Railways fix platforms at Bidhannagar, Dum Dum stations
The Statesman | 26 November 2025
After successful experimentation at Sealdah station, the divisional railway authorities have now decided to fix platforms at Bidhannagar and Dum Dum stations for effective handling of crowds.
A few months back, the authorities fixed stations for local EMUs and long distance at Sealdah station that witnesses passenger surge particularly during rush hours and festive season. To prevent any major mishap, the authorities decided to allocate specific platforms for different trains heading to various suburban sections as an initiative to streamline train operations and ensure crowd management.
Following the decision, platform number one to five primarily cater to suburban services bound for main line sections, while platform number five to eight are primarily being used for suburban services bound for CCR sections. Platform numbers six to 10 are primarily serving suburban services bound for central section while platform numbers 9 and 11 to 14 cater to mail/express services. The rest of the platforms, including those from 15 to 21 cater to suburban services for Sealdah South Section only. The experiment proved successful for the station which is one of the busiest stations in the country.
Taking a cue from the experiment, the divisional railway has now decided to allocate platforms for EMUs in a similar manner at Bidhannagar and Dum Dum railway station. According to official sources, the decision comes as the two stations have a good number of passengers on working days. According to the official data, on normal days, Bidhannagar Road station has a massive footfall of about 1.7 lakh. Out of this, the footfall reaches more than 1 lakh during morning and evening peak hours only, causing huge overcrowding.
Considering the situation, the Sealdah Division authorities have allocated platform number one at Bidhannagar and Dum Dum stations for the Barrackpore-bound suburban Up trains from Sealdah. Dum Dum Cantonment-bound suburban trains from Sealdah running via up main line, Dankuni-bound suburban trains from Sealdah running via up main line, Dumdum Junction bound Up suburban trains from Ballygunge Junction via Up Chord line have been identified for being operated from platform number two at Bidhannagar and platform number three at Dum Dum Junction station.
Apart from this, passenger trains, including MEMU passenger from Sealdah, having 6 as starting number and mail/express Up trains from Sealdah and Kolkata stations passing non-stop at Bidhannagar and Dum Dum stations via main or common line are also to be handled at platform No. 2 at Bidhannagar station and platform three at Dum Dum station.