Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR) was a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

from Jayanti to

Lalmonirhat Lalmonirhat ( bn, লালমনিরহাট) is a town and district headquarters of Lalmonirhat District in the division of Rangpur, Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in Sout ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

History

Nripendra Narayan Maharaja Nripendra Narayan (4 October 1862 – 18 September 1911) was the Maharaja of the princely state of Cooch Bihar, India, from 1863 to 1911. Early life Nripendra Narayan was only ten months old when his father, Narendra Narayan, died in ...

, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, established Cooch Behar State Railway in 1893–98. After some deliberations and discussions with the British authorities about their plans, it was decided in 1891–92 to build a -wide

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway from the southern bank of the

Torsa Torsa (occasionally Torsay) is one of the Slate Islands in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Lying east of Luing and south of Seil, this tidal island was inhabited until the 1960s. There is now only one house there, which is used for holiday lets. The ...

opposite Cooch Behar town to

Gitaldaha Gitaldaha is a village and a gram panchayat in the Dinhata I CD block in the Dinhata subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Gitaldaha is located at . Gitaldaha I and Gitaldaha II are g ...

, a station on the tracks of

Eastern Bengal Railway The Eastern Bengal Railway (full name: "Eastern Bengal Railway Company"; shortened EBR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1857 to 1942, in Bengal and Assam provinces of British India. History Formation The Eastern ...

connecting

Dhubri Dhubri (Pron: ˈdhubri) is an old town and headquarter of Dhubri district in Indian state of Assam. It is an old town on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, with historical significance. In 1883, the town was first constituted as a Municipal Boa ...

with

, now in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The line was constructed with the following stations: Torsa,

Dewanhat Dewanhat is a village in the Cooch Behar I CD block in the Cooch Behar Sadar subdivision of the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, India. Geography Area overview The map alongside shows the north-central part of the district. It has the ...

, Chawrahat,

and Gitaldaha Ghat. It was opened for goods traffic from 15 September 1893 and for passenger traffic from 1 March 1894.

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...

town was connected after a bridge was built on the Torsa and the line was extended to

Alipurduar Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan and no ...

Buxa Buxa is a village in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal within Buxa Tiger Reserve. It is located from Alipurduar, the nearest town. It is known for the Buxa Fort Buxa Fort is located at an altitude of in the Buxa Tiger Reserve, in the K ...

and Jayanti near the India–Bhutan border. The complete line measuring 53.5 miles was opened in 1901. It was converted to -wide

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 ...

in 1910. The railway system was operated by

. In 1932, only two trains ran on the route – one in the morning and the other in the evening. In early 1950s, the system was amalgamated with

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 ...

as a part of North Eastern Railway (now

Northeast Frontier Railway The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the Zones and divisions of Indian Railways, 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and e ...

Conversion to broad gauge

The line was converted to

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

in 2007.

References

{{Cooch Behar topics 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Metre gauge railways in India Defunct railway companies of India History of rail transport in West Bengal History of Cooch Behar Cooch Behar district Transport in Cooch Behar