Nashipur Rail Bridge or Nashipur – Azimganj Rail Bridge (officially Bridge No.8) connects Murshidabad Junction railway station and Azimganj Junction across the river

Bhagirathi The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hindu f ...

of district

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. This long rail bridge is operational from March 2024.

History

The bridge used to exist during

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

regime and was later disbanded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Azimganj - Nalhati Railway line started in the year 1872. The bridge used to act as a NG branch line from

Azimganj Jiaganj Azimganj is a city and a municipality in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location The two towns of Jiaganj and Azimganj are located on either side of the Hooghly River, Baghirathi River, Jiaganj (Zia ...

to Behrampore connecting Lalgola-Krishnnagar BG line with Azimganj Nalhati BG line. This rail bridge on the

river reduces travel time between South Bengal and North Bengal. As per railway officials the bridge shortens the distance between and by about 21 km. The new bridge is long. Due to difficulties of land acquisition, this project was halted for 13 years since 2010. After 13 years, the dispute of the land of 476 metre has been escalated. The construction began again on November 30, 2022. Railway board promised to complete the leftover work by August, 2023. On July 29, the GM of Eastern Railway affirmed that this line would be commissioned by the end of 2023. This new line was electrified on 19 February 2024. Officials of Commissioner of Railway Safety visited the site on 29 February 2024 and trial runs were conducted. CRS gave satisfactory remarks afterwards. Azimganj Murshidabad new line was inaugurated on 2 March 2024 by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

Land acquisition problem

More the 90% of the work has been completed but due to land acquisition problem the work is stopped. Due to the ongoing land acquisition problem for this track the Rs. 70 crore for this project of Indian Railways stands abandoned. The plots that need to be acquired are located between Azimganj railway junction and the right bank of the Bhagirathi in Mahinagar area of Murshidabad - Jiaganj block. Rail Roko agitations has been organised since 1994 by Murshidabad District Railway Passengers Association over this long standing demand. As per "

Anandabazar patrika ''Anandabazar Patrika'' is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. Its main competitors are ''Bartaman'', '' Ei Samay'', '' Sangbad Pratidin'', " Aajkal", " Jago Bangla", " ganashakti" and " dainik Statesman". Histo ...

" dated 9 October 2015, land Acquisition problem has been resolved & land has been submitted to the railway division to start work for approach line As per

24 Ghanta 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

news dated 16 March 2017 the work is going on with schedule speed & lying of track & electrification will be completed by year end. According to "

Ei Samay ''Ei Samay Sangbadpatra'' () is a Bengali-language daily newspaper from The Times Group. It was launched as a broadsheet daily newspaper with a motive to enter into a head-to-head competition with ''Anandabazar Patrika''. It is owned and publ ...

" and "Anandabazar Patrika", work has begun on the west approach to the bridge on 30 November 2022. Eastern Railways planned to introduce some trains in this route. A proposal was sent to railway board for the diversion of

Darjeeling mail The 12343 / 12344 Darjeeling Mail is one of the oldest running legendary trains in India which connects Kolkata with New Jalpaiguri via Barddhaman, Malda Town and Kishanganj. This is a major train for Kolkata–Siliguri route. It is also t ...

to this route, which was rejected. Eventually four pairs of passenger trains were introduced on this route, three pairs between and and one pair between Azimganj and . A weekly long distance train, the Sealdah - Jalpaiguri Road Humsafar Express was also introduced.

References

{{Murshidabad topics Transport in Murshidabad Railway bridges in India Rail transport in West Bengal Bridges in West Bengal Buildings and structures in Murshidabad district Railway bridges in West Bengal

History

Land acquisition problem

See also

References