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{{short description|Railway route in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox rail line
| box_width = 28em
| name = Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
| color = 800000
| logo =
| logo_width =
| image = New Cooch Behar.jpg
| image_width =
| caption = New Cooch Behar Junction is an important railway station at Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line
| type = Rail line
| system =
| status = Operational
| locale = [[West Bengal]]
| start = {{stnlnk|Alipurduar Junction}}
| end = {{stnlnk|Bamanhat}}
| stations =
| routes =
| daily_ridership =
| open = 1894 onwards
| close =
| owner = [[Indian Railways]]
| operator = [[Northeast Frontier Railway zone|Northeast Frontier Railway]]
| character =
| depot =
| stock =
| linelength =
| tracklength = 72 km
| tracks =
| gauge = {{RailGauge|5ft6in|lk=on}} [[broad gauge]]
| old_gauge = [[Narrow gauge]] {{track gauge|762mm}} (1894–1910)<br/>[[Metre gauge]] {{track gauge|1000mm}} (1910–2007)
| minradius =
| racksystem =
| speed =
| elevation =
| website =
| map = {{Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line|inline=1}}
| map_state = collapsed
}}
The '''Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line''' is an Indian railway line connecting {{stnlnk|Alipurduar Junction}} with {{stnlnk|Bamanhat}}. This {{convert|72|km||adj=on|abbr=}} track is under the jurisdiction of [[Northeast Frontier Railway zone|Northeast Frontier Railway]].

==History==

=== Cooch Behar State Railway ===
The [[Cooch Behar State Railway]] (CBSR) was a {{track gauge|762mm}} [[Narrow-gauge railway|narrow gauge]] railway line that was built between [[Jayanti, Alipurduar|Jayanti]] in the current [[Alipurduar district]] of [[West Bengal]], India to [[Lalmonirhat railway station|Lalmonirhat]] in the current [[Lalmonirhat District|Lalmonirhat district]] in [[Bangladesh]] before [[Partition of India|partition]] between 1893 and 1898. The line originated from [[Jayanti, Alipurduar|Jayanti]] near the foothills of [[Eastern Himalaya]]s and went via [[Alipurduar Junction railway station|Alipurduar]], [[Cooch Behar railway station|Cooch Behar]], [[Dinhata]] and [[Gitaldaha railway station|Gitaldaha]] to finally join the [[Narrow-gauge railways in China|narrow-gauge track]] of [[Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway]] at [[Mogalhat railway station|Mogalhat]]. This line was later brought by [[Eastern Bengal Railway]] in 1899.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Cooch_Behar_State_Railway |title = Cooch Behar State Railway}}</ref>

=== Eastern Bengal Railway ===
The [[Kaunia–Dharlla State Railway]] was constructed as a narrow-gauge line from Teesta railway junction to Mogalhat on 1882 by [[Eastern Bengal Railway]]. As a part of linking with the {{convert|581|km}} long Katihar–Raiganj–Dinajpur–Parbatipur–Rangpur–Kaunia main metre-gauge line the Kaunia–Mogalhat–Gitaldaha NG section was converted to metre gauge from 1901 to 1902. The {{convert|25.27|km}} long Gitaldaha-Golakganj section was built as a part of the main metre-gauge line on 1902 via [[Bamanhat railway station|Bamanhat]] & Sonahat. This metre-gauge line was further extended to [[Amin Gaon railway station|Amingaon]] via [[Fakiragram Junction railway station|Fakiragram]] & [[Kokrajhar railway station|Kokrajhar]] on 1906. The Jayanti–[[Gitaldaha railway station|Gitaldaha junction]] section was converted to metre gauge on 1910.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://archive.org/stream/BombayBarodaAndCentralIndiaRailwaySystem/Bombay_Baroda_And_Central_India_Railway_System#page/n55/mode/1up |title = Eastern Bengal Railway main line}}</ref>

=== Post Partition ===
With the [[Partition of India|partition of India on 1947]], the Assam links to Bengal were snapped. Further the Gitaldaha–Mogalhat rail transit point became defunct as the railway bridge over [[Dharla River]] was washed away in floods. The {{convert|72|km}} Alipurduar–Bamanhat section and {{convert|47.7|km}} Fakiragram-Golakganj sections were cutoff as well and became isolated metre gauge sections. As a part of the Assam Link project a {{convert|301.8|km}} line was constructed between [[Kishanganj railway station|Kishanganj]] and [[Fakiragram Junction railway station|Fakiragram]] in 1948. Thus these 2 sections became branch lines. Fakiragram was connected with a new {{convert|57.6|km}} line via Boxirhat to New Coochbehar in 2010-12.

==Gauge conversion==
The Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line was converted from metre gauge to [[5 ft 6 in gauge railway|broad gauge]] and was reopened to public on 2007.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=11301:vps.pdf | title = Role of Engineering Deptt in Meeting Corporate Objectives of Indian Railways | first = V.P. | last = Srivastava | access-date = 2013-02-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140330160317/http://wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=11301:vps.pdf | archive-date = 30 March 2014 | url-status = dead }}</ref> A new station called the New Gitaldaha station was built to be used instead of the old [[Gitaldaha railway station|Gitaldaha junction]]. The Fakiragram–Golakganj–Dhubri section was converted from metre gauge to broad gauge during 2010. [[Golokganj railway station|Golakgunj]] was linked with [[New Cooch Behar Junction railway station|New Cooch Behar]] with a new line on 2012 as a part of the New Maynaguri-Jogighopa project.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://nfrlyconstruction.org/Uploads/File/project-details/ProjectDetails_Current.pdf |title = NFR project as of October 31 2017|publisher= North East Frontier Railway| access-date=2018-08-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://ww.telegraphindia.com/1100914/jsp/northeast/story_12931692.jsp |title=Mamata flags off two trains- Dhubri-Kamakhya link after 22-year wait |work=The Telegraph |date=14 September 2010 |access-date=2011-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426002053/http://ww.telegraphindia.com/1100914/jsp/northeast/story_12931692.jsp |archive-date=26 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

|{{Railways in Eastern India}}
{{Railways in North-East India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alipurduar-Bamanhat branch line}}
[[Category:5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India]]
[[Category:Rail transport in West Bengal]]

Alipurduar Bamanhat branch line - Revision history

>Vatsmaxed at 14:08, 3 April 2021