map
	Legend
	Bangladesh
	India
	Lalgola and Gede
	branch lines
	Calcutta chord link
	to Dankuni
	Sir Gurudas
	Banerjee Halt
	Source: Indian Railway Time Table[full citation needed]
	This diagram: view; ; ;

The Sealdah–Bangaon line connects Sealdah with the border town of Bangaon in the Indian state of West Bengal. It branches off from the Sealdah–Ranaghat line at Dum Dum Junction. There are two branch lines in this section, namely the Barasat–Hasnabad line which branches off at Barasat Junction and the Bangaon–Ranaghat line which connects it with Ranaghat Junction. From Bangaon the line extends into Bangladesh. This line has change-over facilities with both the Kolkata Metro and the Kolkata Circular Railway at Dum Dum Junction and with the Kolkata Metro at Dum Dum Cantonment. It is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system and is under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Railway.

History[]

The Bengal Central Railway Company constructed two broad gauge lines: one connecting Ranaghat and Bangaon (21 miles (34 km)) in 1882 and the other connecting Dum Dum with Khulna (now in Bangladesh), via Bangaon (108 miles (174 km)) which opened in stages and was completed in 1884. These lines were merged with Eastern Bengal Railway in 1904.^[1] After partition of India in 1947, Petrapole railway station became the terminus on the Indian side while the Benapole railway station became the terminus in the Bangladeshi side of the line. The Barisal Express, launched in 1884, from Sealdah to Khulna continued post-partition until rail services between the two countries were suspended due to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.^[2] Freight services between the two countries were restored for a brief period of two years in 1972 but closed again due to a lack of goods.^[3] India and Bangladesh signed an agreement on July 2000 to resume freight services and the first freight train ran across the link on 21 January 2001.^[3] The Bandhan Express was introduced on this line on November 2017. It is a weekly service and traces the old route of the Barisal Express except for having its terminus in the Kolkata railway station instead of Sealdah railway station.^[4]

Barasat–Basirhat Light Railway[]

The Barasat–Basirhat Light Railway was a 26 miles (42 km) long 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway that was constructed by the Martin's Light Railways in 1905 between Barasat and Basirhat. It was further extended via Taki to Hasnabad (Chingrighata) in 1909. A 16.62 miles (26.75 km) long extension was built from Beliaghata Bridge on the Barasat–Basirhat line to Patipukur in 1910. This was further extended to Belgachia in 1914 and was known as the Shyambazar Branch.^[5] The line closed down in 1955 due to continuous losses.^[6]

The Barasat-Hasnabad line was converted into a 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge and was built in a new alignment between 1957 and 1962. The Shyambazar branch line was abandoned.^[7]^[8]

Dum Dum Cantonment–Biman Bandar branch line[]

The Dum Dum Cantonment–Biman Bandar branch line was built by the Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways and was inaugurated on July 2006. Due to losses and poor patronage owing to the location of the station and odd timings of the services, the services on the line were closed down in 2016. The line was further dismantled in 2020 to make way for the Line 4 of the Kolkata Metro.^[9]

Electrification[]

The Sealdah–Bangaon line was electrified in 1963–64. The Barasat–Hasnabad branch line was electrified in 2002-03 ^[10]

Passengers[]

Sealdah station handles 1.5 million passengers arriving or departing in 704 trains daily (including EMU locals), and a good proportion of that uses this line.^[11]

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.^[12]

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. Doubling of the Barasat–Hasnabad branch line is underway. The Ranaghat–Bangaon branch line is currently a single track line.^{[citation needed]}

Border[]

Though Bangaon is the last station on this particular route, the line extends up to the Indo-Bangladesh border and beyond that.^[13]^[14]

Petrapole, which is on the Indian side of the international border, has a land customs station and handles about more than half of the $4 billion 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.^[15]

Trains[]

The only and the most important train from that uses this track is the Bandhan Express which runs from Kolkata to Khulna. Apart from that a lot of local trains ply on this route which are:^[16]^[17]

The Sealdah–Bangaon Local
The Sealdah–Thakurnagar Local
The Sealdah–Gobardanga Local
The Sealdah–Habra Local
The Sealdah–Duttapukur Local
The Sealdah–Barasat Local
The Sealdah–Madhyamgram Local
The Sealdah–Dum Dum Cantonment Local
The Sealdah–Hasnabad Local
The Sealdah–Basirhat Local

Stations[]

The railway stations on this route are:

Station 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

Gallery[]

Main Entrance of the Sealdah railway station
Dum Dum Junction railway station platform board
Bird's eye view of Birati railway station
Platform of Madhyamgram railway station
Bird's eye view of Barasat Junction railway station
Main Entrance of Barasat Junction railway station
Habra railway station platform board
Platform of Gobardanga railway station
Thakurnagar railway station platform board
Platforms of Bangaon railway station
Main Entrance of the Bangaon railway station
Petrapole railway station
EMU trvelling between Harua Road and Bhasila stations of the Barasat—Hasnabad branch line