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glimpse of Mt. Khangchendzonga.
New Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Town - Siliguri Junction:
(R.0588, 2410, 2948) The area at the lower end of the famous
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has arguably the world’s most complex
history of changing gauges and routes.
From 1878 the railway route to Siliguri was
north for 185 km on the broad-gauge (1676 mm; 5 ft 6 in) East Bengal
State Railway Calcutta Sealdah - Damookdeah
Ghat), across
the endlessly-shifting river Ganges by ferry to
one or other of the various ghats or landing-stages on the
north bank, then onward 336 km by the metre-gauge North Bengal
Railway (e.g. Sara Ghat - Siliguri). In 1881 the metre-gauge
was joined at Siliguri (Town) by the narrow-gauge (610 mm; 2 ft) DHR
(Siliguri - Darjeeling). In 1915 two new narrow-gauge lines
were added to the DHR from Siliguri, to the north-east up the
river Teesta valley towards Kalimpong and Sikkim (Siliguri -
Gielle Kola) and to the south-west (Siliguri - Kishanganj).
Also in 1915 the Hardinge bridge was built across the river
Ganges, and in 1926 the metre-gauge north of the bridge was
converted, so the whole Calcutta - Siliguri route became
broad-gauge.
With the partition of India in 1947 the
broad-gauge route from Calcutta was severed, since part of it ran
through East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. This also cut off India’s
province of Assam from the rest of the Indian railway network. The
route to Siliguri became more circuitous: broad-gauge (Calcutta
- Barsoi), metre-gauge (Barsoi - Kishanganj), and
narrow-gauge (Kishanganj - Siliguri). In 1949 Kishanganj -
Siliguri was converted from narrow-gauge to metre-gauge and
extended north-east into Assam. This duplicated part of the
narrow-gauge Teesta Valley line, and after a washout in 1950 it
was not repaired. The North Bengal Railway route from Calcutta,
truncated by partition, had become an isolated section of
broad-gauge (Siliguri - Haldibari), so this stub was
converted back from broad-gauge to metre-gauge.
From about 1949 a new Siliguri Junction
station, north of Siliguri Town, became the main station in the
area, with three metre-gauge lines (south-west to Kishanganj and
Barsoi; north-east to Assam; south to Siliguri Town and Haldibari)
and two narrow-gauge lines (north to Darjeeling; south to Siliguri
Town). The narrow-gauge steam shed was moved from Siliguri Town to
Siliguri Junction and the narrow-gauge Siliguri c - Siliguri Town
section became freight-only.
In the early 1960s a more radical change was
made. Indian Railways created a new broad-gauge rail link from
Calcutta, and on a green field site south of Siliguri Town built an
entirely new through broad-gauge station, New Jalpaiguri. The new
broad-gauge route continued from New Jalpaiguri east and for more
than 10km used the formation of the Haldibari line, so the New
Jalpaiguri - Haldibari section was converted yet again - from
metre-gauge to broad-gauge for the second time, its fourth
incarnation! New Jalpaiguri became a triple-gauge station, being
served by the metre-gauge in the shape of the Siliguri Town -
New Jalpaiguri section of the former Haldibari line, suitably
realigned but not regauged, and by a new Siliguri Town - New
Jalpaiguri extension of the narrow-gauge DHR.
From about 1964 New Jalpaiguri became
the main station in the area, with two broad-gauge lines (west to
Calcutta; east towards Assam with branch to Haldibari), a metre-gauge
line (north to Siliguri Town and Siliguri Junction, diverging thence
south-west to Kishanganj and Barsoi, and north-east to Assam) and
a narrow-gauge line (north to Siliguri Town, Siliguri Junction and
Darjeeling). The narrow-gauge steam shed was again moved, from
Siliguri Junction to New Jalpaiguri. With interchange between main-line
and Darjeeling trains at New Jalpaiguri, the narrow-gauge New
Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Town - Siliguri Junction section became a
passenger line.
The layout is again changing, for the 1949
metre-gauge route to Assam is also being converted to broad-gauge.
In early February 2003 metre-gauge track had been lifted, and
broad-gauge track was being laid, from New Jalpaiguri north
through Siliguri Town and Siliguri Junction at least as far as the
bridge over the river Teesta (which being of metre-gauge design
may need rebuilding). For the moment, Siliguri Junction retains one
metre-gauge line (south-west to Kishanganj and Barsoi) and two
narrow-gauge lines (north to Darjeeling; south to Siliguri Town
and New Jalpaiguri) but the future of what is now a Barsoi -
Kishanganj - Siliguri Junction metre-gauge branch must be uncertain
since for some 150km it runs virtually parallel to the broad-gauge
main line, which has been doubled since the late 1980s. When
broad-gauge arrives at Siliguri Junction, it would be possible to
concentrate interchange for Darjeeling there, and abandon the
New Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Town - Siliguri Junction narrow-gauge
section, though there are no known plans to shorten the DHR in
this way. In the near future New Jalpaiguri will it seems have
three broad-gauge lines (west to Calcutta; east towards Assam with
branch to Haldibari; north to Siliguri Town and Siliguri Junction, then
north-east to Assam) and a narrow-gauge line (north to Siliguri
Town, Siliguri Junction and Darjeeling).
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