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Asansol Junction
Indian Railway Station
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Asansol Junction Railway Station |
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| Location | |
| Street | Station Road |
| City | Asansol |
| District | Bardhaman |
| State | West Bengal |
| Elevation | MSL + 96 m |
| Station Info & Facilities | |
| Station type | Junction station |
| Structure | Standard (on ground station) |
| Station status | Functioning |
| Parking | Available |
| Entrance(s) | 2 |
| Baggage check | Not available |
| Connections | Arrival, Departure time: 131 (manual), 133 (pre-recorded) Reservation Enquiry: +91 341 2204630 |
| Operation | |
| Code | ASN |
| Division(s) | Asansol |
| Zone(s) | Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway |
| Line(s) | Bardhaman-Asansol section and Asansol-Kiul section of Howrah-Delhi main line, Asansol-Gaya section of Grand Chord, Asansol-Adra Branch Line |
| Platform(s) | 7 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1863-64 |
| Former Owner(s) | East Indian Railway, Bengal Nagpur Railway |
| Electrified | 1957-1962 |
| Renovated | 1885 |
| Train(s) | 154 |
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Asansol Junction (Bengali: আসানসোল জংশন) is a railway station in Asansol subdivision of Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
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During the middle of the nineteenth century, M/s Carr, Tagore & Company transported coal from Narayankuri ghat on the Damodar River to Kolkata, then known as Calcutta. However, as the flow of water in the river was inconsistent, supplies were irregular. In order to capture the lucrative coal transport business, East Indian Railway, extended the railway track that had been laid between Kolkata and Hooghly to Raniganj in 1855 and up to Asansol in July 1863.[1][2][3]
The East Indian Railway needed land to develop the infrastructure for the railways. While the Searsol Raj, then the zamindar in the Raniganj area, refused to provide the land, the Panchakot Raj, then functioning from Kashipur, agreed to provide the land in Shergarh, of which Asansol was then a part. In 1863-64, East Indian Railway purchased a large area of jungle land from the Panchakot Raj, thereby initiating the development of Asansol as an industrial area.[2][3]
Subsequently, Asansol gained further in importance. What was later known as the Sahibganj Loop was the first line from Kolkata to Delhi and the first direct train started in 1866, but the shorter line via Asansol and Jhajha came up in 1871. It was initially called the Chord line but as it attracted more traffiic, was rechristened the main line and the earlier main line became Sahibganj loop. With the completion of the Sitarampur-Gaya-Mughalsarai Grand Chord in 1901 (formally inaugurated in 1906 and finally opened in 1907), the Kolkata-Delhi rail distance became even shorter, and Asansol started functioning as the junction station of the main and chord lines, as Sitarampur, the actual junction, near Asansol, is a comparatively smaller station.[3][4]
While momentous developments were taking place in connecting Delhi and Kolkata by rail, Bengal Nagpur Railway extended its tracks to the Asansol coal belt in 1887, thus connecting Adra with Asansol.[1]
The railway establishment at Asansol contributed substantially to its development and growth.[2]
Electrification of the railways gained momentum in the early fifties. Although initial installatons were with 3 kV DC traction, the railways subsequently adopted the 25 kV AC system. Electrification of the Bardhaman-Mughalsarai section was completed in 1957 and the Howrah-Gaya stretch was electrified by around 1960.[5] The Tatanagar-Adra-Asansol section was electrified in the 1957-1962 period.[6]
Asansol is home to the oldest electric loco shed of Indian Railways. It houses WAG-5 and WAM-4 electric locomotives.[7]
Established in 1925, Asansol Division is one of the oldest divisions of Indian Railways. On the Howrah-Delhi main line, its jurisdiction extends from the distant signal of Khana junction to the distant signal of Jhajha . On the Grand Chord line its jurisdiction extends up to the distant signal of Pradhakhunta. Branch lines under its jurisdiction are: Andal-Sainthia, Andal-Tapasi-Barabani-Sitarampur, Madhupur-Giridih, Jasidih-Baidyanathdham and Jasidih-Dumka. With a total of 565 route kilometers, the division has quadruple lines (two up and two down line) from Khana to Sitarampur. It handles 100 mail/express trains daily and 212 passenger train runs per day. The number of originating passengers per day is 144,070.[8]