Cooch Behar State Railway

Railway in West Bengal, India

Cooch Behar State Railway
Industry	Railways
Founded	1894
Headquarters	Cooch Behar , India
Area served	Koch Bihar
Services	Rail transport

Cooch Behar
State Railway

Legend

Jayanti

Buxa

Rajabhatkhawa

Damanpur

Alpurduar

Kaljani River

Baneswar

Cooch Behar

Torsa River

Torsa

Dewanhat

Bhitaguri

Dinhata

Chawrahat

Falimari

Bamanhat

to Golokganj

Gitaldaha

Gitaldaha Ghat

Dharla River

to Lalmonirhat

Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR) was a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge railway from Jayanti to Lalmonirhat in the Indian state of West Bengal.

History

Nripendra Narayan, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, established Cooch Behar State Railway in 1893–98.^[1] After some deliberations and discussions with the British authorities about their plans, it was decided in 1891–92 to build a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm)-wide narrow gauge railway from the southern bank of the Torsa opposite Cooch Behar town to Gitaldaha, a station on the tracks of Eastern Bengal Railway connecting Dhubri with Lalmonirhat, now in Bangladesh. The line was constructed with the following stations: Torsa, Dewanhat, Chawrahat, Gitaldaha and Gitaldaha Ghat. It was opened for goods traffic from 15 September 1893 and for passenger traffic from 1 March 1894.^[1] Cooch Behar town was connected after a bridge was built on the Torsa and the line was extended to Alipurduar, Buxa and Jayanti near the India–Bhutan border. The complete line measuring 53.5 miles was opened in 1901. It was converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)-wide metre gauge in 1910. The railway system was operated by Eastern Bengal Railway.^[1]^[2]^[3] In 1932, only two trains ran on the route – one in the morning and the other in the evening.^[1] In the early 1950s, the system was amalgamated with Indian Railways as a part of North Eastern Railway (now Northeast Frontier Railway).^[4]

Conversion to broad gauge

The line was converted to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge in 2007.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The Cooch Behar State Railways (1903)". "The Cooch Behar state and its land revenue settlements" by H. N. Chaudhuri, Cooch Behar State Press, 1903 – Review by R Sivaramakrishnan. IRFCA. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
^ "Cooch Behar Railway". fibis. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
^ "IR History: Part III (1900-1947)". IRFCA. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
^ Banerjee, Ajai. "Zonal Reorganization of IR Since Independence". IRFCA. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
^ Srivastava, V.P. "Role of Engineering Deptt in Meeting Corporate Objectives of Indian Railways" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2013.

Railways in Eastern India

National network/
trunk lines

Other lines/sections

Interstate	Asansol–Gaya section Asansol–Patna section Asansol–Tatanagar–Kharagpur line Barauni–Gorakhpur, Raxaul and Jainagar lines Barkakana–Son Nagar line Barsoi–New Farakka section Barsoi–Radhikapur branch line Dumka–Bhagalpur line Gaya–Mughalsarai section Hatia–Rourkela line Jasidih–Dumka–Rampurhat line Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line Katihar–Siliguri line Kharagpur–Puri line Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section Kothavalasa–Kirandul line New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section Tatanagar–Bilaspur section
Bihar	Bakhtiyarpur–Tilaiya line Barauni–Katihar section Barauni–Samastipur section Fatuha–Tilaiya line Gaya–Kiul line Mokama–Barauni section Muzaffarpur–Gorakhpur line (via Hajipur, Raxaul and Sitamarhi) Muzaffarpur–Gorakhpur main line Muzaffarpur–Sitamarhi section Muzaffarpur–Hajipur section Narkatiaganj–Bhikhna Thori branch line Neora–Jatdumari–Daniyawan–Bihar Sharif–Sheikhpura line Patna–Gaya line Patna–Mughalsarai section Patna–Sonepur–Hajipur section Raxaul–Sagauli line Samastipur–Muzaffarpur section
Jharkhand	Barkakana–Netaji S.C.Bose Gomoh line Barkakana–Muri–Chandil line Dhanbad–Chandrapura line Railways in Jharia Coalfield Koderma–Hazaribagh–Barkakana–Ranchi line Madhupur–Giridih–Koderma line Netaji S.C.Bose Gomoh–Hatia line
Odisha	Khurda Road–Bolangir line Cuttack–Sambalpur line
West Bengal	Ahmadpur–Katwa line Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line Andal–Sainthia branch line Andal–Sitarampur loop line Bandel–Katwa line Bankura–Masagram line Bardhaman–Asansol section Bardhaman–Katwa line Barharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Eklakhi–Balurghat branch line Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line Howrah–Barddhaman main line Howrah–Bardhaman chord Howrah–Kharagpur line Kharagpur–Bankura–Adra line New Mal–Changrabandha–New Cooch Behar line Santragachi–Amta branch line Sealdah Main and North section Calcutta Chord link line Kolkata Circular Railway Sealdah–Bangaon line Sealdah–Ranaghat–Gede line Ranaghat–Krishnanagar City–Lalgola line Sealdah South section Sheoraphuli–Bishnupur branch line

Suburban
rail transport

Monorail

Defunct lines

Revived/ Under revival	Ahmedpur–Katwa Railway Bankura–Damodar Railway Barasat–Basirhat Light Railway Burdwan–Katwa Railway Bakhtiarpur–Bihar Light Railway Futwah–Islampur Light Railway
Inactive	Bengal Provincial Railway East Coast State Railway Kalighat Falta Railway Mayurbhanj State Railway Dehri Rohtas Light Railway Patna–Digha Ghat line Parlakimedi Light Railway

Zones & Divisions

Eastern	Asansol Howrah Malda Sealdah
East Central	Danapur Dhanbad Mughalsarai Samastipur Sonpur
East Coast	Sambalpur Khurda Road Waltair
North Eastern	Varanasi
Northeast Frontier	Katihar Alipurduar
South Eastern	Adra Chakradharpur Kharagpur Ranchi

Production units/
workshops

Transit points
with Bangladesh

Active	Haldibari–Chilahati Singhabad–Rohanpur Radhikapur–Biral Gede–Darshana Petrapole–Benapole
Defunct	Mahisasan–Shahbajpur Changrabandha–Burimari Gitaldaha–Mogalhat