Barauni–Katihar section

Barauni-Katihar section
Legend
km km  to Muzaffarpur & Darbhanga Samastipur 146  to Barauni Bhagwanpur Desua 138 to Barauni–Gorakhpur, Raxaul & Jainagar lines   Angar Ghat 131 Narhan 124 to Mokama-Barauni section  Rusera Ghat 119   0 Barauni  Mabbi(halt) 116 National Highway 28    Naya Nagar 111   5 Bihat  Barepura(halt) 108   8 Tilrath  Hasanpur Road 101 15 Begusarai  Sashan(halt) 97 23 Lakho  Garhpura 95 28 Danauli Phulwaria  Somra Pranpur(halt) 91 33 Lakhminia  Salauna 86 (halt) 44 Sanaha  Imli 79 48 Sahibpur Kamal  Paharaja Gangur(halt) 75 54 Umesh Nagar  Olapur 71 61 Khagaria  69 Mansi  National Highway 31   (halt) 74 Chedbanni  80 Maheshkhuntt  Badlaghat 84 Gauchari  Kosi River 92 Pasraha  Dhamara Ghat (halt) 98 Bharat Khand  Koparia 104 Narayanpur  Simri-Bakhtiarpur State Highway 58   Baba Raghuni(halt) 112 Thana Bihpur  Saharsa (halt)Karu Khirhar Nagar  Saharsa Kacheri Baijnathpur  Panchgachhia Methai  Garh Baruwari Dauran Madhepura  Veena Ekma(halt) Budhma  Supaul (halt)Bhairopatti  Kadampura(halt) (halt)Deenapatti  Tharbitta Murliganj  Baijnathpur Andoli (halt)Rupauli  Saraygarh Janki Nagar  Narayanpur Murli(halt) (halt)Harapatti  Raghopur Rambisanpur(halt) National Highway 31   Pratapganj to Lattipur  Lalitgram 120 Kharik  Chhatapur Road 128 Naugachhia  Narpatganj 139 Katareah  Debiganj(halt) Kosi River  Chakarha(halt) 145 Kursela  Jogbani 155 Bakhri  Bathnaha Forbesganj Bihariganj  Raghubans Nagar  Dholbazar(halt) Barhara Kothi  Gogipothia(halt) (halt)Sukhshena  Simraha Aurahi  Haldia Bihar(halt) (halt)Sukhasan Kothi  Araria Araria Court Banmankhi  Kushiargaon Sarsi  Satar(halt) (halt)Alinagar Tola  Jalalgarh Krityanandanagar  Gharbanali Purnia Court  Kasba 162 Karhagola Road  Purnia National Highway 31   Rautara 173 Semapur  Dalan 185 Katihar  Manshi  (halt)Kumaripur  to Katihar-Siliguri line Manihari  Teznarayanpur  to Kumedpur km

The Barauni–Katihar section of the Barauni–Guwahati line connects Barauni and Katihar in the Indian state of Bihar .

History

Early developments

Railway development on the northern side of the Ganges in Bihar came up soon after the opening of the Howrah–Delhi main line on the southern side of the Ganges in 1866. Several railway companies were involved – East Indian Railway, Assam Behar State Railway, and Tirhut State Railway. In his book The Indian Empire, Its People, History and Products (first published in 1886) W.W.Hunter, says "The Tirhut State Railway with its various branches intersects Northern Behar and is intended to extend to the Nepal frontier on one side and to Assam on the other." However, early developments appear to be scattered. EIR built the Katihar–Kasba and Katihar–Manihari lines in 1887. Assam Behar State Railway built the Parbatipur–Katihar line (see Barsoi–Parbatipur line) in 1889, thereby linking Assam and parts of North Bengal with Bihar. Tirhoot State Railway built some longer lines such as Samastipur–Khagaria, and added branch lines such as the 7 miles long Barauni–Semaria Ghat in 1883, the 11 miles long Thana Bihpur to Bararighat in 1901 and Khagaria to Hasanpur Road in 1915. Most of these early metre gauge lines got interconnected in subsequent years.^[1][2][3]

Bridge links

The construction of the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long Rajendra Setu in 1959 provided the first opportunity to link the railway tracks on the north and south banks of the Ganges.^[4]

The 3.19 kilometres (1.98 mi) long rail-cum-road bridge located at Munger 55 km downstream of the Rajendra Setu, now under construction, will link Jamalpur station on the Sahibganj Loop line of Eastern Railway to the Barauni–Katihar section of East Central Railway.^[5]

Railway reorganization

The Avadh–Tirhut Railway (successor to Tirhut State Railway) was merged with Assam Railway (successor to Eastern Bengal Railway and Assam Bengal Railway) in 1952 to create North Eastern Railway. Northeast Frontier Railway was carved out of North Eastern Railway in 1958.^[6] East Central Railway was constituted in 2002 with the Sonpur and Samastipur Divisions of North Eastern Railway, and Danapur, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad Divisions of Eastern Railway.^[7]

Locale

The entire track lies on the northern side of the Ganges and traverses the Kosi basin. In Bihar, the Kosi is widely referred to as the "Sorrow of Bihar" as it has caused widespread human suffering over the centuries through flooding and frequent changes in course. Over the last 250 years, the Kosi has shifted its course over 120 kilometres (75 mi) from east to west. In August 2008, it picked up an old channel it had abandoned over a century ago near the Nepal–India border, and caused enormous damage in a wide area covering several districts. The breach in the Kosi embankment which caused the devastating flood in 2008, was repaired in 2009 and the river has since been flowing along its original course.^[8] The floods continue and threaten even the Barauni–Katihar tracks. The entire region portrays "a bleak picture of broken houses, flattened fields and ravaged lives, signs of all the havoc the previous floods and land erosion wreaked here earlier."^[9]

Gauge conversion

Gauge conversion work (from metre gauge to broad gauge) in the Barauni–Katihar section was taken up in 1978-79 and completed in 1982.^[10]

Electrification

Electrification of the 809 kilometres (503 mi) long Barauni–Katihar–Guwahati section was sanctioned in 2008.^[11] As of 2011, work on electrification of Barabanki–Gorakhpur–Barauni–New Jalpaiguri route was in progress. Adequate funds have been provided in the budget for 2011–12 to take up work in the New Jalapiguri–New Bongaigaon–Guwahati section.^[12]

References

External links

• Trains at Barauni
• Trains at Katihar