Shalimar railway station is one of four railway stations serving from Howrah and Kolkata, India; the others are Sealdah Station, in Kolkata, Kolkata Station in Kolkata and Howrah Station in Howrah.
Location of Shalimar Railway Station
Shalimar station is situated in the Shalimar area of Howrah. It is located near Shibpur area of Howrah. It is one of the cleanest, most well-maintained and non-congested railway terminals in the Kolkata area.
Railway head of Shalimar
The place where now Shalimar railway station is situated was formerly a very small rail station, and served by some diesel loco hauled trains. The present platforms were occupied by some goods lines. Those lines were a part of large Shalimar rail yard.
Construction of Shalimar Railway Station
In 2000, the first plan of Shalimar railway station was conceived to utilise this area as a bigger rail station. The rapidly growing long distance passengers were gradually overcrowding the Howrah station. Due to the limitation of space, new platform construction is restricted at Howrah. Side by side, due to its almost central position in Howrah, Howrah station is too busy for both suburban and long distance rail traffic. Unlike Sealdah Station, Howrah Station has less suburban trains than long-distance trains. Due to increase in Eastern Railway trains, many platforms, which were previously built for South Eastern Railway trains, now often occupied by Eastern Railway trains. But many people of Howrah feel that it is much easy to catch a long distance train from Howrah than Sealdah, particularly in early morning and late night. But due to platform limitation, increasing the number of long distance trains was not possible from Howrah for South Eastern Railway. The construction of Shalimar railway station started from 2000. The construction of platforms, station buildings and car parking area were started. After the completion of Shalimar railway station, other tracks were re-aligned. The tracks of Shalimar railway station around platform were completely electrified for passenger coaches shunting. At first, only one express train started. This train stopped later and then other long distance trains started. From this time, diesel loco hauled trains were replaced by EMU trains, which started suburban services.
Routes from Shalimar Railway Station
The station of Shalimar railway station is saved by the South Eastern Railway for trains to Amta, Haldia, Kanthi, Medinipur and others. The number of suburban trains is lower than long-distance trains. This station runs some long distance express trains to various destinations. There are two platforms, among them Platform 1 is used by only suburban trains, and Platform 2 is used by long-distance trains. The station is operated by the South Eastern Railway.
