Barsoi–New Farakka section


The Barsoi–New Farakka section is an Indian railway line connecting Barsoi with New Farakka junction on the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri line. This track is under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway and Northeast Frontier Railway.

History

With the partition of India in 1947, a major portion of the Calcutta-Siliguri line ran through East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. With several rail links in Bihar, the attention was on those links, and new links were developed. However, one hurdle stood out. There was no bridge across the Ganga river even in Bihar. A generally acceptable route to Siliguri was via Sahibganj Loop to Sakrigali ghat. Across the Ganges by ferry to Manihari Ghat. Then metre gauge via Katihar and Barsoi to Kishanganj and finally narrow gauge to Sliguri. In 1949 Kishanganj-Siliguri section was converted to metre gauge.
In the early 1960s, when Farakka Barrage was being constructed, a far reaching change was made. Indian Railways constructed a new broad-gauge rail link from south Bengal. New Jalpaiguri, a new broad gauge station was built south of Siliguri Town. While a new line was built from Tildanga station in the B.B loop line to Farakka Ghat on the South bank of Ganges by 1958, a long wide broad gauge new line was constructed from Khejuria Ghat, on the north bank of the Ganga to Malda Town by 1959 and was further extended to meet Barsoi junction by 1962. Steamer services connected the north and south banks of the river thereby linking North & South Bengal
The long Farakka Barrage, which carries a rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganges was opened in 1971 thereby directly linking the Barharwa-Azimganj-Katwa loop to Malda Town, New Jalpaiguri and other railway stations in North Bengal.

Branch lines

The Old Maldah-Rajshahi section is used up to Singhabad on the Indian side. Bangladesh started export of fertilizer to Nepal utilizing the Rohanpur-Singhabad transit point in November 2011.