The partition of India in 1947 completely disrupted communication links in North Bengal and Assam with the southern parts of West Bengal. Earlier, the links were through the eastern part of Bengal, which became a part of Pakistan in 1947. Siliguri gained in importance as the gateway to North Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Assam. Around 1949, Siliguri Junction station, a new station north of the old Siliguri Town railway station, came up with several metre gauge lines converging on it. In addition there was the narrow gaugeDarjeeling Himalayan Railway running from Siliguri Town station to Darjeeling via Siliguri Junction. The Assam Rail Link Project, completed in 1950, linked the railways in Assam, with a metre gauge line to Kishanganj. The line running across North Bengal, spanned the Teesta, Torsha, and Sankosh rivers. In the early 1960s, Indian Railways started changing over from metre gauge to broad gauge and built a new broad gauge station south of Siliguri Town station. Since the new station was located in Jalpaiguri district, it was named New Jalpaiguri. By 1964, New Jalpaiguri became the most important railway station in the area. It had both broad gauge and metre gauge tracks. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway narrow gauge track was extended from Siliguri town station to the New Jaipaiguri station. The metre gauge track from New Jaipaiguri to Siliguri town and Siliguri junction was later converted to broad gauge.
Amenities
New Jalpaiguri railway station has two double-bedded air-conditioned retiring rooms, six double-bedded non-AC retiring rooms, one three-bedded dormitory and one twelve-bedded dormitory. Free High speedGoogleRailWire WiFi is available at this station. It has IRCTC and other private restaurants.
Services
New Jalpaiguri Jn, which is commonly called as NJP is the largest as well as busiest railway junction of North East Frontier Zone, which serves as the lifeline of the Northeastern states. NJP acts as a connecting base for the Northeastern states to the Indian mainland. NJP is the railway station of the largest city of North Bengal, which is popularly referred as the gateway of northeast India. New Jalpaiguri railway station is amongst the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railway. New Jalpaiguri is connected to almost all parts of the country and has been ranked 10th in the Cleanest Railway Stations of India recently. It has a good connection to Kolkata, Delhi and Guwahati and there are many other trains to different parts of India. New Jalpaiguri is the Busiest station in North Bengal and the Northeast Frontier Railway Zone. Four Rajdhani Express and one Shatabdi Express runs from this station. Also there is one narrow gauge platform in this station which operates trains towards Darjeeling hills as a part of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
Many road is directly connected from Siliguri to New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station. Ride aggregator services Uber, Rapido, Ola provide rides from the train station to various parts of the city. One can also book private cabs to go Darjeeling, Gangtok and all over hill areas. Apart from these numerous private taxi operators provide pre-paid and post-paid taxi services to the city.E-rickshaw,City auto facilities are available in the station.
