Alipurduar Junction railway station
Alipurduar Junction is one of the four railway stations that serve Alipurduar city in Alipurduar district in north Bengal in the Indian state of West Bengal. Its station code is APDJ and it lies in New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line and Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line. An adjacent railway junction is New Alipurduar (station code NOQ).
Alipurduar Junction | |
|---|---|
| Regional Rail & Light Rail Station | |
 Alipurduar Junction railway station | |
| General information | |
| Location | BF Road, Alipurduar, West Bengal India |
| Coordinates | 26.5237°N 89.5335°E |
| Elevation | 53 metres (174 ft) |
| Owned by | Indian Railways |
| Operated by | Northeast Frontier Railway |
| Line(s) | |
| Platforms | 5 |
| Tracks | 12 |
| Connections | Auto-rickshaw & E-rickshaw |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | Standard on Ground |
| Parking |  Available |
| Bicycle facilities |  Available |
| Accessible |  Yes |
| Other information | |
| Status | Functioning |
| Station code | APDJ |
| Zone(s) | North East Frontier Railway |
| Division(s) | Alipurduar |
| History | |
| Opened | 1901 |
| Electrified | Yes |
| Previous names | |
| Passengers | |
30,000 per day ( high) | |
| Location | |
  Alipurduar Junction Location in West Bengal | |
History
The Cooch Behar State Railway built a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge railway from Geetaldaha on the Eastern Bengal Railway to Jainti in 1901. The line passed through Alipurduar. It was converted to 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge in 1910.
With the partition of India in 1947, railway links of Assam and the Indian part of North Bengal, earlier passing through the eastern part of Bengal, were completely cut off from the rest of India. The Assam Rail Link project was taken up on 26 January 1948 to construct a 229-kilometre long (142 mi) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre-gauge railway linking Fakiragram with Kishanganj in Bihar via Alipurduar.[1] The first train ran on the route on 26 January 1950. The route was converted to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge in 2003–2006.[2]
Now all the railway tracks in Alipurduar city are broad gauge.
Other adjacent stations
Two adjacent local railway stations are Alipurduar (station code APD) and Alipurduar Court (station code APDC). Long-distance trains do not stop there.
Most of the long-distance trains from other parts of India pass through and stop at New Alipurduar railway junction (station code NOQ) constructed in early 1950s as it is connected with double track to Assam and the rest of Bengal. The older Alipurduar station was on metre-gauge track that was converted to broad gauge much later in 2006 and fewer trains pass through Alipurduar station.
The two junctions are on different lines and only one short-distance train Alipurduar–Kamakhya InterCity Express (train number 15471) runs between the two junctions.
Northeast Frontier Railway converted the Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge in 2007.[2]
References
- "History of NFR". Northeast Frontier Railway. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- Srivastava, V.P. "Role of Engineering Deptt in Meeting Corporate Objectives of Indian Railways" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
External links
- Alipurduar Junction railway station at the India Rail Info
Alipurduar travel guide from Wikivoyage
