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Darjeeling Mail

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Darjeeling Mail
Overview
Service typeSuperfast Mail
First service1 January 1878; 146 years ago (1 January 1878)
Current operator(s)Eastern Railway of Indian Railways
Route
TerminiSealdah railway station (SDAH)
New Jalpaiguri Junction (NJP)
Stops4
Distance travelled567 km (Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri)[1]
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)12343/12344
On-board services
Class(es)AC 1st (1), AC 2nd (2), AC 3rd (7), Sleeper (9), General (2), Military(1)
Catering facilitiesNo Pantry Car available
Technical
Rolling stockHowrah shed WAP7/WAP4 locomotive
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speedAverage speed-57 km/h. Maximum speed 110 km/h. Generally runs at 80-105 km/h
Route map
Darjeeling Mail (Sealdah - New Jalpaiguri) route map

The Darjeeling Mail is one of the legendary trains in the eastern region of India that has been running from pre-independence days and is still in operation. It connects to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway at New Jalpaiguri in Siliguri. This is a major train for Kolkata-Siliguri route. It is also the first train to run with electric traction in Sealdah to New-Jalpaiguri stretch.[2]

History

Run via East Bengal

During the British period all connections to North Bengal were through East Bengal.

From 1878, the railway route from Kolkata, then called Calcutta, to Siliguri was in two laps. The first lap was a 185 km journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma River. The passengers would then avail a ferry across the river. The second lap of the journey was a 336 km metre gauge line of the North Bengal Railway that linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri.[3]

Later the 1.8 km long Hardinge Bridge across the Padma came up in 1912.[4] In 1926 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta - Siliguri route became broad-gauge.[3] The route thus roughly ran: Sealdah-Ranaghat-Bheramara-Hardinge Bridge-Iswardi-Santahar-Hili-Parabtipur-Nilphamari-Haldibari-Jalpaiguri-Siliguri.

The Darjeeling Mail ran on this route in pre-partition days. Even after the partition of India it ran on this route for some years.[5][6]

Ferry across Ganges (Post-partition)

With the partition of India in 1947, the major hurdle in connecting Kolkata and Siliguri was that there was no bridge across the Ganges in West Bengal or Bihar. A generally acceptable route to Siliguri was via Sahibganj Loop to Sakrigali ghat, then across the Ganges by ferry to Manihari Ghat on the other side, then to Kishanganj via Katihar and Barsoi and finally through narrow gauge to Siliguri.[7] In 1949 Kishanganj-Siliguri section too was converted to metre gauge, thus making the entire route an uni-gauge one.[3]

Run via Farakka Barrage

In the early 1960s, when Farakka Barrage was being constructed, a more radical change was made. Indian Railways created a new broad-gauge rail link from Kolkata, and on a greenfield site south of Siliguri Town built an entirely new broad-gauge junction, New Jalpaiguri.[3]

The 2,240 metres (7,350 ft) long Farakka Barrage carries a rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganges. The rail bridge was thrown open to the public in 1971, thereby linking the Barharwa-Azimganj-Katwa Loop Line to Malda Town, New Jalpaiguri and other railway stations in North Bengal.[8][9] Since then Darjeeling Mail has been using the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri line.

According to latest report then there was a train running between Sealdah and Sakrigali Ghat named North Bengal Express. After opening of Farakka Barrage the Government of India renamed North Bengal Express as Darjeeling Mail and extend it upto New Jalpaiguri. It is also being called "new" Darjeeling Mail by the minister clearly referring to present day 12343 Darjeeling Mail aka "renamed" Sealdah-Sakrigali Ghat North Bengal Express which has no connection with the old Calcutta-Siliguri Darjeeling Mail .

Route and halts

The important halts of the train are:

Operation

12343 - Starts from Sealdah Daily at 22:05 Hrs IST from Platform 9B and reaches Platform 1 or 3 of New Jalpaiguri Junction next day at 8:15 Hrs IST

12344 - Starts form New Jalpaiguri Junction at 20:00 Hrs IST and reach Sealdah at 6:00 Hrs IST

Coach composition

This train has 24 ICF coaches[10]

Legends
EOG/SLR PC MIL H A HA B AB G K E C S D GEN/UR
Generator cum luggage van Pantry car or Hot buffet car Military coach First AC (1A) Second AC (2A) First AC cum Second AC Third AC (3A) Third AC cum Second AC Third AC economy (3E) Anubhuti coach (K) Executive chair car (EC) AC Chair car (CC) Sleeper class (SL) Second seating (2S) General or Unreserved
  Loco and other service coach
  AC coach
  Non-AC coach

Sealdah to New Jalpaiguri

Loco 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
SLR S1 B1 A1 A2 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 H1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 GEN GEN MIL SLR

New Jalpaiguri to Sealdah

Loco 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
SLR MIL GEN GEN S9 S8 S7 S6 S5 S4 S3 S2 H1 B7 B6 B5 B4 B3 B2 A1 A2 B1 S1 SLR
  • Darjeeling Mail - AC 3 tier
    Darjeeling Mail - AC 3 tier
  • Darjeeling Mail - Sleeper Class
    Darjeeling Mail - Sleeper Class

Other trains on the Kolkata – New Jalpaiguri sector

See Also

References

  1. ^ "Darjeeling Mail 12343". Clear Trip. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  2. ^ PATRANABIS, SREERUP. "12343/Darjeeling Mail (PT) - Sealdah to New Jalpaiguri ER/Eastern Zone - Railway Enquiry". indiarailinfo.com. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "India: the complex history of the junctions at Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri". IRFCA. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  4. ^ Chowdhury, Sifatul Quader (2012). "Hardinge Bridge". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  5. ^ Joydeep Dutta and Harsh Vardhan. "Trains of Fame and Locos with a Name, part 2". IRFCA. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  6. ^ "Geography - International". IRFCA. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  7. ^ "my school i wish". Madhyamgram Re-visited after 15 years. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  8. ^ Salman, Salman M. A.; Uprety, Kishor (2002). Conflict and cooperation on South Asia's international rivers: a legal perspective. World Bank Publications. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-0-8213-5352-3. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  9. ^ R.P.Saxena. "Indian Railway History timeline". Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  10. ^ PATRANABIS, SREERUP. "12343/Darjeeling Mail (PT) - Sealdah to New Jalpaiguri ER/Eastern Zone - Railway Enquiry". indiarailinfo.com. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
External videos
video icon Darjeeling Mail-WDP4 magic with 8 AC coaches
video icon Darjeeling Mail at Kamarkundu Junction
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