New Cooch Behar Junction railway station

Cooch Behar had its first railway when Cooch Behar State Railway constructed the narrow gauge Geetaldaha-Jainti line in 1901. It was subsequently on the metre gauge Alipurduar-Bamanhat-Golokganj line. When Assam Link Project constructed the link through North Bengal, it used the longer New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line.[2]

New Cooch Behar station came up when the broad gauge New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of Barauni–Guwahati line was laid in 1966.[3]

Before partition there was a railway link from Cooch Behar to Dhubri via Gitaldaha and Golokganj. Some part of this route passed through Bangladesh, between Dinhata and Golokganj. There were two stations Pateswari and Sonahat which were in Bangladesh, these functioned even after partition. However, the collapse of the rail-cum-road bridge over the Gadadhar in the seventies ended that link. Now the bridge has been rebuilt and a new broad-gauge track has been laid, under New Maynaguri-Jogighopa Rail Project, via Tufangunj and Boxirhat, entirely through Indian territory.[4] Dhubri-New Jalpaiguri Inter-city Express via Cooch Behar was introduced in February 2012.[5] A new railway link from New Cooch Behar to New Jalpaiguri via Mathabhanga opened shortly.

The entire compound of New Cooch Behar Railway Station is equipped with free high-speed Wi-Fi services provided by RailTel. New facilities include a Food Lounge, Children area, Air-Conditioned Dormitory and an Air-Conditioned Upper Class Waiting Hall.[6] The station has a One Station One Product outlet offering handmade jewellery, jute products and handloom textiles to provide a market for local and indigenous products.[7]

To increase mobility among passengers especially physically challenged Persons, elevators have been installed in Platform 1, 2, 3 and 4. An escalator has also been installed in Platform 1.

Toilets are now equipped with modern sanitary fittings and have exclusive facilities for male, female and physically challenged. There are numerous Pay-and-Use Toilets in the station.[8] Special Waiting halls for ladies have also been built.

IRCTC offers online booking of Dormitory rooms and also allows online food ordering. There are over bridges connecting the different platforms. There are displays all over the railway station and numerous food and magazine vendors in every platform.

The Union Minister of Railways announced a 126 km (78 mi) long electrified section between New Jalpaiguri to New Cooch Behar. Northern Frontier Railways has made a significant achievement in providing a pollution-free green mode of transport as electrification of total 334 km (208 mi) of track has been completed during the financial year 2020–21, despite the COVID-19 epidemic, railway electrification work in various sections of the North Frontier Railway was being done rapidly. The Electrification was inspected by the Commissioner of Railway Safety of Northern Frontier Railways. Test runs have been conducted in early 2021. As of September 2021, the station is fully electrified and electric trains are operational.[9]

Preceding station	Indian Railways			Following station
New Baneswar towards ?		Northeast Frontier Railway zone New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section		Pundibari towards ?
Baneswar towards ?		Northeast Frontier Railway zone Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line		Cooch Behar towards ?
Chapaguri towards ?		Northeast Frontier Railway zone New Maynaguri–Jogighopa line		Maradanga towards ?

1. New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Vande Bharat Express
2. Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani Express (Via New Tinsukia)[10]
3. Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani Express (Via Moranhat)[11]
4. Dibrugarh - New Delhi Rajdhani Express (Via Rangapara North)[12]
5. Agartala - Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Humsafar Express[13]
6. Naharlagun - New Delhi AC Superfast Express
7. Agartala - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus AC Superfast Express
8. Kamakhya - Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal AC Superfast Express
9. Guwahati - New Delhi Poorvattar Sampark Kranti Superfast Express
10. Silchar–New Delhi Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Superfast Express
11. Silchar - Thiruvananthapuram Aronai Superfast Express[14]
12. Silchar - Coimbatore Superfast Express[15]
13. Silchar–Secunderabad Express
14. Silchar - Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express[16]
15. Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express
16. Dibrugarh– Chennai Tambaram Express[17]
17. Dibrugarh–Amritsar Express
18. Dibrugarh–Chandigarh Express
19. Dibrugarh - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Superfast Express[18]
20. Dibrugarh-Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express[19]
21. Dibrugarh–Kolkata Superfast Express
22. Dibrugarh-Howrah Kamrup Express via Guwahati[20]
23. Dibrugarh–Howrah Kamrup Express Via Rangapara North[21]
24. Silghat Town - Tambaram Nagaon Express[22]
25. Silghat Town - Kolkata Kaziranga Express
26. Agartala - Firozpur Tripura Sundari Express
27. Agartala - Deoghar Weekly Express
28. Agartala - Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express[23]
29. New Tinsukia–Bengaluru Weekly Express
30. New Tinsukia–Rajendra Nagar Weekly Express
31. New Tinsukia - Darbhanga Jivachh Link Express[24]
32. Guwahati - Jammu Tawi Lohit Express[25]
33. Guwahati- Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Kaziranga Superfast Express[26]
34. Guwahati - Bikaner Express[27][28]
35. Guwahati - Okha Dwarka Express
36. Guwahati - Barmer Express
37. Guwahati-Jammu Tawi Amarnath Express[29]
38. Guwahati - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express[30]
39. Guwahati-Howrah Saraighat Superfast Express
40. Guwahati - Kolkata Garib Rath Express
41. Kamakhya–Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Express[31]
42. Kamakhya–Gandhidham Superfast Express
43. Kamakhya - Jodhpur, Bhagat Ki Kothi Express
44. Kamakhya - Delhi Brahmaputra Mail[32]
45. Kamakhya - Puri Express (via Adra)
46. Kamakhya–Gaya Express
47. Kamakhya - Delhi Northeast Express
48. New Alipurduar - Sealdah Padatik Superfast Express
49. Silchar-Trivandrum Superfast Express[33]
50. Bamanhat - Sealdah Uttar Banga Express[34]
51. New Jalpaiguri - Bongaigaon Express
52. New Alipurdiar - Sealdah Teesta Torsha Express[35]

Cooch Behar travel guide from Wikivoyage