Assam Mail

Assam Mail

Overview
Service type	Mail train
Route
Start	Santahar (pre-independence) Delhi (post-independence)
End	Amingaon (pre-independence) Guwahati (later extended to Dibrugarh in the post-independence era)
Service frequency	Daily
Technical
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ^3⁄8 in), 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)

The Assam Mail was one of the better known metre gauge trains in the Indian Railway system that was there from the pre-independence days. The train was discontinued in 1986 with the completion of the broad gauge conversion of the meter gauge line to Dibrugarh.

3 Up/ 4 Dn

Assam Mail Route Chart
Legend
Pre-1947  ferry to Guwahati across Brahmaputra Amingaon New Bongaigaon-Guwahati section Bongaigaon New Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon section Fakiragram Golokganj Gitaldaha Mogalhat Lalmonirhat Burimari-Lalmonirhat-Parbatipur Line Kaunia Santahar-Kaunia Line Santahar Chilahati-Parbatipur-Santahar-Darshana Line

Popularly known as 3 Up/ 4 Dn (Kalka Mail was 1 Up/ 2 Dn), it originally ran in the pre-independence days from Santahar, now in Bangladesh, to Guwahati.^[1] It travelled along the Santahar-Kaunia Line up to Kaunia, then to Lalmonirhat along Parbatipur-Lalmonirhat-Burimari Line, crossing the Teesta. Thereafter, it took the now defunct Mogalhat-Gitaldaha route crossing the Dharla over the bridge, part of which has since been washed away, on to Golokganj, Fakiragram and Amingaon.

Passengers to and from Kolkata and the rest of India traveled between Kolkata and Santahar by broad gauge Darjeeling Mail or some other connection and then switched over to metre gauge Assam Mail.^[1]

Post Independence

Assam Mail Route Chart
Legend
Post-1962  Dibrugarh Lumding Guwahati–Lumding section Guwahati New Bongaigaon–Guwahati section Bongaigaon New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section Fakiragram New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line Siliguri Junction Barauni–Guwahati line Barauni Mokama–Barauni section Mokama Howrah–Delhi main line New Delhi

After independence and partition of India in 1947, the train stopped temporarily (possibly in 1950). When Assam Link Project connected Fakiragram to Kishanganj Assam Mail started running along the Katihar-Siliguri Line. It needed a loco reversal at Siliguri Junction and traveled along what is now the New Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar-Samuktala Road line. Assam Mail was converted into a two part train. It ran from New Delhi to Dibrugarh (after Rajendra Setu and Saraighat Bridge came up), with the broad gauge part running up to Barauni from where the metre gauge part continued up to Dibrugarh. Passengers had to get down at Barauni and change trains.^[1]

The metre gauge part of the Assam Mail from Barauni to Dibrugarh covered 1,387 kilometres (862 mi). It was one of the longer metre gauge runs in the country, running across the flood plains of the Kosi, the Dooars, Western Assam and finally Upper Assam.^[2]

"With the BG extension from Barauni Jn to Guwahati in 1986, the Assam Mail was renamed as the North East Express and this legendary train of N.F. Railway went into oblivion."^[1]

References

1. "Trains of fame and locos with a name - Part 2". IRFCA. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
2. "Trivia". Metre Gauge Notes. IRFCA. Retrieved 2012-01-28.