Barauni-Katihar section

Barauni–Katihar section
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Bihar
Termini	Barauni Katihar
Stations	27
Operation
Owner	Indian Railway
Operator(s)	East Central Railway, Northeast Frontier Railway
Technical
Line length	185 km (115 mi)
Track gauge	1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge

The Barauni–Katihar section of the Barauni–Guwahati line connects Barauni and Katihar in the Indian state of Bihar .

Railway development on the northern side of the Ganges in Bihar came up soon after the opening of the Howrah–Delhi main line on the southern side of the Ganges in 1866. Several railway companies were involved – East Indian Railway, Assam Behar State Railway, and Tirhut State Railway. In his book The Indian Empire, Its People, History and Products (first published in 1886) W.W.Hunter, says "The Tirhut State Railway with its various branches intersects Northern Behar and is intended to extend to the Nepal frontier on one side and to Assam on the other." However, early developments appear to be scattered. EIR built the Katihar–Kasba and Katihar–Manihari lines in 1887. Assam Behar State Railway built the Parbatipur–Katihar line (see Barsoi–Parbatipur line) in 1889, thereby linking Assam and parts of North Bengal with Bihar. Tirhoot State Railway built some longer lines such as Samastipur–Khagaria, and added branch lines such as the 7 miles long Barauni–Semaria Ghat in 1883, the 11 miles long Thana Bihpur to Bararighat in 1901 and Khagaria to Hasanpur Road in 1915. Most of these early metre gauge lines got interconnected in subsequent years.

The construction of the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long Rajendra Setu in 1959 provided the first opportunity to link the railway tracks on the north and south banks of the Ganges.

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