If any Rail Enthusiast from Maldah (or elsewhere too) may be kind enough to respond... Maldah is among one of Bengal's Top 5 cities (apart from the state capital), and tens of thousands of people travel to and from Maldah and its adjoining stations by train every day. Malda is also the nodal median point connecting North and South Bengal. Very important city/region for trade and tourism. It's really sad that the city's Railway Infrastructure & Services have not seen much upgrade since the time of Gani Khan Chowdhry.

Do you feel...
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it's time Maldah's significance on the country's Railway Map was pumped up? And why all the load/pressure on MLDT? Why are stations within the city's vicnity like Old Malda and Malda Court not beig upgraded into mini-terminal stations with SM capacities? That's why my query, particular to those from Maldah region:

1. Is it possible to carve out separate Railway Zones for Maldah and Bhagalpur, so that Malda can have more independence and flexibility, and Bhagalpur can look after itself and those other neighbouring BR/JH towns?

2. Is it possible to build more platforms (and perhaps rebuild the stations) at Old Malda and Malda Court? Maybe Old Malda can be upgraded to at least 5 platforms - with ample sidelines for Freight/Goods trains, and upto 3 platforms for Malda Court? Lot of empty space adjacent to both of these stations, right? And after these expansions (maybe under Amrit Bharat scheme), trains not based out of MLDT base can be terminated at either of these two stations - to free up MLDT.

3. Is it possible to build a branch line near Banshata P area connecting MLDT and Malda Court, so that there can be train connectivity between both sides of Malda city across Mahananda River? Also, MLDT - Eklakhi Jn.... Third line possible?

4. With these above infrastructure in place, why not make MLDT into a full fledged terminal (with its own CDO base), with new fresh set of SF trains to NDLS, Mumbai, MAS/SMVT, SC/HYB, Udhna/Gujarat, Kerala (most critical need of the hour) and perhaps some other points of North India like a JP or a ASR or a HW/YNRK or a or a JAT/SVDK? You know, like more Pan-India connectivity, so as to ultimately reduce pressure on other Terminals in Kolkata or Bhagalpur or even Katihar/NJP? Plus some additional MEMUs to nearby towns including upto say Berhampore or Krishnanagar or NJP or BLGT or maybe an Intercity/MEMU Express to DGR/ASN... So that you can create a Hub & Spoke Model with MLDT at the centre!

How long will districts like Maldah, the 2 Dinajpurs, Birbhum and Murshidabad continue to burden trains to/from the North East and HWH? It's not possible to build mega terminals at all these points/districts, but MLDT at the epicentre and a Hub & Spoke Model would be sufficient to reduce pressure extensively to all trains passing through the entire Eastern India! Couldn't this prove to be a Win-Win situation for both Railways (ER) and the commuters/passengers of this region?

Thank you for your invaluable time.

1. It is not possible to carve out railway zones at present but back in the days Bhagalpur was in Howrah Division & Malda Town was in Katihar division. So to introduce new trains Gani khan Chaudhury thought that a entire new division is necessary. So during his term as Railway Minister he introduced Malda Division to fulfil demands of Malda, Sahibganj, Munger, Bhagalpur.

2. Old Malda Jn is not used by people very much since both stations lie in the same route . Malda court's line is a near Bangladesh border,...
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so Malda Town is the main station with being closer to the main city itself.

3. Not possible as a new bridge should be constructed at Mahananda River & it will pass parallel to NH 12 . So for 3rd, 4th line it will be constructed near Malda Bypass of NH12 to reduce goods traffic in current main line. MLDT-EKI 3rd line is possible

4 Gani khan Chowdhury never wanted that a full fledged terminal will be made like Howrah otherwise trains would have to go via Katihar , Barauni for all places which will take more time . So he put Idea of new route from kolkata to siliguri , Ne via Malda by constructing a bridge on Ganga River. with construction of Farakka Barrage entire north Bengal was connected with Kolkata or South India & solved a major connectivity problem

If terminal station is made at Malda then nearby area will be South Dinajpur only & only upper part of Murshidabad be benefitted as top cities like Baharampur, Balurghat, Raiganj etc all these are 100+km away from Malda . So people of these places will prefer to go Kolkata since Kolkata connectivity is good in all cities & Villages of West Bengal.

1. It is not possible to carve out railway zones...

- But you can always see on several Railway forums (including this one) how Bihar people have been demanding for separate Bhagalpur Divn/Zone for a very long time. Over and above, with the rise of a certain DubeyJi in that region - that part is getting much more new trains (from Godda, Hansdiha, Deoghar, Dumka, Banka - some of these parts are again of ASN Divn, and of course BGP itself) within Malda Divn than Malda Town itself! So when Railway budget...
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allocates certain amount of budget for new trains and new stations/facilities for Malda division, ironically very little to nothing actually happens on ground for MLDT and other stations in Bengal within Malda Divn.

- Hence my query. Tomorrow, that DubeyJi himself may end up asking for a separate Divn, cutting out of both Malda and ASN Divns... who'll stop him? Isn't MLDT and Bengal stations like New Farakka and others continuing to suffer because of this arrangement and the arm-twisting of BJP/NDA MPs from neighboruing BR/JH?


2. Old Malda Jn is not used by people very much since both stations lie in the same route . Malda court's line is a near Bangladesh border, so Malda Town is the main station with being closer to the main city itself.

- My suggestion for Old Malda and MLFC was just so that MLDT could be decongested. For example, say for trains like Gour or 13011/12 Intercity or New Delhi Express, these originate and terminate at MLDT, and consume a lot of time on MLDT platforms, not to mention they take off space at MLDT maintenance yard for Secondary Maintenance (SM). If these are extended to Old Malda (or Court) then MLDT can be freed up. They'll just arrive and depart from MLDT en route and half for 10-15 mins max in the station for convenience of MLDT passengers.

- Anyways Old Malda and MLFC have few passengers and DMUs to/from KIR and SGUJ/NJP, so if capacity of those two stations are increased, these two can become secondary terminals for MLDT (like most big cities in the country today with multiple terminals). It's about creating the necessary infrastructure to support passengers/commuters load with at least 20-25 years planning (something us Bengalees are utterly poor in... we NEVER EVER think about Future).


3. Not possible as a new bridge should be constructed at Mahananda River & it will pass parallel to NH 12...

- I am not even suggesting new bridge on Mahananda (except 3rd line), it's after the Mahananda river, before the tracks from MLDT join single line track from Malda Court - towards Old Malda, there is a lot of open green space (probably Mango Orchard/Farm area) - it's uninhabited... hence asking about the possibility of a single track line connecting lines coming from MLDT and line towards MLFC.


4 Gani khan Chowdhury never wanted that a full fledged terminal will be made like Howrah...solved a major connectivity problem...

- Gani Khan sir left us two decades ago. The world has changed much beyond what it was then. What was Kolkata's population when he was the Railway Minister 40 years ago, is probably Malda district's population today (in fact much more)! That is why I suggested for Hub and Spoke Model - something practised in Bihar if you would be keen to observe. Look at the number of inter-state terminals just North Bihar has... Darbhanga, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Katihar, Jaynagar, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, Raxaul, Chhapra... the list is endless. Does everyone in North Bihar travel to Patna for taking a train to any part of the country? Very Rare! All these destinations mentioned above is connected to more or less all across the length and breadth of the country (there are many small ones too - not possible to count them all!)

- Similarly if we have Malda as a gateway to all the central Bengal districts, it would be convenient for everyone from Balurghat to Berhampore. for that we would need good network of MEMU trains connecting all these stations to MLDT. For example If one needs to travel from Murshidabad to Kerala (there are lakhs of people from this district working in Kerala alone!), wouldn't it be better if a train from MLDT was available, which would halt at New Farakka or Khagraghat Road or AZ itself - which could be easily accessible for anyone across Murshidabad district, rather than travelling to Howrah/Sealdah, again take a bus to Shalimar/Santragachhi for a south bound train (not even daily service available to Kerala from Kolkata)? How long do commuters and passengers from these districts continue to suffer? Doesn't HWH/SDAH trains have enough load already from South Bengal districts?

- No offence, but this is why Biharis are smarter than Bengalees, they make their demands heard, and get it on ground by hook or crook. On the other hand, Bengalees will continue to cry "Kendrer Lanchhona/Bonchona" Nyaka-Kanna for the rest of their lives...


5. If terminal station is made at Malda then nearby area will be South Dinajpur only & only upper part of Murshidabad be benefitted as top cities like Baharampur, Balurghat, Raiganj etc...

- That is exactly why I mentioned the need for a strong MEMU connectivity to Malda Town! So that almost all corners of Malda district, Murshidabad district, parts of Birbhum and Dakhsin Dinajpur districts all get a quick MEMU/Passenger/Intercity connectivity to/from MLDT atleast every 1-2 Hrs, with Triple line and speed upgradations underway, the target is to get anyone and everyone living within 3 Hrs of MLDT. Also If the train halts at New Farakka or Azimganj, no need for Murshidabad or Birbhum district people to travel all the way to MLDT itself! Please learn about the concept of "Hub & Spoke Model" in Transportation - I am not mad for repeating this one term n no. of times...

- Please understand one thing, noone in their right minds wants to visit a congested dirty humid and hot city like Kolkata, unless and until it is extremely necessary. If in some way, Kolkata/Howrah can be bypassed, what can be better than that? If one person from Malda/Murshidabad wants to travel to Bangalore or Chennai or Mumbai or Kerala or Gujarat, why the hell should they waste an entire day in Kolkata (the city which failed them devastatingly - whether be it because of jobs or education or healthcare - failure everywhere!) rather than utilizing that time to reach their destination of better opportunity in South/West/North India quicker?

Thank you... appreciate your prompt response.