Sealdah South section

The Sealdah South section consists of four lines or four sub-sections: • – () • – () • – Canning () • – Namkhana () The section is primarily a suburban section with a total of 334 daily services and 288 Sunday services serving the four lines of the section. A majority of the services are served by 12-car EMU rakes from the Sonarpur EMU Carshed. There are many "Galloping local" services which only stop at the important stations of a line. The Gangasagar mela, which attracts thousands of pilgrims during Makar Sankranti in mid-January, and is held in Sagar Island is approached through the Namkhana branch line of this section. and railway stations serve as handy rail heads for travel to the 'mela'. Eastern Railway runs a lot of special trains for the 'mela' to cope with the increase in passenger traffic. There also are special trains from to via and during 'mela'. Interchanges with the Circular line are available at stations at , , , , and stations respectively. The Station serve as major interchange with the Blue Line and Orange Line of the Kolkata Metro while , Sealdah and Majerhat serve as interchanges with Blue Line, Green Line and Purple Line respectively. A new metro line from New Garia to Baruipur has been proposed as well. This section connects to the Kolkata Port, via the KDS Railway, from where major freight commodities like containers, coal and fertilizers are loaded and transferred throughout the Indian Railways network. ==History==

Sealdah–Canning line The Calcutta and South-Eastern Railway was formed in 1859 to connect Calcutta with on the Matla River. It constructed and completed the long line on 15 May 1863. It was the first railway track on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River and ran from what was then the Beliaghata railway station (presently ) to on the Matla River via and . In 1868, CSER having suffered extensive losses due to floods and other problems, sold the line to the Indian government (management then being leased to the Eastern Bengal Railway ) and the company was dissolved in March 1870. Thus the line became a part of the Southern section of the Eastern Bengal Railway. Finally in 1883, a branch line to Diamond Harbour via and Magrahat was constructed from on the Sealdah–Canning line of the Eastern Bengal Railway. This line, from Sealdah to Diamond Harbour, then became the main line of the Southern section of the Eastern Bengal Railway. Ballygunge–Budge Budge line The Budge Budge branch line was initially sanctioned in 1886 as a line to connect with the Kidderpore Docks. Sanction to an extension to Budge Budge was given in 1888 and the whole of long line from to via was opened on 1890 by the Eastern Bengal Railway.) in 1928. The line was extended up to Kulpi by 1992 and was completed till Kakdwip by 2001. The Kakdwip–Namkhana section was completed by 2004. Kalighat–Falta Railway The Kalighat–Falta Railway was a long narrow gauge (762 mm) railway line constructed by the Kalighat–Falta Railway Company, and operated as a part of McLeod's Light Railways, opening to traffic on 28 May 1917 from Gholeshapur (near Kalighat) to Falta. Gholeshapur was connected to Majerhat junction on the Eastern Bengal Railway on 1920. The railway line was closed on 1955 due to ever increasing losses. The tracks were dismantled and the land was reclaimed to build a road, now called James Long Sarani, in Behala. ==Electrification==

The Sealdah South section lines are fully electrified with 25 kV AC overhead system. The electrification process was started in 1965 from to line and the other lines in this division with the different phases and completed up to 1966 from that time the whole division is also fully electrified. == EMU Carshed ==

The Sealdah South section is primarily served by all 12 Coach EMU rakes from the Sonarpur (SPR) EMU Carshed. They are also served with a few 12 Coach EMU rakes from the Narkeldanga (NKG), Barasat (BT) and Ranaghat (RHA) EMU Carshed which comes to Sealdah South as North/Main to South Link Trains via Kolkata Circular Railway. While the section was initially served by the Narkeldanga EMU carshed which opened on 1963, a need for a dedicated EMU carshed for the section led to the construction of the Sonarpur EMU carshed in 1978. This reduced the inconvenience faced by the overburdened Narkeldanga EMU Carshed. As of November 2021, the Sonarpur Carshed had 32 12 Coach EMU rakes which exclusively served the Sealdah South section. ==Routes and stations==

Stations :Names in bold indicate that the station is a galloping train stop as well as important terminal station. Sealdah–Diamond Harbour line Budge Budge branch line Canning branch line Namkhana branch line ==Planned extensions==

Multiple new lines and extensions on this section have been planned by the Eastern Railway; however, most remain blocked due to land issues. Budge Budge–Pujali–Uluberia (Birshibpur) line The long Budge Budge–Pujali line was sanctioned in the railway budget on 2009-10 while a extension from Pujali to Birshibpur near Uluberia on the Howrah–Kharagpur line was sanctioned in 2011–12. Once completed this will connect the South Eastern Railway network under Kharagpur division directly with the Majerhat station in the Sealdah South section of the Eastern Railway via a bridge over the Hooghly river. As of 2021, work could not be started on this extension due to non-availability of land and as such the project had been kept under abeyance. Dankuni–Sagar Island rail line While there have been multiple proposals to build a railway line to Sagar Island, none have been constructed yet. In 2017, a preliminary survey for a long line was sanctioned by the Indian Railways in order to boost connectivity between Dankuni and the proposed deep sea port at Sagar Island. The below sections are supposed to be a part of the line if built: • Pujali–Bankrahat–Diamond Harbour (Gurudasnagar)–Kulpi line: The Pujali–Bankrahat line and the Diamond Harbour (Gurudas Nagar)–Bankrahat line were sanctioned in 2011-12 railway budget. The Diamond Harbour (Gurudas Nagar)–Kulpi line was sanctioned in 2012–13. As of 2021, work could not be started on this extension due to non-availability of land and as such the project had been kept under abeyance. • Kakdwip–Budakholi–Sagar Island line: A extension from to Budhakholi was sanctioned in the 2011-12 railway budget with plans to further extend it to Sagar Island via a rail-road bridge. As of 2021, work could not be started on this extension due to non-availability of land and as such the project had been kept under abeyance. ==References==