The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Headquartered Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, it functioned from 1892 to 1942.

History

Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in 1892 to serve British-owned tea plantations in Assam. Assam Bengal Railway started construction of a railway track on the eastern side of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in 1891. A track between

and

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

was opened to traffic in 1895. The Comilla-Akhaura-Kulaura-Badarpur section was opened in 1896–1898 and finally extended to

Lumding Lumding is a town with a municipal board in Hojai District in of Assam state in India. It is the location of Lumding Junction railway station, a hub for India's Northeast Frontier Railway network. Assamese and Meitei ( Manipuri) are the o ...

in 1903. The Assam Bengal Railway constructed a branch line to Guwahati, connecting the city to the eastern line in 1900. The line was extended to Tinsukia in 1902 and it was also connected to Dibru-Sadiya Railway in 1903. In 1936, the company owned 205 locomotives, 588 coaches and 5922 goods wagons. On 1 January 1942, the Assam Bengal Railway combined with the

Eastern Bengal Railway The Eastern Bengal Railway (full name: "Eastern Bengal Railway Company"; shortened EBR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1857 to 1942, in the Bengal and Assam provinces of British India (now part of Bangladesh Railw ...

to form the Bengal and Assam Railway.History
,

Bangladesh Railway Bangladesh Railway () is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains all railways in the country, and is overseen by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway. The Bangladesh Railway is governed by the Mi ...

People's Republic of Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and among the most densely populated with a population of over 171 million within an area of . Bangl ...

, Retrieved: 11 January 2007 At time of the independence of India in 1947, Bengal and Assam Railway was split up and portions of the Bengal Assam Railway which lay in Assam and the Indian part of North Bengal became Assam Railway and

East Indian Railway The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Baroda ...

respectively. and the portions about 2,600 km long which fell within the boundary of erstwhile

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

was named as Eastern Bengal Railway, the control remaining with the central Government of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Later, with the effect from 1 February 1961, Eastern Bengal Railway was renamed as Pakistan Railway, and in 1962 it became

Pakistan Eastern Railway The Pakistan Eastern Railway (, ) was one of two divisions of Pakistan Railways which operated between 1961 and 1971. The company was headquartered in Chittagong. With the emergence of Bangladesh, it became Bangladesh Railway. History When Paki ...

. With the emergence of Bangladesh, it became

with its headquarters at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. On 14 April 1952, the 2,857 km long Assam Railway and the

Oudh and Tirhut Railway The Oudh and Tirhut Railway was a Railway company operated in India. History On 1 January 1943, the Bengal and North Western Railway and the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway (R&K worked) were acquired by the Government of India and they were am ...

were amalgamated to form one of the six newly carved zones of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

: the North Eastern Railway (India). On the same day, the reorganized Sealdah division of the erstwhile Bengal Assam Railway (which was added to the East Indian Railway earlier) was amalgamated with the Eastern Railway.

Classification

It was labeled as a Class I railway according to Indian Railway Classification System of 1926.

Conversion to broad gauge

The Indian part of ABR was converted to broad gauge in 1990s to 2010s. The Bangladesh part is under conversion to broad gauge.

References

External links

Bangladesh railway timeline
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Assam Bengal Railway Rail transport in Chittagong Transport in Guwahati Metre-gauge railways in India Defunct railway companies of India Rail transport in Assam Rail transport in West Bengal Defunct railway companies of Bangladesh History of Assam History of rail transport in West Bengal Bengal Presidency