Begunkodor railway station

Begunkodor railway station is a railway station of Ranchi railway division of the South Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It serve the nearby area of Begunkodor and Jhalda town in the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[1] Passengers deserted the station and it had come to be known as haunted in Railway records. The station was listed by Railways as one of its 10 haunted stations in India.[2]

Begunkodor railway station
Indian Railways station
LocationBegunkodor, Purulia district, West Bengal
India
Coordinates23.3875°N 86.0217°E / 23.3875; 86.0217
Elevation308 metres (1,010 ft)
Line(s)Double electrified BG
Platforms2
Tracks2
Construction
ParkingNot available
Other information
StatusFunctional
Station codeBKDR
Zone(s) South Eastern Railway
Division(s) Ranchi Division
History
Opened1960
Closed1967
Rebuilt2009
Services
Preceding station   Indian Railways   Following station
South Eastern Railway zone
Purulia–Muri line

History

Begunkodor station was set up by the joint efforts of the queen of Santals, Smt. Lachan Kumari and Indian Railways in the year 1960.[3][4]

Controversy

According to the villagers of Begunkodor, in 1967, a railway employee reported the sighting of a woman's ghost, and it was rumored that she had died in a railway accident. The next day he told people about it but they ignored him.

The real trouble started when the dead bodies of the station master and his family were found in their quarters. The station was subsequently closed as trains stopped making halts here due to paranormal myth.

In the late 1990s the villagers formed a committee and asked the officials to reopen the station. In 2007, local villagers wrote to then Railway minister Smt Mamata Banerjee and CPIM leader Basudeb Acharia, who belongs to Purulia and was member of the parliamentary standing committee on Railways at the time. But the haunted tag remains. Acharia said that railway employees had made up the story to avoid being posted there. After 42 years, in August 2009, the railway station was finally reopened as a passenger train halt, by former Railway minister Mamata Banerjee.[5]

However, regularly 10 trains halt here, but passengers still avoid using the station after sunset.[3] Many ghost hunters have visited the station repeatedly confirming that there is no presence of ghosts. Presently Begunkodor railway station was being touted by certain people for some time as a ghost tourist spot to attract visitors.[2][6]

References
  1. "BKDR / Begunkodor". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. "West Bengal's Begunkodor no longer a haunted railway station". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  3. "The ghost and the darkness". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  4. "Begun Kodar popularly known as Ghost Station". railnews.in. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. "Now, take a tour of Bengal's haunted railway station". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  6. "Myth of West Bengal's 'haunted' Begunkodar railway station busted after 50 years". Retrieved 4 March 2019.

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