Sealdah Main and North section

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broad gauge
Electrification25 kV AC overhead line
Operating speedup to 100 km/h (62 mph)
Route map

Legend
km
km
Calcutta Chord
link line
 Up arrow
Up arrow  KM Line 1 
Sealdah–Ranaghat line
 Right arrow
Noapara
02
Noapara Metro Depot
Kestopur Canal
7
Biman Bandar Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport
5
Jessore Road
Sealdah–Bangaon line Up arrow
Up arrow line dismantled
3
 Dum Dum Cantonment
Down arrow line dismantled
Dum Dum Junction
00
Jessop & Co. factory siding
Jessore Road
Ordnance Factory siding
Bimanbandar
LowerRight arrow  KM Line 4  (u/c)
Patipukur loop
line (dismantled)
Jessore Road
Belgachia
02
2
 Patipukur
Chitpur Rail Yard
Ultadanga Road
03
Lansdown mill siding
Kolkata
04
Brown Blanket mill siding
Kolkata Circular Railway
Down arrow
Down arrow  KM Line 1 
Kestopur Canal
Bidhan Nagar Road
3
 Bidhannagar Road
Press House siding
Kankurgachi Road
5
 Kankurgachi Road Junction
6
 Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt
Narkeldanga
EMU Carshed
Circular Canal
Kankurgachi
Chord line
Sealdah North
08
8
 Sealdah Main
Sealdah
Left arrow  KM Line 2  Right arrow
Sealdah South
08
Beliaghata Diesel Loco Shed
9
 Kamardanga Halt
Beruck & Comens Siding
3│7
 Park Circus
Down arrow Sealdah South section
km
km
Key
 Indian Railways broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) standard gauge (1435 mm)
narrow gauge (762 mm)
in use
  
out of use, planned, or
under construction (u/c)
 		 tunnel

The Sealdah Main and North section refer to a set of rail lines which connect the city of Kolkata with its northern suburbs and with the North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal, India along the eastern bank of the Hooghly river. It is a part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway and is under the jurisdiction of the Sealdah railway division of the Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railways.[1][2]

It is linked to the

Naihati–Bandel branch line which link it to the districts of Howrah and Hooghly on the west bank of the Hooghly river via the Howrah and Kharagpur division railway networks.[2]

This section also has two international railway transit points with Bangladesh at Gede and Petrapole from where majority of the freight traffic from India is imported into Bangladesh.[3][4]

Lines and services

The section consists of multiple lines which have been treated in detail in separate sections along with their branch lines and services:[2]

All the lines, except for the ACCL branch line and the Krishnanagar City–Lalgola section of the Lalgola branch line are suburban sections which form a part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system.[2]

History

Pre-Partition (1857-1947)

See also: Partition of India

The

Dacca. and becoming the main line of the Eastern section of EBR.[6][8] With the successful construction and opening of the Hardinge Bridge in 1915 and gauge conversion of the Santahar–Parbatipur–Siliguri line from 1924 to 1926, the Calcutta–Siliguri broad gauge line was completed and became the main line of the Eastern section of EBR.[6][8]

The Bengal Central Railway (reporting mark :BCR) company constructed two broad gauge lines: one connecting Ranaghat and Bangaon (21 mi (34 km)) in 1882 and the other connecting Dum Dum with Khulna (now in Bangladesh), via Bangaon (108 mi (174 km)) which opened in stages and was completed in 1884. These lines were merged with Eastern Bengal Railway in 1904, with the Sealdah–Bangaon–Jessore–Khulna line becoming the main line of the Central section of EBR.[6][8][9]

The Martin's Light Railways (reporting mark :MLR) company constructed and opened the 20 mi (32 km) long, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge Ranaghat–Krishnanagar Light Railway line from Aistalaghat (near Ranaghat on the right bank of Churni river) to Krishnanagar via Shantipur in 1899.[6] This line was amalgamated with EBR on 1 July 1904.[6][8] EBR further extended the line from Krishnanagar to Nabadwip Ghat and opened the line for traffic from 30 June 1926.[8] EBR further built a 1 mi (1.6 km) long 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge extension from Ranaghat to the left bank of Churni River on 1902.[6][8] In 1925 an alternate 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge line was built from Kalinarayanpur (Churni Bridge) to Shantipur and the old 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge line between Shantipur and Aistola Ghat was abandoned.[8][10]

MLR also constructed and opened a 26 mi (42 km) long 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge line from

Barasat–Basirhat Light Railway (reporting mark :BBLR).[6][8] 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.[6][8]

The 94.28 mi (151.73 km) long Murshidabad Branch railway was constructed by EBR from Ranaghat to Lalgola Ghat in stages from 1905 to 1907.[6][8]

Post-Partition (1947-)

Post partition of India in 1947, the Eastern and Central sections of EBR were divided between India and East Pakistan. The direct connection between South Bengal and North Bengal was affected as the Calcutta–Siliguri line was snapped resulting in Haldibari–Chilahati and Gede–Darsana becoming international transit points for trains. In the Central section,

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[11]

The

broad gauge line was built in a new alignment between Barasat and Hasnabad from 1957 to 1962. The Shyambazar branch line was abandoned.[13][14]

The gauge conversion of the Shantipur–Krishnanagar City–Nabadwip Ghat line to

broad gauge began on 2010. The electrified broad gauge line between Shantipur and Krishnanagar City was opened for service in 2012. The construction of the rest of the section along with a new bridge over the Ganges river is blocked due to land disputes.[15][16]

Electrification

The Sealdah Main and North section lines are fully electrified with 25 kV AC overhead system. The electrification process started in 1963 from

Ranaghat. The Ranaghat–Shantipur and Ranaghat–Krishnanagar City lines were electrified in 1964.[17] The ACCL and Kalyani Simanta branch lines were electrified in 1972 and 1979 respectively.[17]

EMU Carsheds

The Sealdah North section is primarily served by 9-car EMU rakes from the Narkeldanga EMU Carshed.[18] It was originally a steam locoshed which was transformed into an EMU carshed in 1963 along with the facility to maintain electric locomotives as well.[18] As of December 2021, it contains 29 9-car EMU rakes, a few of which served the Sealdah South section mostly via the Circular line, while the rest served the Sealdah North section.[18]

To handle the increased traffic requirements of the

IGBT based 12-car EMU rakes were introduced in this carshed.[18] As of December 2021, the shed contains 8 9-car EMU rakes and 25 12-car EMU rakes, 6 of which are three phase IGBT based.[18]

In 2007, a new EMU carshed was commissioned in Ranaghat to cater to the increased traffic requirements in the

MEMU services were also introduced in 2012 between Sealdah and Lalgola. As of December 2021, the shed contains 15 12-car EMU rakes and 5 MEMU rakes of which one is a 8-car rake while the rest are 12-car rakes.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Brief Detail of Sealdah Division Archived 2018-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, Eastern Railway
  2. ^ a b c d e "Sealdah Division System map" (PDF). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Trade through Benapole land port resumes after 10 weeks". The Financial Express. Dhaka. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Procurement Details". World Bank. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Administration Report on Railways 1918". Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b H.M. Government “Statute Law Repeals: Nineteenth Report : Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill; April 2012"; pages 127-8, paragraphs 3.51 - 3.55 Retrieved on 2 Jun 2016
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress', 31 March 1937 by 'The Government of India - Railway Department'" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Bengal Central Railway". fibis. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  10. ^ "The Santipur Local - Part 2". Get Bengal. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Thapliyal, Sangeeta. "India-Bangladesh Transportation Links: A Move for Closer Cooperation". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses". Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  12. ^ "The Chronology of Railway development in Eastern Indian". railindia. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  13. ISBN 81-7022-089-0. Retrieved 2 May 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  14. ^ "Non-IR Railways in India". IRFCA. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  15. ^ "Nabadwip Dham-Sealdah Rail Link Work Suspended Over Land Dispute". News from Nadia. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  16. ^ "জমির জটে লাইন ফেঁসে বছর-বছর". Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). 4 March 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  17. ^ a b "History of Electrification". IRFCA. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "Highlights of TRS Organisation, Sealdah division, Eastern Railway". Retrieved 30 November 2021.
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