Barauni–Katihar section
Begusarai railway station is important station on Barauni—Katihar Section
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	Bihar
Termini	Barauni Katihar
Stations	27
Service
Services	Barauni–Katihar
Operator(s)	East Central Railway,Northeast Frontier Railway
Technical
Line length	185 km (115 mi)
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge
Electrification	Yes
Operating speed	110 km/h
Route map Legend km Barauni–Gorakhpur, Raxaul & Jainagar lines toSamastipur 0 Barauni Junction Mokama–Barauni section toMokama 2 New Barauni Junction NH 122 4 Bihat Halt 8 Tilrath 11 Singhaul Halt 15 Begusarai 22 Lakho 28 Danauli Phulwaria 33 Lakhminia 39 Sanha Halt 42 Sahibpur Kamal Junction Sahibganj loop toJamalpur 48 Umeshnagar Burhi Gandak River Samastipur–Khagaria line toSamastipur 55 Khagaria Junction 64 Mansi Junction Mansi–Saharsa line toSaharsa Junction NH 31 69 Chedhabanni Halt 75 Maheshkhunt 79 Gauchhari 87 Pasraha 93 Bharat Khand Halt 98 Narayanpur 106 Thana Bihpur toMahadeopur Ghat NH 31 111 Bagrigram Halt 115 Kharik 122 Naugachia 128 Banikpur Halt 133 Katareah NH 31 Kosi River Saharsa–Purnia line toBihariganj (planned) 142 Kursela 146 Sameli Halt 151 Bakhri 159 Karhagola Road 170 Semapur 34 Tejnarayanpur 30 Kantakosh Halt 24 Manihari 21 Baghmara Halt 16 Mahiyarpur 13 Kumaripur 08 Mansahi 00 181 Katihar Junction Jogbani–Katihar line toJogbani Katihar–Siliguri line viaAzamnagar Road Katihar–Siliguri line toBarsoi km This diagram: view talk edit

TheBarauni–Katihar section of theBarauni–Guwahati line connectsBarauni andKatihar in the Indian state ofBihar .

Railway development on the northern side of theGanges in Bihar came up soon after the opening of theHowrah–Delhi main line on the southern side of the Ganges in 1866. Several railway companies were involved – East Indian Railway, Assam Behar State Railway, and Tirhut State Railway. In his bookThe Indian Empire, Its People, History and Products (first published in 1886) W.W.Hunter, says "The Tirhut State Railway with its various branches intersects Northern Behar and is intended to extend to the Nepal frontier on one side and to Assam on the other." However, early developments appear to be scattered. EIR built theKatihar–Kasba and Katihar–Manihari lines in 1887. Assam Behar State Railway built theParbatipur–Katihar line (seeBarsoi–Parbatipur line) in 1889, thereby linking Assam and parts ofNorth Bengal with Bihar. Tirhoot State Railway built some longer lines such asSamastipur–Khagaria, and added branch lines such as the 7 miles longBarauni–Semaria Ghat in 1883, the 11 miles longThana Bihpur to Bararighat in 1901 and Khagaria to Hasanpur Road in 1915. Most of these early metre-gauge lines got interconnected in subsequent years.^[1][2][3]

The construction of the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) longRajendra Setu in 1959 provided the first opportunity to link the railway tracks on the north and south banks of theGanges.^[4]

The 3.19 kilometres (1.98 mi) long rail-cum-road bridge located atMunger 55 km downstream of theRajendra Setu, now under construction, will linkJamalpur station on theSahibganj loop line of Eastern Railway to the Barauni–Katihar section of East Central Railway.^[5]

The Avadh–Tirhut Railway (successor to Tirhut State Railway) was merged with Assam Railway (successor toEastern Bengal Railway andAssam Bengal Railway) in 1952 to createNorth Eastern Railway.Northeast Frontier Railway was carved out of North Eastern Railway in 1958.^[6] East Central Railway was constituted in 2002 with the Sonpur and Samastipur Divisions of North Eastern Railway, and Danapur, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad Divisions of Eastern Railway.^[7]

The entire track lies on the northern side of theGanges and traverses the Kosi basin. In Bihar, theKosi is widely referred to as the "Sorrow of Bihar" as it has caused widespread human suffering over the centuries through flooding and frequent changes in course. Over the last 250 years, the Kosi has shifted its course over 120 kilometres (75 mi) from east to west. In August 2008, it picked up an old channel it had abandoned over a century ago near theNepal–India border, and caused enormous damage in a wide area covering several districts. The breach in the Kosi embankment which caused the devastating flood in 2008, was repaired in 2009 and the river has since been flowing along its original course.^[8] The floods continue and threaten even the Barauni–Katihar tracks. The entire region portrays "a bleak picture of broken houses, flattened fields and ravaged lives, signs of all the havoc the previous floods and land erosion wreaked here earlier."^[9]

Gauge conversion work (from metre gauge to broad gauge) in the Barauni–Katihar section was taken up in 1978–79 and completed in 1982.^[10]

Electrification of the 809 kilometres (503 mi) long Barauni–Katihar–Guwahati section was sanctioned in 2008.^[11] As of 2011, work on electrification of Barabanki–Gorakhpur–Barauni–New Jalpaiguri route was in progress. Adequate funds have been provided in the budget for 2011–12 to take up work in the New Jalapiguri–New Bongaigaon–Guwahati section.^[12]The section is fully electrified. Most of the Delhi and Amritsar-bound trains run on electric locomotives.Amrapali Express was the first train to run on electric locomotive, then afterRajdhani Express,North-east Express,Purvottar Sampark Kranti Express,Seemanchal Express,Tripura Sundari Express have electric engines.

• Trains at Barauni
• Trains at Katihar

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• 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India
• Railway lines in Bihar
• Transport in Katihar
• Transport in Barauni

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