Jamalpur is a city in the Indian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. It is situated 8 km from the Munger city centre. Jamalpur is a part of Munger-Jamalpur

twin cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

.It is main railhead for reaching Munger city. The name Jamalpur means ''Jamal'' (beautiful) ''pur'' (town). Jamalpur is best known for the Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop, which employs more than 25,000 people at its training institution, The Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Annual turnover is Rs. 10.56 billion with 111,485 employees. This is Asia's largest and oldest

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

railway workshop. The city was established in 1862 during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, with the Railways Institute forming its cultural hub.

Etymology

Jamalpur is named after 16th century

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

saint Jamal Baba, whose ''dargah'' (shrine) is still present at East Colony Hospital Road, Jamalpur.

History

The city was established in 1862 during the

, with the Railways Institute forming its cultural hub. The

paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

site of "Kali Pahar," atop Jamalpur Hill, was the location of an important find of Early and Middle Stone Age quartzite implements.

Geography

Jamalpur is located at with an average elevation of . The suburb is a part of the Munger city. The city centre of Munger is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of the Jamalpur area of Munger city. There is a road as well as a rail link,

Munger Ganga Bridge Shri Krishna Setu (Munger Ganga Bridge) is a rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganges, at Munger in the Indian state of Bihar and named after first Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Krishna Singh. The bridge connects the Munger-Jamalpur twin cities ...

, which was completed recently. Jamalpur is an overnight rail or road journey from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. The nearest airport is

Munger Airport Munger Airport (also known as Safyabad Airport) is an airport located in Munger district in the Indian state of Bihar. The airport is situated at Saifabad, 5 km from the district headquarters of Munger. It is controlled by the Airports A ...

near the Safiyabad area of Munger city. The nearest commercial, domestic airport is

Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport Jayprakash Narayan International Airport is an international airport serving Patna, the capital of Bihar, India. It is named after the independence activist and political leader, Jayprakash Narayan. It is the 14th busiest airport in India. T ...

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. ...

, away. The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in

, from Jamalpur on NH 33.

Demographics

, Jamalpur had a population of 399,697, with a ratio of 880 females for every 1,000 males. The average literacy rate is 87.38%; for men it is 92.58%, and for women it is 81.40%. There are 15,543 children in Jamalpur aged 0 to 6, with a ratio of 876 girls for every 1,000 boys.

Industry and culture

Locomotive workshop

The Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop was the first full-fledged railway workshop facility in India, founded on by the

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 ...

. The Jamalpur site was chosen for its proximity both to the

Sahibganj Sahebganj (also known as Sahibganj) is a scenic town and a port city with the serene Ganga and sturdy hills in the Sahibganj subdivision of the Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state, India. It serves as headquarters for Sahibganj District, Sahi ...

loop, which was the main trunk route at the time and to the communities of gunsmiths and other mechanical craftsmen in

. The workshop was initially for repairing locomotives and assembling new ones from salvaged parts. By the early 20th century, however, it had progressed to producing its own locomotives. It produced the first one, ''CA 764 "Lady Curzon"'', in 1899. In 1893, it became the site of the first railway

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in India. It also had a workshop for repairing and building boilers. Today it has foundry, metallurgical lab facilities, and machine tool facilities. Its

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

and nut and bolt shop ceased operation in 1984. The school attached to the workshop eventually became the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE).

Ananda Marga

The

Ananda Marga Ānanda Mārga ("The Path of Bliss", also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg) or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in J ...

movement was founded in Jamalpur by native Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar in 1955.

Places of interest

*JSA Stadium, a football stadium *The

Jamalpur Gymkhana The Jamalpur Gymkhana, often referred to as ''Gymkhana'' (or merely Gym) by its members, is a hostel for young apprentice officers of the Indian Railways in Jamalpur, Bihar, India. It is also a club like any other Gymkhana. The difference is ...

, the hostel and club used by the Special Class Railway Apprentices *The Jamalpur Golf Course, the site of the annual ITC Golf Tournament *Kali Pahadi, a mountain and picnic spot featuring a temple to the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

goddess

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...

*Panchmukhi hanuman mandir, badidariyapur jamalpur *Jogi asthan durga mandir, rampur basti jamalpur *Tunnel near nayagaon, jamalpur *Baptist Church, albert road, nayagaon, jamalpur *St. Joseph Catholic church, east colony, jamalpur *St. Mary's church, golf road, jamalpur *Gandhi library, Daulatpur, munger road *Yog maya badi durga devi mandir, Shani Dev Mandir, Sadar Bazar, Jamalpur *Historical Jamalpur workshop *Jamalpur filter water works at the top of kali pahadi

Education

Colleges

* J. R. S. College * Jamalpur College * Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering * Bihar Institute of Management & technology * Eastern railway inter College, Jamalpur * Manju Srijan Private ITI * Techno India NJR Institute of technology

Schools

* Eastern Railway Mixed Primary School: used to called as "European & Anglo Indian Day School" established more than a century before in 1915 * Notre Dame Academy, Jamalpur: The first Notre Dame school in India, founded in 1950. Notre Dame Academy is a Catholic Institution managed by the Patna Notre Dame Sisters' Society. * D.A.V. Public School, Jamalpur is located in Nayatola Keshopur Jamalpur. One of the Top School in Bihar State. This is to +2 Level. It is Arya Samaj society and managing committee of DAV CMC New Delhi. Affiliated to CBSE board. * Eastern Railway Inter College: A high school for railway employees' children, and one of the oldest high schools in the city. *

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of central government schools in India that are instituted under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,248 schools in India, and three abroad in Mo ...

, Jamalpur: a CBSE-affiliated

set up in 1973 with the sponsorship of the Eastern Railway. * Parvati Devi High School, Daulatpur, Jamalpur * St Michael school jamalpur * Holy family English medium School, Jamalpur, Munger * St. Roberts School, Jamalpur * St. Michael High School, Jamalpur * Collins International School, Jamalpur * Primary School Jagdishpur, Jamalpur * Path Bhawan, Jamalpur * Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Jamalpur * NC Ghosh Girl's high School, Jamalpur * St. Columbus high School, Jamalpur * Shri Shastri High School, Jamalpur * St. Mary School, Jamalpur * Railway Pilot School, Jamalpur * ATP School, Jamalpur * Vidya Jyoti Public School, Jamalpur * Daulatpur School, Jamalpur * Rampur Primary School, Jamalpur * Arya Samaj Girls School, Jamalpur * Central School, Jamalpur * Potential Kids primary School, Jamalpur * Achchu Ram School, Jamalpur * National Glory Academy, Jamalpur * Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Jamalpur * Sai Academy, Jamalpur * St. Xavier School, Jamalpur * little Genius Kids School, Jamalpur * Nirmala Residential School, Jamalpur

References

External links

History of Jamalpur Locomotive Works

Jamalpur Municipality

Blog on Jamalpur
{{Munger Division Cities and towns in Munger district