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
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predo ...
and
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur t ...
provinces of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
.
History
Formation
The Eastern Bengal Railway Company was incorporated by the Eastern Bengal Railway Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c.159) of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, with the objective of introduction of railway transport in eastern
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predo ...
and even to move into
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. The operational area of Eastern Bengal Railway was to be the east bank of the
Hooghly River, while
East Indian Railway Company
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Bar ...
operated on the west bank of the river.
Rolling stock
By the end of 1877 the company owned 43 steam locomotives, 180 coaches and 691 goods wagons. By 1936, the rolling stock had increased to 327 locomotives, 3 steam railcars, 1560 coaches and 13.781 freight wagons.
Classification
It was labeled as a Class I railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.
Subsequent developments
The EBR was taken over by the Government of India in 1884 and renamed the Eastern Bengal State Railway. The Calcutta and South Eastern Railway was merged into it in 1887. In 1915, it reverted to its old name Eastern Bengal Railway. In 1941, the
Bengal Dooars Railway
The Bengal Dooars Railway was formed in 1891 and amalgamated with the Eastern Bengal Railway in 1941. The Bengal Dooars Railway (shortened BDR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1893 to 1941, in Bengal province of Bri ...
was merged into Eastern Bengal Railway. In 1942, the Government of India merged
Assam Bengal Railway
The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British India. Headquartered in Chittagong, it functioned from 1892 to 1942.
History
Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in 1892 to serve British-owned tea planta ...
with Eastern Bengal Railway to create
Bengal and Assam Railway.
Successors
After the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the 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: India and Pakistan. T ...
in 1947 the broad-gauge portion of the Bengal and Assam Railway, lying in
India was added to the
East Indian Railway
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Baro ...
and the metre-gauge portion became the Assam Railway.
On 14 April 1952, Assam Railway and the
Oudh and Tirhut Railway
The Oudh and Tirhut Railway was a Railway company operated in India.
History
On 1 January 1943, the Bengal and North Western Railway and the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway (R&K worked) were acquired by the Government of India and they were am ...
were amalgamated to form the
North Eastern Railway. On the same day, the reorganized Sealdah division of the erstwhile Bengal Assam Railway (which was added to the East Indian Railway earlier) was amalgamated with the
Eastern Railway.
With the formation of the
Northeast Frontier Railway
The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and expansion of rail network all across No ...
on 15 January 1958, the portions of the erstwhile Eastern Bengal Railway that were in Assam and the Indian portion of North Bengal, came under its jurisdiction.
The portion of the system which fell within the boundary of erstwhile East Pakistan was named as Eastern Bengal Railway. On 1 February 1961, Eastern Bengal Railway was renamed as Pakistan Railway and in 1962 it became
Pakistan Eastern Railway
The Pakistan Eastern Railway ( ur, , bn, পাকিস্তান পূর্বাঞ্চলীয় রেলপথ) was one of two divisions of Pakistan Railways which operated between 1961 and 1971. The company was headquartered in ...
. With the emergence of Bangladesh, it became
Bangladesh Railway
Bangladesh Railway ( bn, বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে) is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains all railways in the country, and is overseen by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Ra ...
.
Lines
The first line of Eastern Bengal Railway was from Calcutta to
Kushtia in 1862 (presently covered by
Sealdah–Ranaghat line,
Ranaghat–Gede line and
Chilahati–Parbatipur–Santahar–Darshana line
The Chilahati–Parbatipur–Santahar–Darshana line is a railway line connecting Chilahati and Darshana, via Parbatipur Junction, Santahar, Abdulpur, Azim Nagar station (in Gopālpur, Lalpur Upazila), Iswardi and Hardinge Bridge in Ba ...
). It was decided in 1865 to extend the line to
Goalundo Ghat
Goalundo Ghat (also spelled Goalanda and Goalondo; bn, গোয়ালন্দঘাট) is a small town and pourasabha in Goalandaghat Upazila, Rajbari District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh, South Asia. There are two railway stops one a ...
. The extension opened on 31 December 1870. By 1902, it was extended north to as far as
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 Bo ...
in Assam.
[
The Eastern Bengal Railway, which operated east of the Hooghly, was linked with the ]East Indian Railway
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Baro ...
, which operated west of the river, when Jubilee Bridge, linking Bandel
Bandel is a neighbourhood in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is founded by Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Me ...
and Naihati
Naihati is a city and a municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
Naihati Municipality is one of the oldest in the who ...
, was opened in 1887. The Calcutta Chord Railway constructed the line from Dum Dum to Dankuni over the Willingdon Bridge in 1932. The bridge was later renamed Vivekananda Setu
Vivekananda Setu (also called Willingdon Bridge and Bally Bridge) is a bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It links the city of Howrah, at Bally, to Kolkata, at Dakshineswar. Completed on 1931, it is a multispan truss bridge ...
.
Hindrance to free flow of water
In many parts of riverine eastern Bengal, with long stretches of low lands, the railways had to be built on embankments which hindered the free flow of water. In a brief case study of Eastern Bengal Railway it has been revealed that the water regime of the Rajshahi Division of present Bangladesh was destabilized by the way railway exposed itself to the Chalan Beel
Chalan Beel ( bn, চলনবিল) is a wetland in the Sirajganj District, Sirajganj, Natore District, Natore and Pabna District, Pabna districts of Bangladesh. It is a large inland Depression (geology), depression, marshy in character, with ...
. From the beginning of the twentieth century the beel (pond or wetland) began to be bounded by the Calcutta–Siliguri main line on the west and by the Santahar–Bogra line on the north. These lines affected feeding of the beel. Its drainage was affected by the Sirajganj branch line in the south-east.
Conversion to broad gauge
The Indian part of EBR was converted to broad gauge in 1990s to 2010s. The Bangladesh part is under conversion to broad gauge.
References
{{Authority control
Defunct railway companies of India
Defunct railway companies of Bangladesh
Rail transport in Assam
History of rail transport in West Bengal
Bengal Presidency
Indian companies established in 1857
Railway companies established in 1857