Barasat Basirhat Railway

History

Barasat Basirhat Railway (BBR) was a gauge railway line started by Martin & Co. in 1914 as part of their wide network of narrow gauge operations under the aegis of Martin's Light Railways. The line connected the two towns of Barasat and Basirhat near Calcutta (now Kolkata), in West Bengal, India.

The line was closed in 1955, after Indian independence (in 1947), when all such privately run lines were taken over by the government or were being closed.

But rather than suffer ignonimity and death, BBR got a fresh lease of life when Indian Railways placed the line under its Eastern Railways zone under Sealdah division and converted the route partly to broad gauge in 1962. Later on, this route was fully restored to (Indian gauge) and local trains started plying the route.

Route

The entire route is now Broad gauge(5ft.6in)and distance between Barasat and Basirhat is 42 km.






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