Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line

Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
New Cooch Behar Junction is an important railway station at Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	West Bengal
Termini	Alipurduar Junction Bamanhat
Service
Type	Rail line
Operator(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway
History
Opened	1894 onwards
Technical
Track length	72 km
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Old gauge	Narrow gauge 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) (1894–1910) Metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) (1910–2007)
Electrification	Yes
Operating speed	100 Km/Hr
Route map Legend km New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line 0 Alipurduar Junction New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala line 3 Alipurduar Court 5 Alipurduar Kaljani River 15 Baneswar New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section New Cooch Behar–Changrabandha line 23 New Cooch Behar Junction New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section New Cooch Behar–Golokganj line 27 Cooch Behar Torsa River 37 Dewan Hat 41 Bhetaguri 48 Dinhata College Halt 50 Dinhata 57 Falimari closed MG section 65 Gitaldaha Junction 67 Gitaldaha Ghat India Bangladesh border ( broken bridge over Dharla River ) 68 Mogalhat Lalmonirhat–Parbatipur line 62 New Gitaldaha 67 Abutara Halt 72 Bamanhat closed MG section India Bangladesh border 80 Bhurungamari 84 Pateswari Dudhkumor River 91 Sonahat Bangladesh India border Dudhkumor River closed MG section New Cooch Behar–Golokganj line 97 Golokganj to Fakiragram to Dhubri & Jogighopa km

The Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line is an Indian railway line connecting Alipurduar Junction with Bamanhat. This 72-kilometre (45 mi) track is under the jurisdiction of Northeast Frontier Railway.

The Cooch Behar State Railway (CBSR) was a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway line that was built between Jayanti in the current Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India to Lalmonirhat in the current Lalmonirhat district in Bangladesh before partition between 1893 and 1898. The line originated from Jayanti near the foothills of Eastern Himalayas and went via Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Dinhata and Gitaldaha to finally join the narrow-gauge track of Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway at Mogalhat. This line was later brought by Eastern Bengal Railway in 1899.^[1]

The Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway was constructed as a narrow-gauge line from Teesta railway junction to Mogalhat in 1882 by Eastern Bengal Railway. As a part of linking with the 581 kilometres (361 mi) long Katihar–Raiganj–Dinajpur–Parbatipur–Rangpur–Kaunia main metre-gauge line the Kaunia–Mogalhat–Gitaldaha NG section was converted to metre gauge from 1901 to 1902. The 25.27 kilometres (15.70 mi) long Gitaldaha-Golakganj section was built as a part of the main metre-gauge line in 1902 via Bamanhat & Sonahat. This metre-gauge line was further extended to Amingaon via Fakiragram & Kokrajhar in 1906. The Jayanti–Gitaldaha junction section was converted to metre gauge in 1910.^[2]

With the partition of India in 1947, the Assam links to Bengal were snapped. Further the Gitaldaha–Mogalhat rail transit point became defunct as floods washed away the railway bridge over Dharla River. The 72 kilometres (45 mi) Alipurduar–Bamanhat section and the 47.7 kilometres (29.6 mi) Fakiragram-Golakganj section were cut off as well and became isolated metre gauge sections. As a part of the Assam Link project a 301.8 kilometres (187.5 mi) line was constructed between Kishanganj and Fakiragram in 1948. Thus these 2 sections became branch lines. Fakiragram was connected with a new 57.6 kilometres (35.8 mi) line via Boxirhat to New Coochbehar in 2010-12.

The Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge and was reopened to public in 2007.^[3] A new station called the New Gitaldaha station was built to be used instead of the old Gitaldaha junction. The Fakiragram–Golakganj–Dhubri section was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge during 2010. Golakgunj was linked with New Cooch Behar with a new line in 2012 as a part of the New Maynaguri-Jogighopa project.^[4][5]

|