Sealdah–Ranaghat–Gede line

The Eastern Bengal Railway (reporting mark :EBR) company was formed in 1857 for the construction and working of a line from Calcutta to Dacca, with a branch to Jessore.[11] The construction of the 112 mi (180 km) long broad gauge line began in 1859 and was completed in stages up to Kushtia by 1864 but the planned branch to Jessore was not built.[12][13] The Calcutta terminus of the line was initially constructed as a tin roof shed in Sealdah, a neighbourhood of Calcutta in 1862.[14] In 1869 the original station building at Sealdah, designed by Walter Granville was built and opened.[14]

The company also acquired a steam vessel service operating between Kushtia and Dacca on the Padma river.[13] In 1871 the line was extended from Poradaha to a new ferry terminal at Goalundo Ghat, about 45 mi (72 km) east of Kushtia and reducing the river trip to Dacca. and becoming the main line of the Eastern section of EBR.[12][15] With the successful construction and opening of the Hardinge Bridge in 1915 and gauge conversion of the Santahar–Parbatipur–Siliguri line from 1924 to 1926, the Calcutta–Siliguri broad gauge line was completed and became the main line of the Eastern section of EBR.[12][15]

The Eastern Bengal Railway, which operated east of the Hooghly, was linked with the East Indian Railway, which operated west of the river, when Jubilee Bridge, linking Bandel and Naihati was opened in 1887 as part of the Naihati Branch railway of the East Indian Railway.[12][15] In 1932 a shorter route to Barddhaman from Calcutta was realised through the construction of the Calcutta Chord link line via the Willingdon Bridge (now renamed as Vivekananda Setu) over the Hooghly river.[15][16]

A vivid description of the railway system of the Nadia district, including the Sealdah–Gede line is provided in the Bengal District Gazetteer of 1910 as follows:[17][18]

"The district is now (1909) very well served with railways. About 170 miles of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, all broad gauge, lie within its borders. The main line from Calcutta to Siliguri passes through the district, roughly from south to north; the distance from Kanchrapara on the southern boundary to Damukdia on the Padma is about 92 miles, and this section has 21 stations. The Lal Gola branch takes off from Ranaghat junction; it passes in a north-westerly direction; the portion within the district is about 48 miles in length, and there are 8 stations upon it. This branch traverses the Kalantar, which is the tract that is most liable to famine in the district and generally contains the lowest stock of food grains. In the 1896-97 famine the supply of food suddenly gave out in this tract, and, in the absence of the railway, which had not then been constructed, the greatest difficulty was experienced in importing enough grain to prevent deaths from starvation. If another famine should unfortunately occur, this line will save the District Officer much of the anxiety which his predecessors had to bear. The central branch of the Eastern Bengal State Railway also takes off from Ranaghat junction; only about nine miles of it (with two stations) lies within the boundaries of the district; it passes in an easterly direction through the Ranaghat subdivision into the Bangaon subdivision of the Jessore district. The Goalundo branch takes off from Poradah"

With the establishment of the first jute mill in India, the Acland Mill in Rishra in 1855 to having around 38 companies operating 30,685 looms, exporting a billion yards of cloth and over 450 million bags by 1910, the growth of the jute trade and industry around Kolkata was rapid. As a result, numerous jute mill sidings popped up around the line. By 1939, there were 68,377 looms, concentrated mainly on the areas near the Hooghly like Titagarh, Bhadreswar, Bauria, Kankinara, Naihati, Shyamnagar, Jagaddal and Budge Budge and these mills alone proved able to supply the world demand.[19][20]

The Kanchrapara Railway Workshop was established by EBR in 1863. It was developed as an integrated shop to carry out periodic repairs and overhauls to steam locomotives, wooden body carriage and wagons.[21][22]

In 1942, EBR was merged with the Assam Bengal Railway (reporting mark :ABR) to form the Bengal and Assam Railway (reporting mark :B&AR).[1][23] In 1947, with the partition of India, B&AR was divided into three parts with the 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge lines in West Bengal being transferred to the East Indian Railway under the Sealdah railway division.[1][23] Gede railway station became the terminus of the line on the Indian side whereas Darsana railway station became the terminus on the East Pakistani side.[1][23]

The Calcutta terminus was renamed as the Sealdah railway station post the independence of India in 1947.[14]

Sealdah–Ranaghat–Gede line map

On 14 April 1952, with the reorganisation of the various railway zones under Indian Railways, the Eastern Railway zone was formed with the Sealdah division coming under its jurisdiction.[1]

With the electrification of the line, starting from 1962, the Kanchrapara Railway Workshop was remodeled for Periodic Overhauling (POH) of electric locomotives and suburban EMU trains, with the first of such overhauled locomotive & EMU units being turned out at 1965.[21]

Post the partition of India the jute industry suffered a major setback as most of the jute fields for producing raw jute was located in East Pakistan whereas most of the jute mills for processing the raw jute were located near Kolkata in India thus leading to the slow decline of the jute mills of the area.[19][20]

Even after partition, two rail services namely the East Bengal Express, from Sealdah to Goalundo Ghat and East Bengal Mail from Sealdah to Parbatipur Junction, carrying both freight and passengers continued, with Gede and Darsana serving as custom check points, till 1965 when the services were snapped following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[24][25]

While freight services were briefly restored for a period of 2 years from 1972 following the liberation of Bangladesh, passenger services were not restored.[24][25]

In 1979, the Chandmari Halt railway station was renamed as the Kalyani railway station and the Kalyani–Kalyani Simanta branch line was opened for traffic.[26][27]

To offset the heavy traffic of long-distance trains bound to Sealdah, the Chitpur railway station, a part of the Kolkata Circular Railway, was remodeled and merged with the Ultadanga Road railway station to build the Kolkata railway station. It was opened for traffic on 30 January 2006.[1][28]

As a result of talks that were held between the Indian and Bangladeshi governments to revive passenger service between the two countries via the Gede–Darsana route since 2001, the Maitree Express service between Kolkata and Dhaka was started on the occasion of the Bengali New Year (Bengali: পয়লা বৈশাখ) on 14 April 2008.[29]

Names in bold indicate that the station is a major stop or an important interchange/terminal station.