Barsoi–Radhikapur branch line

The Barsoi–Radhikapur branch line links Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line on Barsoi Junction railway station from Radhikapur railway station on the Bangladesh–India border.

Barsoi–Radhikapur Branch line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Indian Railways
Locale	West Bengal Bihar
Termini	Barsoi Junction Radhikapur railway station
Stations	10
Service
System	Indian Railways
Operator(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway
History
Opened	1889; 136 years ago (1889) (as Metre-gauge railway) 2006; 19 years ago (2006) (upgraded to Broad-gauge railway)
Technical
Line length	53.44 km (33 mi)
Character	Single-track railway
Track gauge	5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Electrification	Yes
Route map Legend km Barsoi–New Farakka section 0 Barsoi Katihar–Siliguri line 4 Dhachna 11 Kachna Bihar West Bengal border 15 Jhitkia Katihar–Siliguri line 43 Dalkhola Katihar–Siliguri line 36 Domohona 31 Karandighi 23 Tunidighi 19 Altapur 14 Bilashpur Hat Nagri River Kulik River Raiganj–Dalkhola line (planned) 21 0 Raiganj to Itahar (planned) 28 Bamangram 32 Bangalbaree 41 Kaliyaganj to Buniadpur (planned) 47 Dalimgaon 53 Radhikapur India Bangladesh border 63 Biral Parbatipur–Panchagarh line 69 Kanchan Parbatipur–Panchagarh line km Source: India Rail Info[1]

History

Assam Behar State Railway extended the metre-gauge railway from Parbatipur, now in Bangladesh, to Katihar in 1889.^[2] With the partition of India in 1947, the Katihar–Radhikapur section remained in India and the Biral–Parbatipur section was placed in Pakistan (later Bangladesh).

The railway line

When the broad-gauge railway line, instead of being placed at Dalkhola–Malda via Raiganj, was moved to Dalkhola–Barsoi–Malda this section, became only a branch line.^[3] This branch line starts at Barsoi railway station and ends at Radhikapur railway station where the Indo-Bangladesh border lies. The Barsoi–Radhikapur sector was converted to broad gauge in 2006.^[4] The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is Biral in Dinajpur District.^[5][6] The transit facility in the Radhikapur–Birol sector has remained suspended since 1 April 2005.But now it has been converted to broad gauge and large goods train are travelling with stone boulders from Nepal to Bangladesh through India from March 2017 and it was officially operationalised and announced open in April 2017.^[7] The railway track on the Indian side has been converted to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge while that on the Bangladesh side has been made into Dual gauge.^[8][9]

There are 10 railway stations in this branch line. 7 of them are in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal and the rest are in Katihar district of Bihar.^[10]

Stations

Station code	Station name	Distance (km)
RDP	Radhikapur	0.0
DLX	Dalimgaon	6.2
KAJ	Kaliyaganj	12.1
BJY	Bangalbaree	21.9
BMGR	Bamangram	25.1
RGJ	Raiganj	32.2
JTK	Jhitkia	38.8
KAU	Kachna	42.8
DHNA	Dhachna	49.1
BOE	Barsoi Junction	53.4

^[11][12][13]