The Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line connecting in

Cooch Behar district Cooch Behar district (), also known as Koch Bihar district, is one of the List of districts of West Bengal, 23 districts of the state of West Bengal in India. The district is the part of Jalpaiguri division, Jalpaiguri Division. Cooch Behar ci ...

and in

Jalpaiguri district Jalpaiguri district () is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of Ja ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, was since 1878 a part of the Kolkata–Siliguri broad-gauge route. With the partition of India in 1947, while the main part of the route lay in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, later

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, the two ends of the route lying in India were detached. (For more details see

Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line The Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line is a railway line connecting Howrah railway station to New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station in the Indian state of West Bengal. The line continues through North Bengal and western part of Assam to connect with ...

). However, the route continued to be operational till the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Thereafter, the route had been closed till its reopening in 2020. The rest of the line had been in use in the respective countries.

Gauge changes

The Siliguri–Haldibari line has gone through two successive gauge changes. The line was initially built in

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 , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

by the

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 the Bengal and Assam provinces of British India (now part of Bangladesh Railw ...

. After

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

since most of the other railway tracks in the area were

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

, the line was converted from

to metre gauge in 1949. Then in the 1960s, when broad gauge was introduced in the area, the line was converted back to broad gauge and connected to the new station at

New Jalpaiguri New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (station code NJP) established in 1960, is an A1 category broad-gauge and narrow-gauge railway station under Katihar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. It is the largest and the busiest ...

Haldibari–Chilahati section

There were regular services running through the Haldibari-Chilahati section until the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 following which the services were abandoned. Following the

independence of Bangladesh The independence of Bangladesh was Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, declared from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, which is now celebrated as Independence Day (Bangladesh), Independence Day. The Bangladesh Liberation War started on 26 March ...

there were plans to re-open the section.

Bangladesh Railway Bangladesh Railway () 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 Railway. The Bangladesh Railway is governed by the Mi ...

had to construct 7.5 kilometres of new rail tracks from to reach the border while the Indian authorities had to set up 4.5 kilometres of tracks from its border to Haldibari railway station. In the Joint Statement issued on the occasion of the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh, on 7 September 2011, it was stated: " Bangladesh Prime Minister expressed her appreciation to the Indian Prime Minister for amendment of the MoU between the Bangladesh and Indian Railways allowing Rohanpur-Singabad as an additional route for both bulk and container cargo for Nepalese rail transit traffic. Bangladesh side also appreciated the assistance from India for the movement of fertilizers from Bangladesh to Nepal by rail route. They also agreed to re-establish rail connections between Chilahati–Haldibari and Kulaura–Mahishashan in the spirit of encouraging revival of old linkages and transport routes between the two countries." The Haldibari-Chilhati section was reopened on 17 December 2020. The railway link was inaugurated by the Indian prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

and his Bangladeshi counterpart

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

, in a virtual bilateral summit.

Electrification

The New Jalpaiguri–Raninagar Jalpaiguri section was completely electrified in 2021 as a part of the Katihar-Guwahati route electrification. The Raninagar Jalpaiguri-Haldibari section's electrification was completed in 10 January 2024.

References

External links

* All trains from New Jalpaiguri to Haldibar

* All trains from Haldibari to New Jalpaigur

, {{DEFAULTSORT:Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri line 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in West Bengal Transport in Cooch Behar Transport in Jalpaiguri 1878 establishments in India