Martin's Light Railways was a private company operating railways in India. The routes on which trains were run by Martin's Light Railways are as shown below:[1]
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The light railways had their origin in an agreement, dated 12 June 1889 between the District Board of Howrah and Messrs. Walsh, Lovett & Co., which was subsequently renewed with Messrs. Martin & Co., and sanctioned by Government notification in the Calcutta Gazette of March 27th, 1895.[2] The Howrah-Amta line was opened up to Domjur in 1897, and to Amta in 1898. An extension from Bargachhia (Bargechhe) junction to Antpur was opened in 1904, and a further extension to Champadanga in 1908. This extension, however, lies almost exclusively in Hooghly district. Both the Howrah- Amta and Howrah-Shiakhala lines start from Telkalghat on the Hooghly river, and skirting the Court maidan pass through the crowded Panchanantala road to Kadamtala station. Here they separate, the Howrah-Sliiakhala line running north-west along the Benares road to the border of the district, and thence to Shiakhala in Hooghly district. The Howrah-Amta line runs west, chiefly along the side of the Jagatballabhpur road, and then goes south-west to Amta.[2]
The new Howrah-Amta broad gauge line project, including the Bargachia-Champadanga branch line, was sanctioned in 1974-75. The first 24-km stretch of the section from Howrah to Bargachia was completed in 1984 by South Eastern Railway along with electrification, and commissioned soon after. The 6 km long Bargachhia-Munsirhat stretch was inaugurated in 2000.[3]The Mahendralal Nagar-Amta section was opened in 2005.[4]However, the Bargachhia-Champadanga branch line is yet to be completed. According to the reply to a parliamentary question in 2006, land to be provided free of cost by the State Government as per Memorandum of Understanding, was still to be handed over.[5]
Bukhtiarpur-Bihar line (or Bakhtiarpur-Bihar line) was a narrow gauge railway line running between Bakhtiarpur and Rajgir.[6] Bukhtiarpur-Bihar line of Martin's Light Railways was taken over by the local district board in 1950. This line was later taken over by Indian Railways in 1961 and replaced by 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (Indian gauge) line in 1962.[7]
The Arrah-Sasaram line was opened as a narrow gauge (2’ 6”) section of Martin’s Light Railways in 1914 and was closed in 1978.[8][9] A new broad gauge line was laid by Indian Railways from Sasaram to Arrah in 2006-07.[10]
There were three other light railways operated by Martin Burn: