Calcutta Chord link line

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Calcutta Chord link line
(incl. A.C.C. link branch line)
Dankuni railway station, terminal station in Chord Link line
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerIndian Railway
LocaleWest Bengal
Termini
Stations
  • Total stations:15
  • Interchange stations: 8
WebsiteEastern Railway
Service
TypeCommuter rail
SystemKolkata Suburban Railway
Operator(s)Eastern Railway
Depot(s)Sealdah
Daily ridership0.291 Million
History
Opened1932; 92 years ago (1932)
Technical
Line length22 km (14 mi)
Number of tracks2
CharacterAt grade, elevated
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge
Electrification25 kV overhead line
Operating speedup to 100 km per hour
Route map

Legend
km
km
Up arrow
Howrah–Kharagpur line
14
0
 Andul
2
 Maurigram
NH12-IN.svg NH 12
Kona
Expressway
Howrah–
Kharagpur line
Down arrow
11
 Bankranayabaz
9
 Baltikuri
Right arrow
Santragachi–Amta branch line
Up arrow
to Furfura Sharif (planned)
A.C.C. Link
branch line
Right arrow
Howrah–Bardhaman chord
Dankuni
0
FCI Siding
Dankuni Loco
Factory
NH16-IN.svg NH 16
NH19-IN.svg NH 19
Belghoria
Expressway
Bhattanagar
6
Rajchandrapur
4
4
 Belanagar
Bally Halt
6
7
 Bally
Left arrow
Howrah–Bardhaman main line Right arrow
NH19-IN.svg NH 19
Belghoria
Expressway
PWD Road
7
 Bally Ghat
Vivekananda Setu over
Hooghly River
PWD Road
9
0
 Dakshineswar
Baranagar jute
mill siding
Right arrow
Sealdah–Ranaghat line
BT Road
Right arrow
 KM Line 5 (planned) 
10
1
 Baranagar Road
Right arrow
Sealdah–Ranaghat line
Noapara
2
Noapara Metro Depot
Kestopur Canal
Right arrow
 KM Line 4 (u/c) 
Right arrow
Sealdah–Bangaon line
15
4
 Dum Dum Junction
Right arrow
Patipukur Loop
line (dismantled)
Jessore Road
Belgachia
6
17
 Patipukur
Chitpur Rail Yard
Ultadanga Road
18
Lansdown mill siding
Kolkata
19
Brown Blanket mill siding
Kolkata Circular
Railway
Down arrow
Kestopur Canal
 KM Line 1 
Down arrow
Bidhan Nagar Road
5
 Bidhannagar Road
Press House siding
Kankurgachi Road
2
 Kankurgachi Road Junction
Narkeldanga
EMU Carshed
3
 Sir Gurudas Banerjee Halt
Circular Canal
Kankurgachi
Chord line
Sealdah North
00
0
 Sealdah Main
Sealdah
Left arrow  KM Line 2  Right arrow
Sealdah South
00
Beliaghata Diesel Loco Shed
6
 Kamardanga Halt
Beruck & Comens Siding
3│7
 Park Circus
Down arrow
Sealdah South lines
km
km
Key
 Indian Railways broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) broad gauge (1676 mm)
Kolkata Metro (KM) standard gauge (1435 mm)
in use │
out of use, planned, or
under construction (u/c)
│ tunnel

The Calcutta Chord link line, also known as the C.C. link line, is a 22 km (14 mi) long branch line of the Kolkata Suburban Railway which comes under the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway's Sealdah Division & Howrah Division.[1][2]

The line directly connects the Sealdah railway station (erstwhile Calcutta railway station) on the east bank of the Hooghly River with the Howrah–Bardhaman chord line at the Dankuni Junction on the west bank of the Hooghly River via the Vivekananda Setu. The Andul Calcutta Chord link branch line (known as the A.C.C.L. branch line) is a 9 km (5.6 mi) long branch line from Dankuni Junction which connects C.C. link line with the Santragachi–Amta branch line and Andul on the Howrah–Kharagpur line.[1][2][3]

Services[edit]

The C.C link line serves as a vital link for the city of Kolkata to the rest of the country providing a shorter route through the Howrah–Bardhaman chord line rather than the longer route through the Howrah-Bardhaman main line via the Naihati–Bandel branch line.[1][2] The line is used by major long distance express services such as the Sealdah Rajdhani Express, Darjeeling Mail, Padatik Express, and Ananya Express amongst many others, originating from the Sealdah and Kolkata railway stations, to the rest of India. The line is also a part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway and is served by 46 Daily and 40 Sunday EMU services running between Sealdah and Dankuni and 2 EMU services between Sealdah and Baruipara.[4][5] These suburban services are provided by 9-car EMU rakes from the Narkeldanga EMU Carshed.[6]

The line also acts as an important link for freight commodities coming in and out of the Kolkata Port connecting it with the rest of the country. The A.C.C.L branch line was primarily built and used for diverting freight trains of the South Eastern Railway from the Howrah–Kharagpur line towards Chitpur and Kolkata docks.[7] With increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly from Sealdah to connect to the Howrah–Kharagpur line, like the Sealdah–Puri Duronto Express.[8] More recently the line has been used by many long distance passenger trains such as the Kaziranga Express, Aronai Express and others from the Howrah–Kharagpur line to completely bypass the congested sections near Howrah while using Dankuni or Bhattanagar stations as commercial stoppages instead.[9][10][11]

History[edit]

The Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, a shorter link to Bardhaman from Howrah than the Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line, was constructed in 1917. In 1932, the Calcutta Chord Link Line was built over the Willingdon Bridge (now known as Vivekananda Setu) joining Dum Dum with Dankuni and opened for freight traffic, thus forming a direct link from Calcutta (now known as Sealdah railway station) to Dankuni on the Howrah-Bardhaman Chord, thus earning the line its name.[12][13]

By 1950–51, Santragachi was heavily congested causing delays in arrival for trains bound to Howrah.[7] Two major reasons identified for the congestion were its railway yard outstripping its capacity and passing of freight trains of the South Eastern Railway from Kharagpur towards Chitpur and Kolkata docks taking the circuitous route via Tikiapara, Liluah, Belanagar and then finally taking the Calcutta Chord link line to Calcutta.[7]

To resolve the congestion problem, Indian Railways sanctioned the remodeling of the Santragachi railway yard in November 1962 and sanctioned the building of a direct link from Andul on the Howrah–Kharagpur line to the Calcutta Chord link line in the railway budget of 1959–60. This was to reduce the distance between Andul and the Calcutta Chord from 27.5 km (17.1 mi) to 13 km (8.1 mi).[7]

The work of building the line however progressed slowly due to land acquisition problems and was finally completed in December 1968.[7] The electrification of the line was started subsequently and was completed by 1971–72.[14][15]

The ACCL branch line was primarily used by freight trains to bypass the congested sections near Howrah and directly connected the Eastern railway and South Eastern railway zones. However, with increasing public demand, some long-distance passenger trains were started in this section directly from Sealdah like the Sealdah–Puri Duronto Express in 2012.[8]

Tracks and electrification[edit]

The Dum Dum-Dankuni section was electrified in 1964–65. The Andul-Dankuni section was electrified in 1971–72.[15]

The doubling of the Dankuni-Bhattanagar section of the ACCL line was sanctioned on 2013.[16] The track doubling of the Andul–Baltikuri section was completed & commissioned on 25 January 2020.[17] With the completion of the track doubling of Baltikuri–Bhattanagar section in October 2021, the entire ACCL branch line was doubled. This removed a critical bottleneck affecting interchange of trains between Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway.[18]

Routes and stations[edit]

Calcutta Chord link line[edit]

Calcutta Chord link line
# Distance from Sealdah Main and North (km) Station name Station code Connections Station Category[19]
1 0 Sealdah SDAH Sealdah South section NSG-1
2 2 Kankurgachi Road Junction KGK Circular line HG-3
2 5 Bidhannagar Road BNXR – SG-2
3 7 Dum Dum Junction DDJ Sealdah–Bangaon line / Sealdah–Ranaghat line / Kolkata Metro Line 1 (Dum Dum metro station) SG-2
4 12 Baranagar Road BARN Kolkata Metro Line 1 (Baranagar metro station) SG-3
5 13 Dakshineswar DAKE Kolkata Metro Line 1 (Dakshineswar metro station) SG-3
6 15 Bally Ghat BLYG – SG-3
7 16 Bally Halt BLYH – HG-3
8 17 Rajchandrapur RCD – HG-3
9 22 Dankuni Junction DKAE Howrah–Barddhaman chord line SG-3

Andul Calcutta Chord Link branch line (ACCL branch line)[edit]

Andul Calcutta Chord Link branch line (ACCL branch line)
# Distance from Dankuni (km) Station name Station code Connections Station Category[19]
1 0 Dankuni Junction DKAE Howrah–Barddhaman chord line SG-3
2 6 Bhattanagar BTNG – HG-3
3 9 Baltikuri BALT Santragachi–Amta branch line HG-3
4 11 Bankranayabaz BKNM Santragachi–Amta branch line / Howrah–Kharagpur line SG-3
5 14 Andul ADL Howrah–Kharagpur line SG-3

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Howrah Division System Map" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Sealdah Division System Map" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Kharagpur Division System Map". Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Details of Operating Department: Sealdah Division, Eastern Railway". Archived from the original on 30 May 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Operating Department - Howrah Railway division, Eastern Railway". Eastern Railway. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Highlights of TRS Organisation, Sealdah division, Eastern Railway". Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Estimates Committee - Ninety First Report (Third Lok Sabha) - Ministry of Railways - South Eastern Railway" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "SEALDAH-PURI DURONTO TO BE INTRDUCED". Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  9. ^ "SCR to run two summer special trains between Secunderabad-Guwahati". The Economic Times. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  10. ^ "NF Railway announces seven more special trains; Silchar - Kanpur on Nov 14 one of them". Barak Bulletin. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  11. ^ "ECoR to run Holi special trains between Kolkata, Puri". Odisha News, Odisha Latest news, Odisha Daily - OrissaPOST. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  12. ^ "HOWRAH DIVISION : HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - THE FIRST JOURNEY". Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  13. ^ "US Archive .org pdf download of 'History Of Indian Railways, constructed and in progress', 31 March 1937 by 'The Government of India - Railway Department' page 70 pdf 95" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Speech of Dr. Ram Subhag Singh Introducing Railway Budget for 1969-70, on 19th February, 1969" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  15. ^ a b "History of Electrification". Archived from the original on 6 May 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  16. ^ New Projects of Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, 10 December 2018
  17. ^ "South Eastern Railway PROGRESS OF WORKS UNDER DEMAND 16 (As of May'21)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  18. ^ "ER commissions doubling of Bhattanagar -Baltikuri section". Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Category of stations - Eastern Railway" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
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