Cooch Behar State Railway
| Industry | Railways |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1894 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Koch Bihar |
| Services | Rail transport |
The Cooch Behar State Railway was a narrow gauge 762 railway opened in 1894 in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, presently Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was converted to metre gauge 1000 in 1910.
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 narrow gauge railway from the southern bank of the Torsa opposite Cooch Behar town to Geetaldaha, a station on the tracks of Eastern Bengal Railway connecting Dhubri with Lalmonirhat Junction, now in Bangladesh. The line was constructed with the following stations: Torsa, Dewanhat, Chawrahat, Geetaldaha and Geetaldaha 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 Jainti near the India-Bhutan border. The complete line measuring 53.5 miles was opened in 1901. It was converted to metre gaugein 1910. The railway system was operated by Eastern Bengal Railway.[1][2][3]As of 1932, only two trains ran on the route – one in the morning and the other in the evening.[1]It may be of interest to note that Howrah Station got its third platform in 1895.[4]
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 by R Sivaramakrishnan. IRFCA. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
- ^ "Cooch Behar Railway". fibis. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
- ^ "IR History: Part III (1900-1947)". IRFCA. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
- ^ "IR History:Early days II". 1870-1899. IRFCA. Retrieved 2013-02-19.