Rampage of Lalgola (Indo-Bangla Border) Passengers at SDAH-NH Main Line section
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With temperature soaring to almost 42 degree, only an idiot like me will prefer to sit under the scorching sun for hours to do railfanning instead of sitting in the cosy sofas under the chilling ACs in our college's food court and having gala time with friends.
Lalgola, a small town at 225 kms north of Kolkata is situated on the India-Bangladesh border. Though Lalgola does not have any railway connectivity with Bangladesh, but it is a terminal station which hauls more than a dozen of trains everyday. Only Gede and...
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Bongaon (these two locations are also at border) have railway connectivity with Bangladesh, and the Kolkata Chitpur Terminal (KOAA)- Dhaka MAITREE International Express uses the Gede route to cross the border.
Due to extreme rush, almost a dozen of passengers, and a couple of Express trains travel between Lalgola (LGL)- Murshidabad (MBB)- Berhampore Court (BPC) and Kolkata everyday. Earlier the route was complete ruled by alcos, but after electrification was done in 2004 (now doublification is going on), half of the trains were given electric locos on a permanent basis, but the remaining half are still hauled by alcos.. While the electric ones are hauled by ASN WAG-5 , the alcos are hauled by WDM-2/ 3A of HWH/ BWN. And the MEMU was recently introduced a couple of months ago.
The main line of the Eastern Bengal Railway from Sealdah to Ranaghat, was opened in 1862 and extended to Kushtia, now in Bangladesh. The Calcutta terminus of the Railway was opened the same year in a tin-roofed shed at Sealdah.The Sealdah (SDAH)- Ranaghat (RHA)- Gede Line was part of the Calcutta- Siliguri (SGUJ) Main Line. After partition of India in 1947, the main line got truncated and what remained in West Bengal formed the Gede Branch Line. The Ranaghat- Lalgola Branch Line was opened in 1905. Location is Khardah station on the Main Line section, which is classified as a C-class track, and is not a speed classification (max speed 80-100 km/hr) but one used for suburban sections.
Locos:
1) 23365 ASN WAG-5
2) 23179 ASN WAG-5
3) MEMU
4) 18807R BWN WDM- 3A
5) 18637 BWN WDM-2
6) 23105 ASN WAG- 5 HA