Kolkata, Sep 24 (IANS): Eastern Railway (ER) is all set to celebrate 162 years of operations between the Sealdah station in Kolkata and Ranaghat (Ranaghat Jn today) as the first milestone towards establishing a rail link to Dhaka, the capital of modern-day Bangladesh, from the British capital of India at that time.
The Maitree Express between the Kolkata Station (Chitpur) and Dhaka - which started running in 2008 - continued to take this route till July this year before the train was repeatedly cancelled as per requests from railway authorities in Bangladesh.
"The inaugural train service on the Sealdah-Ranaghat section ran on 29th September 1862. The Sealdah-Ranaghat train services have a rich history dating back to 1857 when Eastern Bengal Railway (EBR) was formed to construct a new rail line from Kolkata to Dhaka,” said Kausik Mitra, CPRO, ER.
He said that at the outset, the line was built to serve the flourishing jute industry of Bengal. At that time, it became a hub for jute production with 38 jute mills producing approximately 31,000 looms.
“While most mills were located on the banks of the Ganges around Kolkata (then Calcutta), jute was primarily grown in eastern Bengal that is now Bangladesh. The British wanted an efficient system to transport this jute crop to the mills, hence the decision for the new line,” he added.
Mitra said that the Sealdah station, then, was nothing compared to what it is today, adding that little did the British know that Sealdah - in the heart of Kolkata - would turn out to be the hub of suburban railway traffic in the next 160-odd years.
“As per historical records, the original station building of Sealdah was constructed in the year 1869. The original building has little resemblance to what the station looks like today,” he said.
He added that today, the Sealdah-Ranaghat Section is the busiest in Sealdah North of Eastern Railway's Sealdah Division which connects Kolkata seamlessly with the districts of Nadia and North 24-Parganas.
“ER was formed in 1952, with the Sealdah division under its jurisdiction. The Sealdah - Ranaghat section was electrified in 1963 and the Bandel-Naihati section was subsequently electrified in 1965,” Mitra said.
He added that the Ranaghat-Gede section was electrified later in 1997-98, allowing EMU services to connect Sealdah with Gede, the last station on Indian soil on the Indo-Bangladesh Border.
‘Today, we have EMU trains running between Sealdah and Gede and this provides people from the bordering district of Nadia with an economic and comfortable mode of transport to Kolkata," Mitra said.
EMU trains cover the 119 km between Sealdah and Gede in about 2 hours and 40 minutes and the fare for an adult is merely Rs 30. As of this date, the Sealdah Ranaghat section is served by 12-car EMU rakes from the Narkeldanga and Ranaghat car sheds. Approximately 240 daily EMU services ply between the two stations with 41 additional services between Sealdah and Gede via Ranaghat Junction.