New Cooch Behar Junction railway station is the main railway station in the district of Cooch Behar. It serves Cooch Behar city of the district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies under Alipurduar railway division.

It is a junction station on the New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of the Barauni–Guwahati line, New Mal–Changrabandha–New Cooch Behar line and Alipurduar–Bamanhat branch line of Northeast Frontier Railway zone.

History Cooch Behar had its first railway when Cooch Behar State Railway constructed the narrow gauge Geetaldaha-Jainti line in 1901. It was subsequently on the metre gauge Alipurduar-Bamanhat-Golokganj line. When Assam Link Project constructed the link through North Bengal, it used the longer New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line.

New Cooch Behar station came up when the broad gauge New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of Barauni–Guwahati line was laid in 1966.

Before partition there was a railway link from to via and . Some part of this route passed through Bangladesh, between and Golokganj. There were two stations Pateswari and Sonahat which were in Bangladesh, these functioned even after partition. However, the collapse of the rail-cum-road bridge over the Gadadhar in the seventies ended that link. Now the bridge has been rebuilt and a new broad-gauge track has been laid, under New Maynaguri-Jogighopa Rail Project, via Tufangunj and Boxirhat, entirely through Indian territory. Dhubri-New Jalpaiguri Inter-city Express via Cooch Behar was introduced in February 2012. A new railway link from New Cooch Behar to New Jalpaiguri via Mathabhanga opened shortly.

Facilities

The entire compound of New Cooch Behar Railway Station is equipped with free high-speed Wi-Fi services provided by RailTel. New facilities include a Food Lounge, Air-Conditioned Dormitory and an Air-Conditioned Waiting Hall. The station has a One Station One Product outlet offering handmade jewellery, jute products and handloom textiles to provide a market for local and indigenous products.

To increase mobility among passengers especially physically challenged passengers, elevators have been installed in Platform 1, 2, 3 and 4. An escalator has also been installed in Platform 1 connecting to the foot overbridge.

Toilets are now equipped with modern sanitary fittings and have exclusive facilities for male, female and physically challenged. There are numerous Pay-and-Use Toilets in the station. Special Waiting halls for ladies have also been built.

IRCTC offers online booking of Dormitory rooms and also allows online food ordering. There are over bridges connecting the different platforms. There are displays all over the railway station and numerous food and magazine vendors in every platform.

Electrification

The Union Minister of Railways announced a long electrified section between New Jalpaiguri to New Cooch Behar. Northern Frontier Railways has made a significant achievement in providing a pollution-free green mode of transport as electrification of total of track has been completed during the financial year 2020–21, despite the COVID-19 epidemic, railway electrification work in various sections of the North Frontier Railway was being done rapidly. The Electrification was inspected by the Commissioner of Railway Safety of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. Test runs have been conducted in early 2021. As of September 2021, the station is fully electrified and electric trains are operational.

Major trains Kamakhya–Howrah Vande Bharat Sleeper Express New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Vande Bharat Express Agartala Tejas Rajdhani Express Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express Sairang–Anand Vihar Terminal Rajdhani Express Agartala - Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Humsafar Express Naharlagun - New Delhi AC Superfast Express Agartala - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus AC Superfast Express Kamakhya - Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal AC Superfast Express Guwahati - New Delhi Poorvattar Sampark Kranti Superfast Express Silchar–New Delhi Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Superfast Express Silchar - Thiruvananthapuram Aronai Superfast Express Silchar - Coimbatore Superfast Express Silchar–Secunderabad Express Silchar - Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express Dibrugarh–Amritsar Express Dibrugarh–Chandigarh Express Dibrugarh - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Superfast Express Dibrugarh-Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express Dibrugarh - Gomti Nagar Amrit Bharat Express Dibrugarh–Kolkata Superfast Express Dibrugarh- Howrah Kamrup Express Dibrugarh- Rajendra Nagar Express Dibrugarh - Deogarh Express Silghat Town - Tambaram Nagaon Express Silghat Town - Kolkata Kaziranga Express Agartala - Firozpur Tripura Sundari Express Agartala - Deoghar Weekly Express Agartala - Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express Agartala - Kolkata Garib Rath Express New Tinsukia–SMVT Bengaluru Superfast Express New Tinsukia–Rajendra Nagar Weekly Express New Tinsukia–Tambaram Express New Tinsukia - Darbhanga Jivacch Link Express Guwahati - Jammu Tawi Lohit Express Guwahati- Sir M. Visvesvaraya Terminal Kaziranga Superfast Express Guwahati - Bikaner ExpressBihar: AC coach of Guwahati-Bikaner Express derails after hitting truck Guwahati - Okha Dwarka Express Guwahati - Barmer Express Guwahati-Jammu Tawi Amarnath Express Guwahati - Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express Guwahati-Howrah Saraighat Superfast Express Guwahati - Kolkata Garib Rath Express Kamakhya–Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Express Kamakhya–Gandhidham Superfast Express Kamakhya - Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express Kamakhya - Jodhpur, Bhagat Ki Kothi Express Kamakhya - Delhi Brahmaputra Mail Kamakhya - Puri Express (via Adra) Kamakhya–Gaya Express Kamakhya - Delhi Northeast Express Kamakhya–Rohtak Amrit Bharat Express Kamakhya - Pune Express New Alipurduar - Sealdah Padatik Superfast Express Silchar-Trivandrum Superfast Express Bamanhat - Sealdah Uttar Banga Express New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Express New Jalpaiguri - Bongaigaon Express New Alipurdiar - Sealdah Teesta Torsha Express New Alipurduar - SMVT Bangalore Amrit Bharat Express Kolkata–Sairang Express Alipurduar–Silghat Town Rajya Rani Express Alipurduar–Kamakhya Intercity Express Siliguri–Bamanhat Express

See also

North Eastern Railway Connectivity Project North Western Railway zone

References