HISTORY OF THE RAILWAYS IN COOCH BEHAR & DOORS AREA
A. History of the Pre-Independence period
Initially there were two Railways viz. The Bengal Dooars Railway Company (BDR) and Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR), to serve the entire area of Jalpaiguri District and Cooch Behar District at the foot of the Himalayas near the border with Bhutan
The Bengal Dooars Railway (BDR)
The Bengal Dooars Railway Company was one of the pioneering railway companies formed in UK in 1891 towards the construction and operation of metre gauge (MG) lines at Dooars with its Headquarters at Domohani in the Jalpaiguri District. They constructed meter gauge railway lines for opening out the western Dooars and for development of the tea industry. The first line was opened on 11 June 1893 from Barnes Ghat to Dam Din via Domohani with a branch from Lataguri Junction to Ramshai to serve a remote tea garden at Ramsai, followed by opening of the link to Lalmanirhat ( in Rangpur District ) via Domohani and Mal Jn from Chalsa ( in Jalpaiguri District ) on 01 April, 1901. Lalmanirhat being on the Main Assam Route of Parbatipur – Kaunia – Amingaon under Eastern Bengal railway (EBR), it was only at this point, where a connection was made by BDR with another railway. By 1903, Mal got connected to Sevoke on the western Doors and Chalsa was connected to Madarihat in Cooch Behar District as follows:
Western Extension :
Mal Jn – Dandim – Odlabari : Opened on 01 May 1901
Odlabari – Bagrakote : Opened on 01 January 1902
Bagrakote – Sevoke : Opened on 14 June 1903
Eastern Extension :
Chalsa – Chapramari – Nagrakata – Chengmari : Opened on 01 January 1903
Chengmari – Banarhat – Binnaguri – Dalgaon : Opened on 23 March 1903
Dalgaon – Mujnai – Madarihat : Opened on 14 June 1903
Southern Extension :
Chalsa Junction to Metelli (MG) : opened on 10 June 1918.
BDR, along with its extensions, eventually was of 257 Km (160.66 miles) length. The line was purchased by the Government of India from January 1941 and amalgamated with the Eastern Bengal Railway and thence to the Bengal Assam Railway in 1942.
Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR)
It was established in 1893 by His Highness Nripendra Narayan Bhoop Bahadur, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, to build a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm)-wide narrow gauge railway track from the southern bank of the Torsa opposite Cooch Behar town to Gitaldaha - a station on the tracks of Eastern Bengal Railway connecting Dhubri with Lalmanirhat.. The line was constructed with the following stations: Torsa, Dewanhat, Chawrahat, Gitaldaha and Gitaldaha Ghat. It was opened for goods traffic from 15 September 1893 and for passenger traffic from 1 March 1894. By 1901, a bridge was built on the Torsa, whereby Cooch Behar town got connected to this line, which was extended to Alipurduar, Buxa and Jayanti near the India–Bhutan border, the total length of the complete line measuring at 85.6 Km (53.5 miles). It was converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)-wide meter gauge in 1910 and the operation of the Lalmanir Hat- Gitaldaha Railway was passed to the Eastern Bengal Railway (EBR), which they operated as part of their ‘EBR Metre Gauge’ network together with the CBSR following its conversion to MG. Thus the Cooch Behar State Railway was always worked by the Eastern Bengal Railway, with profits shared.
The details of the opening of the sections involved were as follows:
Rajabhatkhawa – Garopara – Kalchini : Opened on 01 April 1912
Kalchini – Hamiltongunj – Hasimara – Dalsingpara : Opened on 15 January 1914
Dalsingpara – Madarihat : Opened on 01 April, 1918
By 1911, Sevoke got connected to Siliguri Jn. Thus, after 1918, the following routes were present in Cooch Behar and Doors area as per the Scanned copies of the concerned pages from the Newman’s Indian Bradshaw of 1934 obtained through IRFCA :
Lalmanirhat Jn. – Bhotemari – Hatibandha – Bhotepatti – Changrabandha – Maynaguri Road – Domohani – Lataguri Jn. – Damdim – Mal Jn – Chalsa Jn. – Chapramari – Nagrakata – Chengmari – Banarhat – Binnaguri – Dalgaon – Mujnai – Madarihat. .
Lalmanirhat Jn. – Gitaldaha – Cooch Behar – Alipurduar Jn – Raja Bhatkhowa – Buxa Road – Jainti.
Raja Bhatkhowa – Garopara – Kalchini – Hamiltongunj – Hasimara – Dalsingpara.
Chalsa Jn. – Metelli (e) Lataguri Jn. – Ramshai (f) Domohani – Barnes Ghat.
Siliguri
Jn –
Sevoke – Bagrakote
– Odlabari – Damdim – Mal Jn.
A Ferry service was maintained on the River Teesta from Karla Ghat - about 2.5 Miles from the Jalpaiguri Station under Eastern Bengal Railway, to Barnes Ghat, which, in turn, was connected to Domohani, thus providing a much shorter route for people from Eastern part of the Jalpaiguri District to reach Jalpaiguri Town – the headquarters of the district. Domohani being connected to Lalmanirhat on the Calcutta (Sealdah) – Parbatipur – Assam Route, both Lalmanirhat and Domohani became very important Railway stations.
It may be seen from the Tables II and III that two lines got bifurcated at Rajabhatkhawa - one to Jainti via Buxa, the other to Dalsingpara via Kalchini/Hasimara.
B. History of the Post- Independence period
With the partition of India in 1947, the two ends of the Sealdah – Siliguri route lying in India got detached as well as Sealdah – Guahati route got disrupted due to main part of these routes being in East Pakistan (Bangladesh now) and there being no bridge across the Ganges in West Bengal or Bihar.
A generally acceptable route to Siliguri from Sealdah was found via Sahibganj Loop to Sakrigali Ghat (and sometimes Sahibganj Ghat) by Train, crossing the Ganges by ferry to Manihari Ghat, then again by Train on metre gauge track via Katihar and Barsoi to Kishanganj and finally narrow gauge to Sliguri, since the Narrow gauged Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) was originally from Kishanganj to Darjeeling via Siliguri Jn (Refer TABLE – VI).
Assam Rail Link
The two northern districts of West Bengal namely Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri as well as entire Assam area being of strategic importance, the Government of India undertook a Project called “ Assam Rail Link ” on Top Priority, to be completed within two years. The Track scenario at the subject zone at the time of partition was as follows:
Kisanganj was connected to Katihar via Barsoi through Meter Gauge Track, Katihar being connected, in turn, to Northern India under the Oudh and Tirhut Railways, as well as to Manihari Ghat on the north bank of the Ganges, but the track from Kisanganj to Siliguri was Narrow Gauge (NG) under Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR).
Bagrakot was connected to Alipurduar (not the Alipurduar Jn) via Rajabhatkhawa – Damanpur – Alipurduar Court under Lalmanirhat – Cooch Behar – Jayanti MG Route.
There was a dual-gauge (MG and NG) track from Siliguri to Sevoke in Siliguri – Geillekhola Route under Teesta Valley Railway (Refer Table – V). It may be mentioned here that Sevoke-Geillekhola section of this route had to be abandoned in June 1950, following the disastrous floods of that year.
The Assam Rail Link Project, therefore, envisaged linking of the existing Meter Gauge Track of the Oudh and Tirhut Railways with the isolated part of the Assam Railways from Kishanganj to Fakiragram in the following manner:
Conversion of the existing 105.6 Km (66 miles) of the 2Ft NG line from Kishanganj to Siliguri under Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR) to Metre Gauge line.
Construction of a new Metre Gauge line connecting Sevoke to Bagrakot , inclusive of the construction of a Railway Bridge on the turbulent Tista River, Siliguri – Sevoke MG track being already available.
Construction of a new Metre Gauge line from Alipurduar to Fakiragram, from where the line to Amingaon already existed.
This 227 Km (142 Miles) Rail Link was completed within two years and the line was opened to Goods traffic and to the Passenger Traffic on 09 December, 1949 and 26 January, 1950 – the Republic day repectively. Conversion of the NG line at Kishanganj – Siliguri section to MG got completed by 1949, thus connecting Siliguri with Sealdah again in two lapses like the old Damukdea Ghat – Sara Ghat system, but the time taken now was almost 22 Hours !
This new MG route to Assam from 1950 was as follows:
Katihar Jn – Barsoi Jn – Kishangunge – Aluabari Road – Bagdogra – Matigarai – Siliguri Jn – Gulma – Sivok – Bagrakot – Oodlabari – Damdim – Mal Jn – Chalsa Jn – Chapramari – Nagrakata – Chengmari – Banarhat – Binnaguri – Dalgaon – Mujnai – Madari Hat – Dalsingpara – Hasimara – Hamiltonganj – Kalchini – Garopara – Raja Bhat Khawa – Damanpur – Alipur Duar Jn – Salsala Bari – Samuktala Road Jn – Fakiragram Jn (Where it meets the old Parbatipur – Amingaon Route) – Bongaigaon – Sorbhog – Barpeta Road – Rangiya Jn – Amingaon. There were reversals at Siliguri Jn and Mal Jn, that is the trains used to enter and exit through the same end.
This Station Mal Jn ' was renamed as Malbazar subsequently and is no longer in the main Siliguri – Alipurduar Jn MG Route. A new station ‘NEW MAL’ has emerged in its place with no reversal.
In the pre-partition days, the present day Siliguri Town station (SGUT) was serving as the terminating station for BG Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah (via Haldibari) and was named Siliguri. By 1947, the following lines were terminating at this station:
(a) BG line from Sealdah via Haldibari - Jalpaiguri (b) NG line from Kishanganj (c) MG line from Sivok
(d) NG line from Darjeeling
After the completion of the Assam Rail Link Project in 1950, a new Siliguri Jn station (SGUJ) was created north of the Siliguri Town station, which became the main station in the area, with three metre gauge lines ( South-west to Kishanganj and Barsoi; North-east to Assam via Alipurduar Jn ; south to Siliguri Town and Haldibari) and two narrow gauge lines (north to Darjeeling; south to Siliguri Town). Thus, after the emergence of the Siliguri Jn (SGUJ), the erstwhile Siliguri station was renamed as Siliguri Town.
The narrow-gauge steam shed was moved from Siliguri Town to Siliguri Jn and the narrow-gauge Siliguri Jn - Siliguri Town section became freight-only.
Since entry to Jalpaiguri from Sealdah via Haldibari got cut off due to partition, it was to be entered now from Siliguri Jn. This resulted into the conversion of the Haldibari – Siliguri Jn BG Track to MG.
When the completely new Broad Gauge rail link was created from Calcutta via Farakka in the early 1960s, New Jalpaiguri - an entirely new through broad-gauge station, was built on the south of the Siliguri Town Station. Consequently, the New Jalpaiguri - Haldibari section had to be converted yet again - from metre gauge to broad gauge.
From about 1964, New Jalpaiguri became the main station in the area, with two broad-gauge lines (west to Calcutta; east towards Assam with branch to Haldibari), a metre-gauge line (north to Siliguri Town and Siliguri Jn, diverging thence south-west to Kishanganj and Barsoi, and north-east to Assam) and a narrow-gauge line (north to Siliguri Town, Siliguri Jn and Darjeeling). The narrow-gauge steam shed was again moved, from Siliguri Jn to New Jalpaiguri. With interchange between main-line and Darjeeling trains at New Jalpaiguri, the narrow-gauge New Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Town - Siliguri Jn section became a passenger line.
However, by now that is the year of 2022, the entire area under the aforesaid review as well as the entire Assam region stands Broad Gauged.
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