Assam Mail

Popularly known as 3 Up/ 4 Dn (Kalka Mail was 1 Up/ 2 Dn), it originally ran in the pre-independence days from Santahar, now in Bangladesh, to Guwahati.[1] It travelled along the Santahar–Kaunia Line up to Kaunia, then to Lalmonirhat along Parbatipur–Lalmonirhat–Burimari line, crossing the Teesta. Thereafter, it took the now defunct Mogalhat–Gitaldaha route crossing the Dharla over the bridge, part of which has since been washed away, on to Golokganj, Fakiragram and Amingaon.

Passengers to and from Kolkata and the rest of India traveled between Kolkata and Santahar by broad gauge Darjeeling Mail or some other connection and then switched over to metre-gauge Assam Mail.[1]

After independence and partition of India in 1947, the train stopped temporarily (possibly in 1950). When Assam Link Project connected Fakiragram to Kishanganj Assam Mail started running along the Katihar–Siliguri line. It needed a loco reversal at Siliguri Junction and traveled along what is now the New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line. Assam Mail was converted into a two part train. It ran from New Delhi to Dibrugarh (after Rajendra Setu and Saraighat Bridge came up), with the broad gauge part running up to Barauni from where the metre gauge part continued up to Dibrugarh. Passengers had to get down at Barauni and change trains.[1]

The metre gauge part of the Assam Mail from Barauni to Dibrugarh covered 1,387 kilometres (862 mi). It was one of the longer metre gauge runs in the country, running across the flood plains of the Kosi, the Dooars, Western Assam and finally Upper Assam.[2] In 1986, when the Barauni–Guwahati line was converted into broad gauge the Assam Mail was renamed as the North East Superfast Express.[1]

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