The 12343 / 12344 Sealdah-Haldibari-Sealdah Darjeeling Mail is one of the oldest running legendary trains in India that has been running from pre-independence days and is still in operation. It connects to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway at New Jalpaiguri. This is a major train for Kolkata–New Jalpaiguri route. It is also the first train to run with AC electric loco WAP-7 in Sealdah to New-Jalpaiguri stretch.[1]

Darjeeling Mail

Overview
Service type	Mail/Express
First service	1 January 1878; 144 years ago (1878-01-01)
Current operator(s)	Eastern Railways
Route
Termini	Sealdah (SDAH) Haldibari (HDB)
Stops	6
Distance travelled	573 km (356 mi)
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	12343 / 12344
On-board services
Class(es)	AC 1st, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, Sleeper class, General Unreserved, Military coach
Seating arrangements	Yes
Sleeping arrangements	Yes
Catering facilities	No pantry car
Observation facilities	Large windows
Technical
Rolling stock	LHB coaches
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Operating speed	130 km/h (81 mph) maximum, 57 km/h (35 mph) average with halts
Route map

v t e Darjeeling Mail route
Legend
km to Darjeeling on DHR to Fakiragram Bagdogra 17 11 Matigara to Katihar Bagdogra Airport 7 Siliguri Change to DHR 5 Siliguri Town Change to DHR 573/508/0 New Jalpaiguri Change to DHR Jalpaiguri main line 500 Ambari Falakata 490 Belakoba 482 Raninagar Jalpaiguri Kishanganj 486 to New Bongaigaon 478 Mohitnagar 474 Jalpaiguri 452 Haldibari Malda Town 338 India Bangladesh 442 Chilahati Farakka Barrage Across Ganges Chilahati–Darshana line Bolpur 154 374 Parbatipur Junction Barddhaman 102 278 Santahar Hardinge Bridge across Padma Chord line 118 Darshana and Main line Bangladesh India 114 Gede Gede Branch line Vivekananda Setu across Hooghly River to Howrah Sealdah–Ranaghat line 0 Sealdah Main Sealdah South to Sealdah South lines
Notes: 1. The left side of a line is the post-partition route, Whereas, the right side of the line is the pre-partition route as it stands today. 2. The Siliguri/New Jalpaiguri–Haldibari Line is common to both the old and new routes.

History

Run via East Bengal

During the British period all connections to North Bengal were through East Bengal.

From 1878, the railway route from Kolkata, then called Calcutta, to Siliguri was in two laps. The first lap was a 184.9 kilometres (114.9 mi) long journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma River. The passengers would then avail a ferry across the river. The second lap of the journey was a 363.1 kilometres (225.6 mi) metre-gauge line of the North Bengal Railway that linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri.[2]

Later the 1.8 kilometres (5,900 ft) long Hardinge Bridge across the Padma came up in 1912.[3] In 1916 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta – Siliguri route became broad-gauge.[2] The route thus roughly ran: Sealdah–Ranaghat–Bheramara–Hardinge Bridge–Iswardi–Santahar–Hili–Parabtipur–Nilphamari–Haldibari–Jalpaiguri–Siliguri.

The Darjeeling Mail ran on this route in pre-partition days. Even after the partition of India it ran on this route for some years.[4][5]

Timings were:- Sealdah d 17.45 hrs; Ranaghat d 19.06 hrs; Iswardi d 21.40 hrs; Parabtipur d 01.35 hrs; Haldibari d 03.10; Siliguri a 04.30 as 43 Up. In return, Siliguri d 19.15; Haldibari d 20.30; Parabtipur d 22.10 hrs; Iswardi d 02.05 hrs; Ranaghat d 04.41 hrs; Sealdah a 06.00 hrs as 44 Dn. The journey of 548 kilometres (341 mi) was covered in 10 hrs 45 mins at speed of 51 kilometres per hour (32 mph)

Ferry across Ganges (Post-partition)

With the partition of India in 1947, the major hurdle in connecting Kolkata and Siliguri was that there was no bridge across the Ganges in West Bengal or Bihar. A generally acceptable route to Siliguri was via Sahibganj loop to Rajmahal, then across the Ganges by ferry to Manihari Ghat on the other side, then to Kishanganj via Manihari, Katihar and Barsoi and finally through narrow gauge to Siliguri.[6] In 1949 Kishanganj–Siliguri section too was converted to metre gauge, thus making the entire route a uni-gauge one.[2]

Run via Farakka Barrage

In the early 1965s, when Farakka Barrage was being constructed, a more radical change was made. Indian Railways created a new broad-gauge rail link from Kolkata, and on a greenfield site south of Siliguri Town built an entirely new broad-gauge junction, New Jalpaiguri.[2]

The 2,256.25 metres (7,402.4 ft) long Farakka Barrage carries a rail-cum-road bridge across the Ganges. The rail bridge was thrown open to the public in 1971, thereby linking the Barharwa–Azimganj–Katwa loop to Malda Town, Barsoi, Kishanganj, New Jalpaiguri and other railway stations in North Bengal.[7][8] Since then Darjeeling Mail has been using the Howrah–New Jalpaiguri line.

According to a report, a plan has been made to run the Darjeeling Mail via a new route, which is: Sealdah- Barrackpore- Ranaghat- Krishnanagar- Plassey- Murshidabad- Azimganj- Malda Town to New Jalpaiguri. This is to facilitate the passengers of Nadia and Murshidabad districts who had to travel all the way to Sealdah to catch a train to North Bengal. Moreover the current route is congested and lengthy, resulting in delays. A bridge over the Bhagirathi river has been built and tracks have been laid connecting Murshidabad and Azimganj stations. Once this connection is ready, operating the train through this route will bring down the distance as well as running time.

Another report says that the Darjeeling Mail is planned to be run through the now revived Haldibari- Chilahati cross-border railway link, thus retracing the old route on which the train used to ply.

Traction

WAP-7 electric locomotive of Sealdah Loco Shed powers the train from Sealdah to New Jalpaiguri and WDP-4D diesel locomotive of Siliguri Loco Shed powers the train from New Jalpaiguri to Haldibari.

Route & Halts

The important halts of the train are:

1. Sealdah
2. Barddhaman Junction
3. Bolpur Shantiniketan
4. Malda Town
5. Kishanganj
6. New Jalpaiguri
7. Jalpaiguri
8. Haldibari

Operation

12343 – Starts from Sealdah Daily at 22:05 Hrs IST from Platform 9B and reaches Platform 2 of Haldibari next day at 10:00 Hrs IST. In return, 12344 – Starts form Haldibari at 18:15 Hrs IST and reach Sealdah at 6:00 Hrs IST.

Coach composition

This train has 22 LHB coaches[9]

Sealdah to Haldibari

Loco	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
	SLR	GEN	GEN	GEN	S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7	B1	B2	B3	B4	B5	B6	B7	A1	A2	H1	EOG

Haldibari to Sealdah

Loco	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
	SLR	MIL	GEN	GEN	S9	S8	S7	S6	S5	S4	S3	S2	H1	B7	B6	B5	B4	B3	B2	A1	A2	B1	S1	SLR

Gallery

• 
  Darjeeling Mail – AC 3 tier
• 
  Darjeeling Mail – Sleeper Class

See also

• Sealdah railway station
• Haldibari railway station
• Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Other trains on the Kolkata–New Jalpaiguri sector

• 12041/42 New Jalpaiguri–Howrah Shatabdi Express
• 22309/10 Howrah–New Jalpaiguri AC Express
• 12377/78 Padatik Express
• 12343/44 Darjeeling Mail
• 13149/50 Sealdah-Alipurduar Kanchan Kanya Express
• 15959/60 Kamrup Express
• 13175/76 Kanchanjungha Express/Sealdah–Silchar Kanchanjunga Express
• 13173/74 Sealdah–Agartala Kanchanjunga Express
• 12345/46 Saraighat Express
• 15721/22 New Jalpaiguri–Digha Paharia Express
• 12517/18 Kolkata–Guwahati Garib Rath Express
• 12525/26 Dibrugarh–Kolkata Superfast Express
• 13141/42 Teesta Torsha Express
• 13147/48 Uttar Banga Express
• 12503/04 Bangalore Cantonment–Agartala Humsafar Express
• 13181/82 Kolkata–Silghat Town Kaziranga Express
• 22511/12 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus–Kamakhya Karmabhoomi Express
• 15643/44 Puri–Kamakhya Weekly Express (via Howrah)
• 12363/64 Kolkata–Haldibari Intercity Express
• 12509/10 Guwahati–Bengaluru Cantt. Superfast Express
• 12507/08 Thiruvananthapuram–Silchar Superfast Express
• 12513/14 Guwahati–Secunderabad Express

References

External links

External video
Darjeeling Mail-WDP4 magic with 8 AC coaches
Darjeeling Mail at Kamarkundu Junction

• Railway Website

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