SEALDAH DIVISION – AN OVERVIEW
BRIEF HISTORY
ØThe Eastern Bengal Railway was formed after the State acquired the lines owned by the Eastern Bengal Railway on 1st July, 1884 and amalgamated it with the North Bengal State and South Eastern Railways.
ØOn 1stJanuary, 1942, Assam Bengal Railway and Eastern Bengal Railway were amalgamated to form Bengal Assam Railway System which was divided according to the political boundaries.
ØThe Railway network under Sealdah Division was western part of the Eastern Bengal Railway.
ØSealdah Division became a part of Eastern Railway on 14.04.52 after reorganisation.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
Geographically the division covers areas between river Hooghly on the west, Bangladesh on the north and east and Sundarbans in the south.
The division serves six districts of the state of West Bengal, North 24 Praganas, South 24 Praganas, Nadia, Murshidabad,Kolkata and Howrah.
Kolkata is the Central Business District of West Bengal and the flow of passengers’ traffic is centralised towards Kolkata. Sealdahterminal is more or less situated in the centre of Kolkata and thus plays a vital role in management of suburban traffic.
PLACES OF HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
Kolkata, Barrackpore, Diamond Harbour, Dakshineswar, Krishnagar City, Nabadwip Ghat, Murshidabad, Plassey, Shantipur etc. attract visitors in large numbers throughout the year due to their historical and religious background.
DIVISIONAL RAIL NETWORK
Sealdah has two terminal complexes for Main/North corridor and South corridor.
Main/North corridor
·Sealdah - Dum Dum Jn. - Dankuni
·Sealdah - Naihati – Ranaghat – Gede,Ranaghat – Bangaon
·Sealdah - Naihati - Ranaghat – Shantipur & Kalyani-Kalyani Simanta
·Sealdah – Ranaghat - Krishnanagar – Lalgola
·Sealdah – Dum Dum Jn. – Barasat – Bangaon and Barasat - Hasnabad
·Dum Dum - Kolkata - Majherhat – Circular Railway
The south corridor comprises
·Sealdah/South-Ballygunge - Budge Budge
·Sealdah - Ballygunge-Sonarpur-Canning
·Sealdah Sonarpur-Baruipur-Lakshmikantapur-Namkhana
·Sealdah - Baruipur - Diamond Harbour
North and South corridors are linked via Kankurgachi – Park Circus chord.
Kolkata Terminal opened on 30th January 2006, handles mail/express trains and is also linked with the circular railway EMU services. "MaitreeExpress" and “Bandhan Express” running between India & Bangladesh operate from this Terminal.
Dum Dum Jn., Sealdah and Garia are important interchange stations between Kolkata Metro services and Circular/Suburban Railway services.
There are 32 terminal stations other than Sealdah where trains originate /terminate to meet the needs of the suburban commuters.
Our location in Eastern Railway map click here
See System Map of Sealdah Division click here
