Calcutta Chord link line (incl. A.C.C. link branch line)
Dankuni railway station, terminal station in Chord Link line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railway
Locale	West Bengal
Termini	Sealdah Dankuni Junction
Stations	Total stations:15 Interchange stations: 8
Website	Eastern Railway
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Kolkata Suburban Railway
Operator(s)	Eastern Railway
Depot(s)	Sealdah
Daily ridership	0.291 Million
History
Opened	1932; 93 years ago (1932)
Technical
Line length	22 km (14 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	At grade, elevated
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)broad gauge
Electrification	25 kV overhead line
Operating speed	up to 100 km per hour
Route map Legend km km Howrah– Kharagpur line Andul 00 Maurigram 02 NH 12 Kona Expressway Howrah– Kharagpur line 11 Bankranayabaz 9 Baltikuri Santragachi–Amta branch line A.C.C. Link branch line toFurfura Sharif (planned) Bhattanagar 06 Howrah–Bardhaman chord Dankuni 00 FCI siding Dankuni Loco Factory NH 16 NH 19 Belghoria Expressway Rajchandrapur 04 4 Belanagar Bally Halt 06 7 Bally Howrah–Bardhaman main line NH 19 Belghoria Expressway PWD Road Bally Ghat 07 Vivekananda Setu overHooghly River PWD Road Dakshineswar 09 0 Dakshineswar Baranagar jute mill siding Sealdah–Ranaghat line Barrackpore Trunk Road Pink Line(planned) Baranagar Road 10 1 Baranagar Sealdah–Ranaghat line Noapara 02 Noapara Metro Depot Kestopur Canal Yellow Line (under construction) Sealdah–Bangaon line Dum Dum 04 15 Dum Dum Junction Patipukur Loop line (dismantled) Jessore Road Belgachia 06 17 Patipukur Chitpur Rail Yard Ultadanga Road 18 Lansdown mill siding Kolkata 19 Brown Blanket mill siding Kolkata Circular Railway Kestopur Canal Blue Line toKavi Subhash Bidhan Nagar Road 5 Bidhannagar Road Press House siding Kankurgachi Road 02 Kankurgachi Road Junction Narkeldanga EMU Carshed 3 Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt Circular Canal Sealdah North 00 Kankurgachi Chord line Sealdah Main 00 Sealdah Green Line Sealdah South 00 Beliaghata Diesel Loco Shed 6 Kamardanga Halt Beruck & Comens siding 03 7 Park Circus Sealdah South lines km km Key Indian Railways broad gauge (1676 mm) Kolkata Metro (KM)broad gauge (1676 mm) Kolkata Metro (KM)standard gauge (1435 mm) in use   out of use, planned, or under construction (u/c)   tunnel

TheCalcutta Chord linkline, also known as theC.C. link line, is a 22 km (14 mi) long branch line of theKolkata Suburban Railway which comes under the jurisdiction ofEastern Railway'sSealdah Division &Howrah Division.^[1][2]

The line directly connects theSealdah railway station (erstwhile Calcutta railway station) on the east bank of theHooghly River with theHowrah–Bardhaman chord line at theDankuni Junction on the west bank of theHooghly River via theVivekananda Setu. TheAndul Calcutta Chord link branch line (known as theA.C.C.L. branch line) is a 9 km (5.6 mi) long branch line fromDankuni Junction which connects C.C. link line with theSantragachi–Amta branch line andAndul on theHowrah–Kharagpur line.^[1][2][3]

The C.C link line serves as a vital link for the city ofKolkata to the rest of the country providing a shorter route through theHowrah–Bardhaman chord line rather than the longer route through theHowrah-Bardhaman main line via theNaihati–Bandel branch line.^[1][2] The line is used by major long distance express services such as theSealdah Rajdhani Express,Darjeeling Mail,Padatik Express, andAnanya Express amongst many others, originating from theSealdah andKolkata railway stations, to the rest ofIndia. The line is also a part of theKolkata Suburban Railway and is served by 46 Daily and 40 SundayEMU services running betweenSealdah andDankuni and 2EMU services betweenSealdah andBaruipara.^[4][5] These suburban services are provided by 9-carEMU rakes from the Narkeldanga EMU Carshed.^[6]

The line also acts as an important link for freight commodities coming in and out of theKolkata Port connecting it with the rest of the country. The A.C.C.L branch line was primarily built and used for diverting freight trains of theSouth Eastern Railway from theHowrah–Kharagpur line towardsChitpur andKolkata docks.^[7] With increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly fromSealdah to connect to theHowrah–Kharagpur line, like theSealdah–Puri Duronto Express.^[8] More recently the line has been used by many long distance passenger trains such as theKaziranga Express,Aronai Express and others from theHowrah–Kharagpur line to completely bypass the congested sections nearHowrah while usingDankuni or Bhattanagar stations as commercial stoppages instead.^[9][10][11]

TheHowrah-Bardhaman Chord, a shorter link toBardhaman fromHowrah than theHowrah-Bardhaman Main Line, was constructed in 1917. In 1932, the Calcutta Chord Link Line was built over the Willingdon Bridge (now known asVivekananda Setu) joiningDum Dum withDankuni and opened for freight traffic, thus forming a direct link from Calcutta (now known asSealdah railway station) toDankuni on theHowrah-Bardhaman Chord, thus earning the line its name.^[12][13]

By 1950–51,Santragachi was heavily congested causing delays in arrival for trains bound toHowrah.^[7] Two major reasons identified for the congestion were its railway yard outstripping its capacity and passing of freight trains of theSouth Eastern Railway fromKharagpur towardsChitpur andKolkata docks taking the circuitous route viaTikiapara,Liluah,Belanagar and then finally taking the Calcutta Chord link line to Calcutta.^[7]

To resolve the congestion problem,Indian Railways sanctioned the remodeling of the Santragachi railway yard in November 1962 and sanctioned the building of a direct link fromAndul on theHowrah–Kharagpur line to the Calcutta Chord link line in the railway budget of 1959–60. This was to reduce the distance between Andul and the Calcutta Chord from 27.5 km (17.1 mi) to 13 km (8.1 mi).^[7]

The work of building the line however progressed slowly due to land acquisition problems and was finally completed in December 1968.^[7] The electrification of the line was started subsequently and was completed by 1971–72.^[14][15]

The ACCL branch line was primarily used by freight trains to bypass the congested sections near Howrah and directly connected theEastern railway and South Eastern railway zones. However, with increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly fromSealdah like theSealdah–Puri Duronto Express in 2012.^[8]

The Dum Dum-Dankuni section was electrified in 1964–65. The Andul-Dankuni section was electrified in 1971–72.^[15]

The doubling of the Dankuni-Bhattanagar section of the ACCL line was sanctioned on 2013.^[16] The track doubling of the Andul–Baltikuri section was completed & commissioned on 25 January 2020.^[17] With the completion of the track doubling of Baltikuri–Bhattanagar section in October 2021, the entire ACCL branch line was doubled. This removed a critical bottleneck affecting interchange of trains betweenEastern Railway andSouth Eastern Railway.^[18]

• Rail transport in West Bengal
• 1853 establishments in India
• Kolkata Suburban Railway lines

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