Howrah Station - Facilities

Facilities

Howrah Station houses the divisional headquarters of the Howrah Division of Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railways.

For passengers it has an enormous covered waiting area between the main complex and the platforms. The main complex has waiting and retiring rooms for passengers awaiting connecting trains. In addition there is a Yatri Niwas with dormitory/ single room/ double room accommodation. The vehicular carriageways along the length of platforms allow passengers to be dropped near rail compartments — a facility unique among most major stations of the country.

The station complex includes the following:

• Two vehicular carriageways between platforms 8-9 (Eastern Railway) and 22-23 (South Eastern Railway) up to the length of the platforms. They connect to the flyovers at the end of platforms; facilitating quick exit of vehicles.
• Diesel Loco shed (84 locos)
• Electric Loco Shed (96 locos). This also includes an electric trip shed with the capacity to hold around 15–20 locos. Interestingly, Howrah loco shed houses the maximum number of WAP-4 class of locos, numbering a total of 100 locos.
• EMU Car Shed (15+ parking slots)
• Coach Maintenance Complex services many prestigious trains such as the Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi expresses.

South Eastern railway's EMU car shed and electric loco shed are situated respectively at Tikiapara and Santragachhi. The Howrah Railway Complex also has a Railway Carriage and Wagons Workshop at Liluah, one of the three in the Eastern Railways. The other two being at Kanchrapara and Jamalpur.

North of the station there is now a new Railway Museum displaying artifacts of historical importance related to the development of Eastern Railway.

Before 1992, there was a tram terminus at Howrah station. Trams departed from here towards Rajabazar, Sealdah Station, High Court, Dalhousie Square, Park Circus and Shyambazar. Trams also departed from here towards Bandhaghat and Shibpur. That terminus was partially closed in 1971 for closure of the Bandhaghat and Shibpur lines. Many unauthorised vehicles and people took over the tram-track carrying streets and it was impossible to continue the tram service on these routes. The state government wanted to close these lines rather than control buses, taxis, rickshaws and people to allow free tram movement. After these closures, the part of the terminus which served these two lines was re-constructed for underpasses and a bus terminus. But the other part still functioned until 1992, when the Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) was declared not fit to carry trams, because it is a cantilever bridge. The tram line ran from the opening of the bridge until 1992. Previously routes 11, 20, 26, 30 & 32 served this terminus. Now the terminus is used by buses, and all trams for Howrah station now depart from Barhabazar (1 km away). Some poles and stretches of track still exist.

When the Kolkata metro line 2 is built, it will pass through Howrah.