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Shalimar railway station is one of five intercity railway stations serving Howrah and Kolkata, India. The other stations are Sealdah in Kolkata, Kolkata station in Kolkata, Howrah Station in Howrah and Santragachi in Howrah. Shalimar station is situated at Shalimar, in Shibpur area of Howrah. It is one of the cleanest, most well-maintained and non-congested railway terminals in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area.[1]

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Shalimar
Kolkata Suburban Railway station
Shalimar railway station, West Bengal
General information
Location	Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal India
Coordinates	22°33′18″N 88°18′55″E
Elevation	4.500 metres (14.76 ft)
Owned by	Indian Railways
Operated by	South Eastern Railway
Line(s)	Shalimar-Santragachi line of Kolkata Suburban Railway
Platforms	3
Tracks	18
Construction
Structure type	Standard on ground station
Parking	Available
Disabled access	Available[citation needed]
Other information
Status	Functioning
Station code	SHM
Zone(s)	South Eastern Railway
Division(s)	Kharagpur
History
Opened	1905
Electrified	2001
Previous names	Shalimar rail yard
Services
Preceding station Kolkata Suburban Railway Following station Padmapukur towards Amta South Eastern Line Shalimar-Amta Branch Line Terminus
Location
Shalimar Location in Kolkata Show map of Kolkata Shalimar Location in West Bengal Show map of West Bengal Shalimar Location in India Show map of India

History

The place where now the station is situated was formerly a very small rail station, and served by some diesel loco hauled trains. The present platforms were occupied by some goods lines. Those lines were a part of large Shalimar rail yard.

In 2000, the first plan was conceived to use this area as a bigger rail station. The rapidly growing long-distance passengers were gradually overcrowding the Howrah station. Due to the limitation of space, new platform construction is restricted at Howrah. Although 3 new platforms (17, 22 & 23) were constructed at Howrah during 2006 – 2008, those were not sufficient. Side by side, due to its almost central position in Howrah, Howrah station is too busy for both suburban and long-distance rail traffic. Unlike Sealdah station, Howrah station has fewer suburban trains than long-distance trains. Due to increasing of Eastern Railway trains, many platforms, which were previously built for South Eastern Railway trains, now often occupied by Eastern Railway trains. But many people of Howrah feel that it is much easy to catch a long-distance train from Howrah than Santragachi, particularly in early morning and late night. But due to platform limitation, increasing the number of long-distance trains was not possible from Howrah for South Eastern Railway.

To overcome this problem, South Eastern Railway suggested to Indian Railway officers to construct another bigger rail station at Howrah, mostly for long-distance trains. The many underused tracks of Shalimar yard was the first choice of the authority.

Construction started from 2000. The construction of platforms, station buildings, and car parking area were started. After the completion, other tracks were re-aligned. The tracks around platform were completely electrified for passenger coaches shunting. At first, only one express train started. This train stopped later and then other long-distance trains started. From this time, diesel loco-hauled trains were replaced by EMU trains, which started suburban services.

Facilities

There is a taxi stand and a toto (e-rickshaw) stand outside the station. The nearest tram terminus was formerly Shibpur, but it was closed in 1971. There are small eateries serving snacks on the platform and eateries serving lunch outside the station.

Criticism

As a new rail station, this station is not well connected by public transport. The most direct service to the station is taxi, which is not preferable by poor. All buses run along College Road, which is almost 1 km away from the station. It is often impossible to walk this 1 km with heavy luggage for a commuter. Due to the lack of transport link, many people avoid this station. An irregular steamer service from Garden Reach is also present.

There is a plan to transfer part of the Howrah Station bus terminus to the front of the station, mainly for Kolkata bound routes, but nothing materialised.

See also

• Howrah station
• Sealdah Station
• Kolkata station
• Kolkata Suburban Railway
• Kolkata Metro
• Trams in Kolkata

References

External links

• Shalimar Train Station

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