Jalpaiguri Road railway station

Jalpaiguri Road railway station is one of the five railway stations which serves Jalpaiguri city in Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The other four are: Jalpaiguri City, Mohitnagar/Jalpaiguri Halt, New Jalpaiguri and Jalpaiguri Junction. The station is a newly built-up junction station connecting the Barauni–Guwahati line and the New Mal–Changrabandha–New Cooch Behar line with the New Jalpaiguri–Haldibari line.

Jalpaiguri Road
Indian Railways junction station
Other namesJalpaiguri Central
LocationRailway Road, Patkata Colony, Denguajhar, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal
India
Coordinates26.5594°N 88.7097°E / 26.5594; 88.7097
Elevation84 metres (276 ft)
Owned byIndian Railways
Operated byNortheast Frontier Railway
Line(s)Barauni–Guwahati line, New Mal–Changrabandha–New Cooch Behar line, New Jalpaiguri–Haldibari line, New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section
Platforms5
Tracks7
Construction
Structure typeStandard on ground
ParkingAvailable
Other information
StatusFunctioning
Station codeJPE
Zone(s) NFR
Division(s) Katihar
History
Opened1914
Previous namesNorth Bengal State Railway
Location
Jalpaiguri Road
Location in West Bengal
Jalpaiguri Road
Location in India

History

During the British period all connections from southern parts of Bengal to North Bengal were through the eastern part of Bengal. From 1878, the railway route from Kolkata, then called Calcutta, was in two laps. The first lap was a 185 km journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma River, then across the river in a ferry and the second lap of the journey. A 336 km metre-gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri via Jalpaiguri.[1]

The 1.8 km long Hardinge Bridge across the Padma came up in 1912. In 1926 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta–Siliguri route became broad-gauge.[1] The route thus ran: SealdahRanaghatBheramaraHardinge BridgeIswardiSantaharHiliParabtipurNilphamariHaldibariJalpaiguriSiliguri.

With the partition of India, this track got trisected. The through route was formally closed after the India–Pakistan War in 1965.[2]

The Siliguri–Haldibari, part of the original broad-gauge Calcutta–Siliguri track via Hardinge Bridge, got delinked from the trunk route in 1947. As all the other tracks in the area were metre gauge, it was converted from broad gauge to metre gauge in the late forties. When New Jalpaiguri railway station came up, the line was extended to New Jalpiguri. When broad-gauge lines were laid in the area, it was reconverted to broad gauge and now functions as the Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line.[1]

References

  1. "India: the complex history of the junctions at Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri". IRFCA. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  2. "New rail transit route thru India gets govt nod". Priyo Internet Life. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
Preceding station   Indian Railways   Following station
Northeast Frontier Railway zone
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