Kolkata Suburban Railway The Kolkata Suburban Railway is a suburban rail system serving the Kolkata metropolitan area and its surroundings in India. It is the largest suburban railway network in the country with the highest number of stations. It is also the 7th larg ...

Sealdah railway station Sealdah (station code:SDAH) is one of India's major railway terminals serving the city of Kolkata. The other main railway stations in the Kolkata metropolitan region are , , and Santragachi. Sealdah Railway station is the busiest railway stat ...

Hooghly River The Bhagirathi Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') or the 'Bhāgirathi-Hooghly', called the Ganga or the Kati-Ganga in mythological texts, is the eastern distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, Indi ...

Santragachi–Amta branch line This line is a part of South Eastern Railway zone, on which the Kolkata Suburban local train runs from Howrah to Amta. Its total distance is about 35 km, which takes about one hour from Santragachi to Amta.Andul on the Howrah–Kharagpur line.

Services

The C.C link line serves as a vital link for the city of Kolkata to the rest of the country providing a shorter route through the Howrah–Bardhaman chord line to the rest of the country rather than the longer route through the Howrah-Bardhaman main line via the Naihati–Bandel branch line. The line is used by major long distance express services such as the Sealdah Rajdhani Express, Darjeeling Mail, Padatik Express, and Ananya Express amongst many others, originating from the Sealdah and Kolkata railway stations, to the rest of India. The line is also a part of the

Kolkata Suburban Railway The Kolkata Suburban Railway is a suburban rail system serving the Kolkata metropolitan area and its surroundings in India. It is the largest suburban railway network in the country with the highest number of stations. It is also the 7th larg ...

and is served by 46 Daily and 40 Sunday EMU services running between Sealdah and

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

and 2 EMU services between Sealdah and Baruipara. These suburban services are provided by 9-car EMU rakes from the Narkeldanga EMU Carshed. The line also acts as an important link for freight commodities coming in and out of the

Kolkata Port Port of Kolkata or Kolkata Port, officially known as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust (formerly Kolkata Port Trust), is the only riverine major port of India, located in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, around from the sea. It is the olde ...

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 the South Eastern Railway from the Howrah–Kharagpur line towards Chitpur and Kolkata docks. With increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly from Sealdah to connect to the Howrah–Kharagpur line, like the Sealdah–Puri Duronto Express. More recently the line has been used by many long distance passenger trains such as the Kaziranga Express, Aronai Express and others from the Howrah–Kharagpur line to completely bypass the congested sections near

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

while using

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

or Bhattanagar stations as commercial stoppages instead.

History

The Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, a shorter link to Bardhaman from

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

than the Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line, was constructed in 1917. In 1932, the Calcutta Chord Link Line was built over the Willingdon Bridge (now known as Vivekananda Setu) joining Dum Dum with

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

and opened for freight traffic, thus forming a direct link from Calcutta (now known as

Sealdah railway station Sealdah (station code:SDAH) is one of India's major railway terminals serving the city of Kolkata. The other main railway stations in the Kolkata metropolitan region are , , and Santragachi. Sealdah Railway station is the busiest railway stat ...

) to

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

on the Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, thus earning the line its name. By 1950–51, Santragachi was heavily congested causing delays in arrival for trains bound to

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

. Two major reasons identified for the congestion were its railway yard outstripping its capacity and passing of freight trains of the South Eastern Railway from Kharagpur towards Chitpur and Kolkata docks taking the circuitous route via

Tikiapara Tikiapara is a residential as well as semi-industrial neighbourhood of Central Howrah in Howrah district of West Bengal, India. It is adjacent to Kadamtala and Howrah Maidan. Tikiapara is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Devel ...

, Liluah, Belanagar and then finally taking the Calcutta Chord link line to Calcutta. 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 from Andul on the Howrah–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 to . The work of building the line however progressed slowly due to land acquisition problems and was finally completed in December 1968. The electrification of the line was started subsequently and was completed by 1971–72. The ACCL branch line was primarily used by freight trains to bypass the congested sections near Howrah and directly connected the Eastern railway and South Eastern railway zones. However, with increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly from Sealdah like the Sealdah–Puri Duronto Express in 2012.

Tracks and electrification

The Dum Dum-Dankuni section was electrified in 1964–65. The Andul-Dankuni section was electrified in 1971–72. The doubling of the Dankuni-Bhattanagar section of the ACCL line was sanctioned on 2013. The track doubling of the Andul–Baltikuri section was completed & commissioned on 25 January 2020. 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 between Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway.

Routes and stations

Calcutta Chord link line

Andul Calcutta Chord Link branch line (ACCL branch line)

References

{{Railways in Eastern India Rail transport in West Bengal 1853 establishments in India Kolkata Suburban Railway lines