New Jalpaiguri

New Jalpaiguri Indian Railway Station
Location
Coordinates	26°40′57″N 88°26′38″E / 26.6825°N 88.44389°E / 26.6825; 88.44389
City	Siliguri
District	Jalpaiguri
State	West Bengal
Elevation	MSL +
Station Info & Facilities
Station status	Functioning
Parking	Available
Baggage check	Not available
Operation
Code	NJP
Zone(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway
Line(s)	Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
History
Opened	1961?
Train(s)	101 per day

New Jalpaiguri is a major railway station of the city of Siliguri in the Indian state of West Bengal. The station is popularly known by its acronym NJP. It is located at a distance of 2.5 kilometres from the center of the town.

Overview

New Jalpaiguri is a major railway junction linking Siliguri and North Eastern India to major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Guwahati, Bangalore, Chennai, etc. The station is also a major junction for supplies and goods for the state of Sikkim. The station still lacks direct connectivity with other major cities like Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur and other South Indian cities. The station has two gauges: broad gauge — linking regular rail traffic between Assam and other parts of India and narrow gauge — the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a World Heritage Site connecting it with the hill station of Darjeeling. The earlier-existing metre gauge line has been removed and converted into broad gauge.

History

The partition of India in 1947 completely disrupted communication links of North Bengal and Assam with southern parts of West Bengal. Earlier, the links were through the eastern part of Bengal, which formed a part of Pakistan in 1947. Siliguri gained in importance as the gateway to North Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Assam.^[1]

Around 1949 Siliguri Junction station, a new station north of the old Siliguri Town station, came up with several lines converging on it. Primarily, there were three metre gauge lines – south-west to Kishanganj and Barsoi, north-east in the direction of Assam, and south to Sliguri Town and Haldibari. In addition there was the narrow gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway running from Siliguri Town station to Darjeeling via Siliguri Junction. The Assam Rail Link Project, completed in 1950, linked the railways in Assam, with a metre gauge line to Kishanganj. The line running across North Bengal, spanned the Teesta, Torsha, and Sankosh rivers.^[1][2]

In the early sixties, Indian Railways built a new broad-gauge station south of Siliguri south station and by 1964, New Jalpaiguri became the most important railway station in the area. It had both broad gauge and metre gauge connections and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was extended to the new station.^[1]

External links

• Trains at New Jalpaiguri
• Jalpaiguri travel guide from Wikitravel
• Siliguri travel guide from Wikitravel

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "India: the complex history of the junctions at Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri". IRFCA. http://www.irfca.org/docs/rinbad-siliguri.html. Retrieved 2011-11-12. 
2. ^ "Indian Railway History Timeline". http://irse.bravehost.com/IRHTML.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-12.