Cruising past Santragachi Junction, and adjoining Electric Locomotive Shed: Mumbai Duronto
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Powered by 22303 HWH WAP- 4, the 12262 Howrah (HWH)- Mumbai C.S.T. (CSTM) A.C. DURONTO Express skips the busy Santragachi Junction at a restricted speed. At the adjoining coaching yard, a few rakes are spotted, among which an INSPECTION SPECIAL Express is spotted along with a couple of alcos. And...
more... in the Electric Locomotive Shed, numerous WAP- 4 are also seen taking rest, and waiting for their respective duties.
Santragachi railway station:
Santragachi railway station is a railway junction on the South Eastern Railway, at Santragachi. The South Eastern Railway serves local trains to Amta, Mecheda, Panskura, Haldia, Kanthi, Medinipur and Kharagpur; and mail/express trains to Central, West and South India. Bengal Nagpur Railway, which is now known as South Eastern Railway, was connected to Howrah station in 1900. This time, the 3 mile long short branch from Santragachhi to Shalimar Station was also created for redirecting heavy traffic of export goods, for further carrying them to Kidderpore dock in Kolkata via large ferry steamers.
Earlier superfast express and mail trains didn't have any stop at Santragachi station. In fact not even a single express train stopped at this station. In the recent days communication between Santragachi and Howrah-Kolkata has improved considerably. Taxi stands and bus stands have been set up to cater to the off board passengers travelling in various directions. There is a dedicated Volvo bus service to connect this area to Netaji Subhash Chandra International Airport, Kolkata. All these factors contributed to the rise of Santragachi as an important railway station. Furthermore, people tend to avoid excessive rush in Howrah station and often get down at Santragachi to board cabs and buses. Almost all Howrah/Shalimar bound express/mail trains stop here except a few like Duronto Express. However these express/mail trains starting from Howrah/Shalimar do not stop at Santragachi station in their outward journeys. nowadays, a few trains originate from Santragachi station to Ajmer, Porbandar, Nanded etc. and a Viwek Express running to Mangalore Central starting from Santragachi. Some Summer Special trains also start from here.
