Howrah–New Jalpaiguri Main line
Route map of Howrah–New Jalpaiguri Main line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	West Bengal
Termini	•Howrah railway station (south) •New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (north)
Stations	120 (Excluding Termini)
Service
System	Indian Railways
Operator(s)	Eastern Railway Northeast Frontier Railway
History
Opened	1971; 54 years ago (1971)
Technical
Line length	Howrah -NJP Jn: 564 km (350 mi) Sealdah -NJP Jn: 573 km (356 mi)
Number of tracks	Howrah -Chandanpur(0-38km):4 tracks Chandanpur -Saktigarh(38-81km):3 tracks Saktigarh -Khana (81-106km):4 tracks Khana -Sainthia (106-177km):2 tracks Sainthia -Murarai (177-236km):3 tracks Murarai -NJP Jn (236-564km):2 tracks
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge
Electrification	Fully Electrified (Operational from 9 January 2020)
Operating speed	130kmph (max)
Route map Legend km New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar Samuktala Road line New Jalpaiguri– New Bongaigaon section Darjeeling Himalayan Rly (narrow-gauge line) New Jalpaiguri 588 Rangapani 581 Katihar–Siliguri line toSiliguri Junction Bagdogra Aluabari Road– New Jalpaiguri line Katihar–Siliguri line Aluabari Road 553 Katihar–Siliguri line West Bengal Bihar border Kishanganj–Jalalgarh line (planned) Kishanganj 503 Bihar West Bengal border Dalkhola 475 Raiganj–Dalkhola line (planned) Katihar–Siliguri line West Bengal Bihar border Barsoi–Radhikapur branch line Barsoi 446 Mukuria 441 Katihar–Siliguri line Bihar West Bengal border Barsoi-New Farakka section Eklakhi–Balurghat branch line Eklakhi 374 367 Adina Old Malda Junction 360 Old Malda–Singhabad branch line Barsoi-New Farakka section New Farakka 319 Sahibganj loop Barharwa–Azimganj– Katwa loop Barharwa Barharwa–Azimganj– Katwa loop Nalhati Azimganj–Nalhati branch line 217 Azimganj Ahmadpur Azimganj–Katwa line Ahmadpur–Katwa line Sahibganj loop Bardhaman–Katwa line Bardhaman 144 Katwa Bandel–Katwa line Howrah–Bardhaman main line 40 Bandel Howrah–Bardhaman chord Sealdah–Ranaghat line Howrah–Bardhaman main line Howrah–Kharagpur line 0 Howrah km km Source: India Rail Info[1]

TheHowrah–New Jalpaiguri line is a railway line connectingHowrah railway station toNew Jalpaiguri Junction railway station in the Indian state ofWest Bengal. The line continues throughNorth Bengal and western part ofAssam to connect withGuwahati.TheHowrah–New Jalpaiguri line is divided into two routes: one is theBardhaman–Rampurhat–New Farakka orKhana–Rampurhat–Gumani section (Part ofSahibganj loop), which is considered asHowrah-NJP main line.The other is theBandel-Katwa–New Farakka section (Part ofBAK loop), which is considered asHowrah-NJP loop line. TheNaihati–Bandel link allows trains from another terminusSealdah inKolkata to use this route. Other parts of West Bengal and Bihar are well-connected to this line. It is under the administrative jurisdiction ofEastern Railway andNortheast Frontier Railway.

Note: Bold letters indicates Major Railway Stations/Major Cities.

The 561 km (349 mi)) long trunk line, been treated in more detail in smaller sections:

For HWH-NJP Main Line :

• Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line
• Howrah-Bardhaman Chord Line
• Bardhaman-Rampurhat Section
• Rampurhat-Malda Town Section

For HWH-NJP Loop Line :

• Howrah–Bandel–Katwa section
• Barharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop

For Common Line (New Farakka-Malda Town-NJP) :

• Barsoi–New Farakka section
• Katihar–New Jalpaiguri, Thakurganj and Siliguri sections

During the British period all connections to North Bengal were through the eastern part of Bengal. From 1878, the railway route from Calcutta (now spelt Kolkata) to Siliguri was in two laps. The first lap was a 185 km journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of thePadma River, then across the river in a ferry and the second lap of the journey. A 336 kmmetre-gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri.^[2]

The 1.849 kilometres (1.149 mi) longHardinge Bridge across the Padma came up in 1912. Presently, it is between the Paksey and Bheramara stations on the broad-gauge line betweenDarshana andParbatipur in Bangladesh.^[3] In 1926 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire 529 kilometres (329 mi) long Calcutta–Siliguri route became broad gauge.^[2] The route till 1947 thus ran:
0Sealdah
23 kilometres (14 mi)Barrackpore
38 kilometres (24 mi)Naihati
74 kilometres (46 mi)Ranaghat
169 kilometres (105 mi)Bheramara–Hardinge Bridge
225 kilometres (140 mi)Iswardi
287 kilometres (178 mi)Santahar
342 kilometres (213 mi)Hili
386 kilometres (240 mi)Parabtipur
430 kilometres (270 mi)Nilphamari
464.4 kilometres (288.6 mi)Haldibari
489 kilometres (304 mi)Jalpaiguri
529 kilometres (329 mi)Siliguri.

With the partition of India in 1947, a major portion of the Calcutta–Siliguri line ran through East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. With several rail links in Bihar, the attention was on those links, and new links were developed. However, one hurdle stood out. There was no bridge across theGanga river even in Bihar. A generally acceptable route to Siliguri was viaSahibganj loop to Sakrigali ghat. Across the Ganges by ferry to Manihari Ghat. Then metre gauge viaKatihar andBarsoi toKishanganj and finally narrow gauge to Sliguri.^[4] In 1949 Kishanganj–Siliguri section was converted to metre gauge.^[2]

In the early 1960s, whenFarakka Barrage was being constructed, a far reaching change was made. Indian Railways constructed a new broad-gauge rail link from south Bengal.New Jalpaiguri, a new broad-gauge station was built south of Siliguri Town.^[2] The 37 km (23 mi)-long1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) wide5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge line was constructed from Khejuriaghat, on the north bank of theGanga to Malda between 1959 and 1963.^[5]

The 2,240 m (7,350 ft) longFarakka Barrage carries a rail-cum-road bridge across theGanga. The rail bridge was opened in 1971 thereby linking theBarharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop toMalda Town, New Jalpaiguri and other railway stations in North Bengal.^[6]

TheDarjeeling Himalayan Railway came up as a narrow-gauge (2 feet) railway in 1881. In 1915, it was extended up the Teesta Valley to Gielle Kola and to the south to Kishanganj.^[2] In 1949 Kishanganj – Siliguri was converted from narrow-gauge to metre-gauge and extended north-east into Assam, partly along the narrow-gauge Teesta Valley route. Along with development of the metre-gauge line, a new Siliguri Junction station, north of the traditional Siliguri Town station, became the main station in the area.^[2] With the development of the broad-gauge system and the New Jalpaiguri station, the narrow gauge DHR was extended to New Jalpaiguri.^[2]

The earlier Siliguri–Kishanganj metre-gauge line is now part of the Siliguri–Kishanganj–Katihar metre-gauge line. Part of the metre-gauge track runs parallel to the broad-gauge track and part of it has a separate route.^[2]

The Siliguri–Haldibari route, part of the original broad-gauge Calcutta–Siliguri track via Hardinge Bridge, got delinked from the trunk route because of partition in 1947. As all the other tracks in the area were metre gauge, it was converted from broad gauge to metre gauge in the late 1940s. When New Jalpaiguri station came up, the line was extended to New Jalpaiguri. When broad-gauge lines were laid in the area, it was reconverted to broad gauge and now functions as theHaldibari–New Jalpaiguri line.^[2]

The railway system in Assam got delinked from the rest of India in 1947.^[2] In order to establish a link with Assam, the Assam Rail Link Project, connecting Kishanganj with Fakirgram was started on a war footing on 26 January 1948. A 229 km-long metre-gauge line was built and commissioned in two years. The Kishanganj branch of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was taken over and converted to metre gauge. It was connected to the North Eastern Railway network at Barsoi. The Teesta Valley Line up to Sivok was taken over and converted to metre gauge. The link spanned three major rivers – Teesta, Torsha, and Sankosh. The Kishanganj–Naxalbari section was completed on 31 July 1948, the Naxalbari–New Bagrakot section on 26 January 1950, the Madarihat–Hashimara section on 25 December 1949 and Alipurduar–Fakirgram section on 26 January 1950.

In the seventies a new broad-gauge line was laid between New Jalpaiguri and Guwahati. The entire Barauni–Katihar–Guwahati line is being electrified.^[7]

The Katihar–Barsoi–Raiganj–Radhikapur–Dinajpur–Parabatipur line is now operated on the Indian side up toRadhikapur only. The transit facility in the Radhikapur–Birol sector is virtually closed. The railway track on the Indian side has been converted to broad gauge while that on the Bangladesh side remainsmetre gauge.^[8]

The Old Maldah–Rajshahi section is used up toSinghabad on the Indian side. Bangladesh started export of fertilizer to Nepal utilizing the Rahanpur–Singhabad transit point in November 2011.^[9]

The 87.26 kilometres (54.22 mi)-longEklakhi–Balurghat broad-gauge line was opened in 2004.^[10] Extension of the Eklakhi–Balurghat branch line to Hili was announced in the Rail Budget for 2010–11.^[11]

See alsoBarharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop for other branch lines along this route.

Fully electrified. Passenger service with electric locomotives initiated on 09.01.2020.^[12][13]

Some of the important trains running through main line are as follows:

1. Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express
2. Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express
3. Howrah–New Jalpaiguri AC Superfast Express
4. Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Superfast Darjeeling Mail
5. Sealdah-New Alipurduar Padatik Superfast Express
6. Sealdah-Alipurduar Kanchan Kanya Express
7. Sealdah-Bamanhat Uttar Banga Express
8. Sealdah–Silchar Kanchenjunga Express
9. Sealdah–Agartala Kanchenjunga Express
10. Howrah-Guwahati Saraighat Superfast Express
11. Kolkata–Haldibari Intercity Express
12. Kolkata - Silghat Town Kaziranga Express

Some of the important trains running through loop line are as follows:

1. Sealdah-New Alipurduar Teesta Torsha Express
2. Sealdah-Saharsa Hate Bazare Express
3. Howrah-Dibrugarh Kamrup Express
4. Digha-New Jalpaiguri Paharia Express
5. Kolkata-Dibrugarh Superfast Express
6. Kolkata–Guwahati Garib Rath Express

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