Sealdah Railway Station is considered as one of the most significant railway stations in Kolkata. Other railway stations serving Kolkata are Howrah Station, Shalimar Station, Santragachi Junction and Kolkata Railway Station. It is also regarded the busiest railway station in India and an important sub-urban rail terminal. Sealdah station provides healthy railway services to the residents of Kolkata as well as to the travellers.
History of Sealdah Railway Station
The Sealdah division of railways was formed in 1952 after due re-organisation of railways. The original station was designed by Mr. Walter Glanville. It was started in 1869. There was a tram terminus at Sealdah Railway Station before 1978. The first horse tram service of Kolkata was also started from Sealdah to Armenian Ghat route which is now closed. Currently, there is a car parking existing in place of the old tram terminus.
Operations at Sealdah Railway Station
Sealdah Railway Station has three sections namely "Sealdah North", "Sealdah Main" and "Sealdah South" with 20 platforms. The North terminal of Sealdah has 13 platforms and South section consists with 7 platforms. These two sections are completely separated from each other. The north and south section is connected by two links, one is Dum Dum-Majherhat connection and other is Bidhannagar-Park Circus link. These two links were constructed to rapidly travel between the two sections avoiding Sealdah. Local trains run from the southern section between the stations Kolkata, Diamond Harbour, Budge Budge, Canning and Namkhana. The main section of Sealdah station is the mail/ express terminal for long distance trains to northern, north-western, north-eastern and eastern India, through Dankuni line and Bandel line. The main division of Sealdah north operates trains plying between Kolkata, Hasnabad, Bandel, Gede, Ranaghat, Shantipur, Krishnanagar, Baharampur, Lalgola, Dankuni, Katwa, Bardhaman, Kanchrapara, Barrackpur, Kalyani, Kalyani Simanta and others. The Bongaon division of Sealdah operates trains for Kolkata Airport, Birati, Madhyamgram, Hridaypur, Barasat, Duttapukur, Habra, Gobardanga, Bongaon and others.
The main section of the Sealdah station comprises some sub sections like, Barasat Section, Dankuni Section, Naihati Section. All these sections are bifurcated from the Dum Dum Station. The Barasat Section has two sub sections namely Bongaon line and Hasnabad line. The Naihati Section splits into two sections namely, Bandel section and Gede section. The Sealdah South Section has sub sections like, Budge Budge Section, Canning Line, Baruipur Section, Diamond Harbour line, Kakdwip Line. Sealdah Railway Station has been upgraded to such an extent that many long distance trains like Sealdah-Rajdhani Express start its journey from here.
Sealdah Railway Station like other railway junctions is playing a significant part in connecting the other regions of India.
