Kolkata Suburban Railway

The railways form the life line of India. Railway journeys in India are a completely different experience - right from booking your tickets to reaching your destination. The IR has several divisions of which the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway are headquartered in Calcutta. There are two major railway stations in Calcutta - Howrah and Sealdah. Calcutta and its neighbouring districts have an extensive (but crowded) suburban railway system. Most of the trains are EMUs (Electric Multiple Units). In some cases DMUs are also used (Diesel Multiple Units). The Suburban railway system can be categorized as follows:

From Howrah Station :

South Eastern Railways: for south western suburbs of Howrah like Santragacchi, Andul, Amta and district towns of Panskura, Kharagpur, Midnapore, Haldia.

Eastern Railways: for northern suburbs on the western banks of river Hooghly - Belur, Bally, Rishra, Serampore, Chandannagar, Bandel and district towns of Barddhaman and Tarakeshwar.

From Sealdah Station - Main Section: Eastern Railways: for northern suburbs on the eastern bank of Hooghly river like Dum Dum, Barrackpore, Kalyani and district towns of Ranaghat, Shantipur and Krishnangar.

From Sealdah Station - South Section:

Eastern Railways: for southern suburbs of Calcutta like Ballygunge, Jadavpur, Garia, Budge Budge and district towns like Port Canning, Diamond Harbour and Lakhmikantapur.

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