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150 Years Celebration of Eastern Railways : Heritage Run Howrah to Bandel with Dual Steam Locomotive

4,481 views · Published 26 March 2018 · 1:48 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: SPD RAILFAN · 2018 · Travel & Events

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150 Glorious Years Celebration of Eastern Railways : Heritage Run Howrah to Bandel with Dual Legendary Steam Locomotive and 1853 made heritage coaches along with newly imported LHB coaches

The Eastern Railways celebrated their 150 years by running a special Heritage run from Howrah to Bandel and back.It was a special train, for invitees only.

The special train consisted of:

1. WP 7015 Steam Locomotive
2. WP/P 7200 Steam Locomotive
3. coach 1853-8, II class
4. coach 1853-7, II class
5. coach 1853-3, II class
6. coach 1853-2, II class
7. coach 1853-1, II class
8. coach 1853-4, 1st AC
9. coach 1853-5, AC 2T
10. coach 1853-6, Pantry Car
11. coach 1853-9, AC Chair Car
12. coach 02161/A - LHB/IRY AC Chair Car
13. coach 02901/A - LHB/IRY Executive Chair Car
14. coach 02851/A - LHB/IRY Luggage/Generator/Guard
15. WDM3A 14128 Diesel Locomotive, HWH shed.

On 15th August 1854, East Indian Railway (EIR)’s first train ran from Howrah to Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles. Regular services were introduced from that day, with stops at Bally, Serampore and Chandannagore.

In 1862, EIR extended upto the west bank of Yamuna on its way to Delhi. In 1864, in a bid to connect Calcutta and Delhi, trains started running between the two cities without any bridge on Yamuna by ferrying the coaches on boats across the river at Allahabad. In 1865 the Yamuna Bridge at Allahabad opened. In 1867 EIR branch line extended from Allahabad to Jubbalpore.

After the Government of India took over the management of EIR in 1925, it was splitted into six divisions — Howrah, Asansol and Dinapore known as the lower divisions and Allahabad, Lucknow and Moradabad known as the upper divisions.

Eastern Railway (ER) was formed on 14th April, 1952 by integration of the East Indian Railway (EIR) consisting of Sealdah, Howrah, Asansol and Danapur Divisions and the entire Bengal – Nagpur Railway (BNR). The jurisdiction of ER extended from Howrah to Mughalsarai in the North, upto Visakhapatnam in the South and upto Nagpur in the Central area. The three Upper divisions of E.I.R. were added to Northern Railway.

Later, the portions of BNR stretching from Howrah to Visakhapatnam in the South, Howrah to Nagpur in the Central area and upto Katni in the North Central Region were separated from Eastern Railway and formed as “South Eastern Railway” with effect from 1st August 1955.

Asansol Division was formed in 1925, Dhanbad Division in 1964, Mughulsarai Division in 1975 and Malda Division in 1984 as part of ER.

After redistribution and construction of new lines over a period of time, Eastern Railway as on 30th September 2002, stretched over 4245.61 km

On 01-10-2002, three divisions viz. Dhanbad, Mughalsarai and Danapur were separated from Eastern Railway to create new East Central Railway zone with headquarters at Hajipur. Eastern Railway now consists of 2500 Route Kilometres spread over four divisions viz. Sealdah, Howrah, Asansoland Malda out of which 1424 route kilometres are electrified on 25 KV AC traction.

Eastern Railway extends to Bangaladesh border in the East upto Lalgola, Benapole and Gede. Malda and Kiul to the North, Namkhana near Ganga Sagar to the South and Asansol and Jhajha in the West.

Starting from Howrah, the trunk route of Eastern Railway runs 221 kms. to Sitarampur from where it takes two directions towards Delhi, one via Patna and other via Dhanbad – Gaya. Both these routes converge again at Mughalsarai Station of East Central Railway. Adjoining railways are North East Frontier Railway to the north, East Central Railway to the west and South Eastern Railway to the south.

The area served by Eastern Railway is important to the economy of the country, as apart from serving the most densely populated region in the country, this Railway serves the areas rich in minerals, agriculture and industry.

Eastern Railway provides long distance passenger traffic service in the form of several prestigious Mail/Express trains. The Rajdhani Express was introduced for the first time on Indian Railways between Howrah and New Delhi over Eastern and Northern Railways in 1969.

The honour of running the fastest long-distance train of Indian Railways has again gone to Eastern Railway with the introduction of Duronto Express trains. The first Duronto Express on Indian Railways ran from Sealdah to New Delhi on 18-09-2009.

Eastern Railway also has claimed the honour of running the first fully Air Conditioned Double Decker Express in the country from Howrah to Dhanbad on 01-10-2011.

Eastern Railway has also been the pioneer in introducing Diesel Multiple Units  DMU service for the first time in the country .

On the suburban front, Howrah and Sealdah divisions of Eastern Railway are running more than 1300 EMUs/MEMUs everyday making ER the 2nd largest suburban network on Indian Railways

Eastern Railway has the honour of running 2 international trains of India.MAITREE EXPRESS & BANDHAN EXPRESS

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