Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line

The Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line connecting Haldibari in Cooch Behar district and New Jalpaiguri in Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal, was since 1878 a part of the Kolkata–Siliguri broad-gauge route. With the partition of India in 1947, while the main part of the route lay in Pakistan, later Bangladesh, the two ends of the route lying in India were detached. (For more details see Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line). However, the route continued to be operational till the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Thereafter, the route had been closed till its reopening in 2020. The rest of the line had been in use in the respective countries.

Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line
Raninagar Jalpaiguri Junction lies on Haldibari–New Jalpaiguri line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	North Bengal
Termini	Haldibari New Jalpaiguri
Stations	10
Service
Operator(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway
History
Opened	1878
Technical
Line length	58 kilometres (36 mi)
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge
Route map km Katihar–New Jalpaiguri line 0 New Jalpaiguri Darjeeling Himalayan Railway narrow gauge line New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar– Samuktala Road line 9 Ambari Falakata 18 Belakoba 26 Raninagar Jalpaiguri New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section 29 Mohitnagar 34 Jalpaiguri 39 Kadabari Halt 44 Mandalghat 47 Nandanpur Kerarpara Halt 51 Kashiabari Halt 56 Haldibari India Bangladesh border 66 Chilahati Chilahati–Parbatipur– Santahar–Darshana line km

Gauge changes

The Silguri–Haldibari line has gone through two successive gauge changes. As most other railway tracks in the area were metre gauge, the line was converted from broad gauge to metre gauge in 1949. Then in the 1960s, when broad gauge was introduced in the area, the line was converted back to broad gauge and connected to the new station at New Jalpaiguri.[1]

Haldibari–Chilahati

The Haldibari-Chilhati section was reopened on 17th December, 2020. The railway link was inaugurated by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, in a virtual bilateral summit.[2][3][4]

There earlier were proposals to reoperationalise the Haldibari–Chilahati section. Bangladesh Railway had to construct 7.5 kilometres of new rail tracks from Chilahati to reach the border while the Indian authorities had to set up 4.5 kilometres of tracks from its border to Haldibari railway station.[5]

In the Joint Statement issued on the occasion of the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh, on 7 September 2011, it was stated: " Bangladesh Prime Minister expressed her appreciation to the Indian Prime Minister for amendment of the MoU between the Bangladesh and Indian Railways allowing Rohanpur-Singabad as an additional route for both bulk and container cargo for Nepalese rail transit traffic. Bangladesh side also appreciated the assistance from India for the movement of fertilizers from Bangladesh to Nepal by rail route. They also agreed to re-establish rail connections between Chilahati–Haldibari and Kulaura–Mahishashan in the spirit of encouraging revival of old linkages and transport routes between the two countries."[6]

Bangladesh started export of fertilizer to Nepal utilizing the Rahanpur–Singhabad transit point in November 2011.[7][8]

References

1. "India: the complex history of the junctions at Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri". IRFCA. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
2. "Number of rail links between India-Bangladesh rises to five: Haldibari-Chilahati railway line inaugurated". Financial Express. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
3. "Chilahati-Haldibari rail route opens afer 55 years". The Telegraph, 20 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
4. "Haldibari-Chilahati Rail Link: India, Bangladesh Reopen Cross-border route after 55years". NDTV Profit, 18 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
5. "New rail transit route thru India gets govt nod". Priyo Internet Life. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
6. "Joint Statement on the occasion of the visit of the PM of India to Bangladesh, 7 September 2011". Item No. 40. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
7. "Bangladesh export to Nepal thru India resumes tomorrow". Priyo Internet Life. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
8. "Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and india to facilitate overland transit traffic between Bangladesh and Nepal". Retrieved 8 December 2009.

External links

• All trains from New Jalpaiguri to Haldibari
• All trains from Haldibari to New Jalpaiguri

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