The New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of the Barauni–Guwahati line connects

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 ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

and New Bongaigaon in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

History

During British rule, all links from the northern part of Bengal and Assam to the rest of India were through the eastern part of Bengal. The most important connection was the long

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

– Parbatipur– Haldibari–

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

link first established in 1878 and then developed in stages (for details see Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Line). During the nineteenth century,

Lalmonirhat Lalmonirhat () is a town and district headquarters of Lalmonirhat District in the Rangpur Division, division of Rangpur, Bangladesh. Demographics According to the 2022 Bangladeshi census, 2022 Bangladesh census, Lalmonirhat city had a populat ...

was linked to the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India and southern Bhutan that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin. This region is about wide and stretches ov ...

. In pre-independence days, a long metre gauge line running via Radhikapur, Biral, Parbatipur, Tista,

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 ...

and Golokganj connected

Fakiragram Fakiragram is a railway station on the New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of Barauni–Guwahati line and is located in Kokrajhar district in the Indian state of Assam. A branch line from Fakiragram connects to Dhubri. Trains Major Trains: ...

in Assam with

Katihar Katihar (; ), is the tenth largest city in the state of Bihar in India in terms of population, Along with being one of the largest economic, educational and administrative centre in the eastern part of Bihar. The city situated in the eastern ...

in Bihar. With the partition of India in 1947, all these links were lost. Indian Railways took up the Assam Link Project in 1948 to build a long rail link between

and

Kishanganj Kishanganj is a city and district headquarters of Kishanganj district in Purnia division of Bihar state in India. History Kishanganj, which was previously part of Purnia district, is part of the Mithila region. Mithila first gained prominen ...

was connected to the Indian railway system in 1950 through the Indian portion of North Bengal with a metre gauge track. The New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section was partly new construction, partly old line 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 , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

in 1963. The long meter gauge Siliguri-Jogihopa line was constructed between 1963 and 1965 & was converted to wide

in 1998 .

Branch lines

The long

Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line The Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line connecting in Cooch Behar district and in Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal, was since 1878 a part of the Kolkata–Siliguri broad-gauge route. With the partition of India in 1947, while ...

has gone through two successive gauge changes. As most 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 1960s when broad gauge was introduced in the area, the line was converted back to broad gauge and connected to the new station at

. The long metre gauge branch line from Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district to

Changrabandha Changrabandha (also called Nagar Changrabandha) is a census town and a gram panchayat in Mekhliganj CD block in Mekhliganj subdivision of Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a border checkpoint on the Bangladesh-In ...

in Cooch Behar district is now made into wide

section in 2016 & extended further to New Coochbehar, with train service, as per the railway time table. In pre-independence days, the line was up to Mogalhat, now in Bangladesh. The present long metre gauge line on the Bangladesh side from

Burimari Burimari () is a border railway station in Bangladesh, situated in Lalmonirhat District, in Rangpur Division. It is a land border crossing point and a defunct railway transit point on the Bangladesh-India border. The corresponding point on the ...

is still functional. The Alipuduar–Bamanhat branch line ends near the India-Bangladesh border across the

Dharla River The Dharla River () is a tributary of the Brahmaputra which is a trans-boundary river flowing through India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It originates from Kupup/Bitang lake lying in Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary of East Sikkim in the Himalayas where ...

. In pre-independence days, it used to connect to Mogalhat, now in Bangladesh, across the Dharla. The bridge is broken. The line from Golokganj meets the branch line. The New Cooch Behar–Golokganj section is newly made into broad gauge via Boxirhat. The line passed through a different alignment. The Fakiragram-Dhubri branch line was inaugurated after gauge conversion in September 2010.

Electrification

Electrification of the entire long Katihar–Guwahati route is in progress & expected to completed by 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Assam Transport in Siliguri Transport in Jalpaiguri Transport in Bongaigaon