The Assam Mail was one of the better known

metre-gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

trains in the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

system that was there from the pre-independence days. The train was discontinued in 1986 with the completion of the broad-gauge conversion of the metre-gauge line to

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam in ...

3 Up/ 4 Dn

Popularly known as 3 Up/ 4 Dn (

Kalka Mail ''Kalka Mail'' (Officially as ''Netaji Express'') is the oldest running train in India. This train connects Howrah in Kolkata, capital of the State of West Bengal to Kalka in the North-Western state of Haryana. Kalka is the railhead for the ...

was 1 Up/ 2 Dn), it originally ran in the pre-independence days from , now in Bangladesh, to Guwahati. It travelled along the Santahar–Kaunia line up to

Kaunia ''Kaunia'' is a genus of South American shrubs or small trees in the family Asteraceae. Its range is centered in Bolivia but it is also found in Argentina, southern Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Genus is named for Edward Kaun of Baltimore, Maryland ...

, then to along Parbatipur–Lalmonirhat–Burimari line, crossing the

Teesta Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows through ...

. Thereafter, it took the now-defunct – route crossing the Dharla over the bridge, part of which has since been washed away, on to , and Amingaon covering in 14 hrs 00 mins at speed of . Passengers to and from Kolkata and the rest of India traveled between Kolkata and Santahar by broad-gauge

Darjeeling Mail The 12343 / 12344 Sealdah-Haldibari-Sealdah Darjeeling Mail is one of the oldest running legendary trains in India that has been running from pre-independence days and is still in operation. It connects to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway at ...

or some other connection and then switched over to metre-gauge Assam Mail.

Post Independence

After independence and

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947, the train travel to Assam stopped temporarily (possibly till 1957). When Assam Link Project connected to Assam Mail started running along the

Katihar–Siliguri line The Katihar–Siliguri line is a railway line connecting in the Indian state of Bihar with in West Bengal, via , , , , , , , and . It was a metre-gauge track that was converted to broad gauge in 2011. Another railway line with a slight ...

. It needed a loco reversal at and traveled along what is now the

New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line The New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line is a railway line that connects - Siliguri Junction with Alipurduar and in the Indian state of West Bengal. This railway line passes through the beautiful Doars region, which includes Mah ...

. Assam Mail was converted into a two part train. It ran from to (after

Rajendra Setu Rajendra Setu, or Simaria Bridge, is a bridge across the Ganges that was the first to link the northern and southern portions of the state of Bihar. The location of the bridge was based on the work of M. Visvesvaraya, who was more than 90 year ...

and

Saraighat Bridge The Saraighat Bridge is a rail-cum-road bridge over Brahmaputra River in Assam, India and is the first of its kind bridge over the river in the state. The length of the bridge is 1492 meters (4895 feet) and the road on the bridge is 7.3 meters ...

came up), with the broad gauge part running up to

Barauni Barauni is an Industrial City situated on the bank of the river Ganges in Begusarai district in the state of Bihar, India. Transport Railways Barauni Junction is one of the important stations in Bihar and has strategic location. It is a ju ...

from where the metre gauge part continued up to Dibrugarh. Passengers had to get down at Barauni and change trains. The metre gauge part of the Assam Mail from Barauni to Dibrugarh covered . It was one of the longer metre gauge runs in the country, running across the flood plains of the Kosi, the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

Western Assam Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalay ...

and finally

Upper Assam Upper Assam is an administrative division of the state of Assam comprising the undivided Lakhimpur and Sivasagar (previously, Sibsagar) districts, of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley. The other divisions are: Lower Assam, North Assa ...

. In 1986, when the Barauni–Guwahati line was converted into broad gauge the Assam Mail was renamed as the

Brahmaputra Mail The 15657 / 15658 ''Brahmaputra Mail'' is a daily train that connects Old Delhi with Kamakhya (an important town in Assam). Introduced in 1972 after the construction of the rail section of the Farakka Barrage, the train originally ran as the T ...

& rerouted via

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Silk ...

Malda Town Malda or English Bazar is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the sixth largest city (urban agglomeration) in West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Malda district as well as of the Malda division of West Bengal. It consists o ...

, , New Jaipaiguri, ,

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

Lumding Lumding (Pron:/lʌmˈdɪŋ/) is a city with municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian state of Assam. Etymology The word 'Lumding' owes its roots to a couple of Dimasa words 'Lama' and 'Ding' connoting 'straight pathway'. The word ''Lu ...

Tinsukia Tinsukia (Pron: ˌtɪnˈsʊkiə) is an industrial town. It is situated north-east of Guwahati and away from the border with Arunachal Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Tinsukia District of Assam, India. History During th ...

covering in 52 hrs 00 mins at speed of . A new Superfast train named

North East Express The 12505 / 12506 ''North East Express'' is a daily Superfast train of Indian Railways, which runs between Kamakhya Junction (Guwahati, the largest city of Assam and the largest city of North Eastern region of India) and Anand Vihar near New ...

was introduced via

, , Fakiragram Junction, covering between &

in 33 hrs 15 mins at speed of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assam Mail Transport in Delhi Transport in Guwahati Transport in Dibrugarh Named passenger trains of India Defunct trains in India Rail transport in Delhi Rail transport in Assam Rail transport in West Bengal Rail transport in Bihar Rail transport in Uttar Pradesh