Brief History of Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway, covering a length of 2791 route kilometers managed by 26349 regular staff, is Government-owned and government managed transpiration agency of the country.

Date	Description
15 November, 1862	Construction of 53.11 Km. of Broad gauge line between Darsana and Jagati of Kustia district by Eastern Bengal Railway.
01 January, 1871	Extension of Darsana – Jagati railway line up to Goalanda by Eastern Bengal Railway.
1874 – 1879	Construction of Meter Gauge railway line from Sara (near Paksey) to Chilahati, Parbatipur to Dinajpur and Parbatipur to Kaunia and construction of Broad Guage railway line from Damukdia (Opposite to Sara) to Poradaha.
1882 – 1884	Bengal Cengral Railway Company constructed Benapole to Khulna Broad Gauge railway line.
01 July, 1884	Government took over the Management of Eastern Bengal Railway.
04 January, 1885	Railway Meter Gauge connection between Dhaka and Narayangonj, a distance of 14.98 km. by Dhaka State Railway, which was later on merged with Eastern Bengal State Railway.
1885	Construction of Dhaka – Mymensingh railway section by Dhaka state Railway.
01 April, 1887	Eastern Bengal Railway was merged with Northern Bengal State Railway.
1891	Construction of the Assam – Bengal Railway taken up with British Government assistance but was later on taken over by Assam – Bengal Railway Company.
01 July, 1895	Opening of 149.89 km. Metre Gauge lines between Chittagong and Comilla and 50.89 km. Meter Gauge lines between Laksam and Chandpur by Assam Bengal Railway.
03 November, 1895	Chittagong to Chittagong port line was constructed.
1896	Construction of Meter Gauge line from Comilla to Akhaura and Akhaura to Karimgonj.
1897	Single line section between Darsana and Poradaha converted into double line section.
1898 – 1899	Meter Gauge railway line constructed between Santahar Jn. to Fulchhari by Brahmaputra – Sultanpur Railway Company.
1903	Laksam – Noakhali section constructed by Noakhali (Bengal) Railway Company.
01 April, 1904	Bengal Central Railway Company and Brahmaputra – Sultanpur Railway Company taken over by Govt. managed Eastern Bengal Railway.
1905	Opening of Kaunia – Bonarpara Meter Gauge section. Government purchased the Noakhali (Bengal) Railway company.
01 January, 1996	Noakhali (Bengal) Railway Company merged with Assam Bengal Railway.
1909	Poradaha – Bhairamara single line converted into double line.
1910 – 1914	Akhaura – Tongi section opened, Conversion of Shakole to Santahar Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
1912 – 1915	Kulaura – Sylhet section opened.
01 January, 1915	Hardinge Railway Bridge was opened over the river Padma at Paksey.
1915 – 1916	Sara – Sirajgonj line constructed by Sara – Sirajgonj Railway Company.
1916	Bhariamara – Raita Broad Gauge section opened.
1912 – 1918	Gouripur – Mymensingh – Netrokona and Shamgonj – Jharia – Janjail section constructed by Mymensingh – Bhairab Bazar Railway Company.
1915 – 1932	Bhairamara – Ishurdi – Abdulpur single line section converted into double line.
10 June, 1918	Rupsha – Bagerhat Narrow Gauge section constructed by a Branch line Company.
July, 1924	Conversion of Santahar – Parbatipur Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
September, 1926	Conversion of Parbatipur – Chilahati Meter Gauge section into Broad Gauge.
1928	Opening of Shaistagonj – Hobigonj Section.
1928 – 1929	Tista – Kurigram Narrow Gauge section converted into Broad Gauge.
1929	Shaistagonj – Bella and Chittagong – Hathazari sections opened.
1930	Hathajari – Nazirhat Meter Gauge and Abdulpur – Amnura Broad Gauge sections opened.
1931	Sholashahar – Dohazari Section opened.
06 December, 1937	Opening of King VI George Bridge connecting Bhairab Bazar and Ashugonj over the river Meghna.
1941	Jamalpur – Bahadurabad Meter Gauge section opened.
01 January, 1942	Assam – Bengal Railway taken over by Government and amalgamated with the Eastern Bengal Railway under the name “Bengal and Assam Railway”.
01 October, 1944	Government took over Sara – Sirajgonj Railway company.
1947	Bengal and Assam Railway was spilt up and the portion within the boundary of erstwhile East Pakistan was named as “Eastern Bengal Railway” the control remaining with Central Government of Pakistan.
1948 – 1949	Government takes over Mymensingh – Bhairab Bazar Railway company.
21 April, 1951	Jessore – Darsana Railway line opened to traffic.
01 October, 1954	Sylhet to Chatak Bazar railway line opened to traffic.
01 February, 1961	Eastern Bengal Railway renamed as Pakistan Eastern Railway.
1962	A Railway Board was formed and management of Railway was placed under the Provincial Government.
1972	Pakistan Eastern Railway was renamed as Bangladesh Railway after emergence of Bangladesh sovereign state continued to function under a Railway Board.
03 June, 1982	The Railway Board was abolished and its function was placed under the control of Railway Division of Ministry of Communication with Secretary of the Division being Director General. For administrative convenience and operational reasons, Bangladesh Railway was bifurcated into two zones, East and West zone, headed by two General Manager.
12 August, 1995	Bangladesh Railway Authority (BRA) was formed comprising 9 members with Honorable Minister for Ministry of Communications as Chairman, for giving policy guidance of Bangladesh Railway.
23 June, 1998	East – West Railway connectivity over the mighty river Jamuna was established from the day one, the day of formal opening of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, after completion construction of Broad Gauge track from Jamtoil to Ibrahimabad.
14 August, 2003	Direct BG Train Communication between Dhaka (JOYdebpur) and Rajshahi over Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was established by introducing first Intercity passenger Train after completion of construction of new Dual Gauge (DG) track from Ibrahimabad to Joydebpur.
07 March, 2004	Direct MG train communication between Dhaka and Lalmonirhat was established.
09 November, 2007	Bangladesh has signed the intergovernmental agreement on the Trans Asian Railways (TAR) network as 20th signatory.
14 April, 2008	Direct Communication between Dhaka & Kolkata was established by introducing “Maitree Express” Train.
04 March, 2010	Introduction of ticket selling through mobile phone.
04 December, 2011	Ministry of Railways formed by the Honorable Prime Minister uinder SRO-361-Rules of Business 1996 Rule-3.