This is not an official account of Railways. The Bengal Nagpur Railway
The Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Company was incorporated in 1887 to take over from the Nagpur Chattisgarh Railway and to convert the line to Broad Gauge. The work was completed in 1888. The extension of the main line from Nagpur to Asansol was completed by 1891. A 161 mile long branch line (258 km) which connected Bilaspur to U
maria coal mine was built and linked to the existing line from Umaria to Katni (1891). By the turn of the twentieth century work on the Calcutta-Bombay and Calcutta-Madras lines were completed. Through the first half of the twentieth century work on the BNR lines progressed steadily. In 1921 the Talcher coalfields were connected by a railway line starting from Nergundi. In 1931, the Raipur-Vizianagaram line was set up, which connected the East Coast with the Central Province. By the end of the 1930s the BNR owned the largest narrow gauge network in the country. The BNR management was taken over by the British Indian Government on 1 October 1944. and continued to be called by that name until 14 April 1952, when it was amalgamated with the East Indian Railway to form one of six newly carved zones of the Indian Railways : the Eastern Railway. On August 1, 1955 the erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway portion was separated and a new zone, the South Eastern Railway came into existence. In July, 1967 the South Eastern Railway took over Bankura Domodar River line. South Eastern Railway was earlier known as Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR). Major events in the development of SE Railway are given below :
1887 > The Bengal Nagpur Railway was formed.
1887 > The construction of a new bridge over the Kanhah River commenced in 1884 and was completed in 1887.
4th Dec 1888 > The section from Rajnandgaon to Raipur was opened for traffic.
14th Feb 1889 > The section from Raipur to Bilaspur was opened for traffic.
6th Oct 1890 > The East Coast Railway was inaugurated.
1st Feb 1891 > The main line for BNR from Nagpur to Asansol was opened for Goods traffic.
9th Mar 1891 > The Bilaspur-Katni Branch was opened for traffic.
1st Oct 1892 > The Saranda tunnel was completed and opened for traffic
21st Aug 1893 > The Kakinada-Visakhapatnam line was opened for traffic.
1893 to 1896 > 800 miles of East Coast Railway line was built and opened for traffic.
1893 to 1896 > East Coast Railway built some of the largest bridges viz. Brahmani, Mahanadi, Katjuri, Kuakhai and Birupa during the period.
1st Feb 1897 > Khurda Road-Puri (27 miles) section was opened for traffic.
1898-99 > The most vital section of BNR viz. Sini-Kharagpur & Kolaghat and Kharagpur-Cuttack were opened for traffic.
1st Jan 1899 > BNRs Line to Cuttack was opened.
1899-1900 > Kolaghat-Howrah section was completed.
19th April 1900 > Rupanarayan Bridge near Kolaghat was opened and first train passed over. March 1901 > The construction of a bridge on River Mahanadi near Cuttack was completed.
1st Feb 1901 > Kharagpur-Midnapur Branch line was opened for traffic.
1901 > 45.74 miles long Dhamtari line and 10.50 miles long Rajim Branch were opened for traffic.
13th April 1903 > The first portion of Gondia-Nainpur (73 miles) was opened.
1904 > Nainpur became the focal point of Satpura lines. Nainpur-Chindwara section was opened for traffic.
1905 > Nainpur-Gondia line was extended upto Jabalpur.
15th Nov 1907 > Purulia-Ranchi Branch was opened for traffic.
1907 > Extension of Gomoh, a point of East Indian Railways main line was completed.
1908 > The Head Office Building of B N R was constructed at a cost of Rs.7, 01,995/-
Nov 1908 > Gondia-Nagbhir-Nagpur line was opened for traffic.
1908-09 > Vizianagaram-Parvatipuram (49 miles) section was opened
1911 > A 40 mile branch line from Tatanagar to Gurumahisarani where plenty of iron ores are available was opened for traffic.
1913 > Nagpur-Chidwara extension was opened for traffic.? With this, the biggest network of narrow gauge line in Indian Sub-continent was completed. Its length was extended 610 miles.? This Satpura line project was initiated by Sir T.R.Wynne.
1913 > Mohuda-Chandrapura (9 miles) Branch was opened for traffic.
1913 > Nagbhir-Rajoli (30 miles) was opened and extended upto Chanda.
1913 > Extension to Salur on Vizianagaram-Parvatipuram section was opened.
1915 > B N R Hotel at Ranchi was established.
1916-17 > Bankura-Damodar River Railway in narrow gauge was built by Bengal Nagpur Railway.
1918 > Burnpur, India's second largest Iron & Steel Plant was established.
1922 > BNR Hotel at Puri was established.
1922 > Tatanagar-Gurumahisani line was extended upto Badampahar.
1924 > To feed iron ore and magnese ores to Burnpur Steel Plant Amda,? (New Khurswan) on BNR?s main line built.
17th Jan 1924 > Kharswan-Dongaposi was opened for traffic. Feb 1925 > Extension to Gua was completed.
20th Mar 1927 > 72 mile Barkakhana-Chandil section was opened for traffic.
1928-30 > 54 mile long Anuppur - Chirimiri section was opened
1930 > Shalimar Goods Shed on the bank of River Hooghly was in operational.
1930 > Parlakmedi-Gunupur section was opened in two portions in 1929 and 1931
Dec 1931 > Raipur-Parvatipuram line was completed.
1933 > The development of Vizag Port by Bengal Nagpur Railway was completed.
18TH Dec 1933 > The Visakhapatnam Port was officially declared open by His Excellency Lord Willingtorn, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India.
1st Oct 1944 > The management of Bengal Nagpur Railway was taken by Government of India. Raipur-Dhamtari Branch was the first Narrow Gauge line of Bengal Nagpur Railway.
1955 > B N R Emerged as South Eastern Railway.
1956 > The Visakhapatnam Port was managed by Bengal Nagpur Railway till October.
14th May 1958 > Bhillai-Dallijahara line was opened for traffic.
4th Feb 1959 > Bhilai Steel Plant was built and inaugurated by Dr.Rajendra Prasad, President of India. The steel plant was situated between Durg and Raipur on S.E.Railway's main stream.
1960 > The Dandakaranya-Bolangir-Kiriburu Railway Project.
1960 > Ranchi-Kotshila was converted into BG
31st Jan 1962 > Foundation stone of Cuttack-Paradip line was laid by the then Prime Minister, Late Jawarlal Nehru. April 1963 > Sambalpur-Titlagarh line was opened for traffic. April 1964 > For the transportation of bulk raw materials for Bokaro Steel Plant, Durg-Bokaro section was opened for traffic.
1967 > Bokaro Steel Plant was set up with Soviet Collaboration. July 1967 > South Eastern Railway took over Bankura Domodar River line. Jan 1968 > Panskura-Durgachak section was opened for traffic.
1968 > Cuttack-Paradip line was inaugurated.
9th July 1973 > Cuttack-Paradip line was opened for traffic.
1st June 1976 > S E R introduced EMU train services between Panskura & Haldia.
28 Feb 1977 > Jhakpura-Daitari line was opened for traffic.
18th Dec 1979 > Direct EMU service between Howrah and Haldia started.
1st Sept 1980 > Kirandul-Jagadalpur line was energized.
1982 > Jagadalpur-Koraput section was energized.
11th Nov 1989 > Inauguration of Shalimar-Haldia Intercity Exp.by? MR
2000 > Foundation stone of BDR Gauge Conversion was laid by Hon?ble Minister for Railways.
18th Nov 2000 > Banspani-Joroli (10.44 Km) was opened for traffic.
1st April 2000 > Introduction of Howrah-Purulia Rupasi Bangla Exp. And Bankura-Shalimar Aranyak Exp. By Hon?ble MR.
1st July, 2000 > Howrah Bankura Shiromoni MEMU Passenger service introduced by Hon?ble MR
15th Mar 2001 > Adra-Purulia MEMU Passenger Service introduced by Hon?ble MR
17th Oct. 2001 > Hatia-New Delhi Weekly Rajdhani Express and Hatia-Baidyanathdham Exp. Were flagged off by Hon?ble MR
27th Oct. 2001 > Raipur-Durg MEMU Passenger train was flagged off by Hon?ble MR
28th Oct 2001 > Bilaspur-New Delhi Weekly Rajdhani Exp. Was flagged off by Hon'ble MR
28th Oct 2001 > Howrah-Bokaro Shatabdi Express extended up to RANCHI by Hon?ble MR.
