Danapur Division to turn 100 on Jan 1, Railways plans to showcase its heritage

Patna/Danapur: Indian Railways' historic Danapur Division that manages some of the lines and stations originally set up nearly 160 years ago will complete an eventful journey of 100 years on January 1.

The division has planned a grand celebration on January 31 at the old Jagjivan Stadium where it will also host an exhibition showcasing its rich history through archival documents, photographs and railway artefacts, a senior official said.

"We are also working on a coffee table book on the centenary of the Danapur Division. Besides going through our old documents and photographs kept in different departments at the DRM office, we are also trying to crowd-source relevant material for the book," Aadhar Raj, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Danapur Division, told PTI.

"There is also a plan to issue a commemorative postal cover to mark 100 years of the division," he said.

Danapur (earlier Dinapore) division was established on January 1, 1925. Its office is located in a majestic building erected in 1929 near the historic Danapur station at Khagaul town near Patna.

The first divisional superintendent of Danapur was C Eyers, who took charge on January 1, 1925. The post was redesignated as divisional railway manager (DRM) from 1980s onwards, according to information displayed on the succession board.

While the division is 100 years old, the Danapur (earlier Dinapore) railway station was built in the 1860s, along with the old Patna station (now Patna Sahib station) located in Patna City, and the erstwhile Bankipore station (near the site of the current Patna Junction built much later) on the Howrah-Delhi line, as per railway experts and some archival records.

The old stations at Fatuha, Bakhtiarpur, Barh, Mokama, Gulzarbagh and Bihta, located on a section of this line which falls within the limits of Danapur Division, were built in later years, they said. The current Danapur Division spans the rail network from Jhajha to Kuchman.

The Mughalsarai rail network was also part of it before it was carved out as a separate division in later decades after Independence.

Till the redevelopment of Patna Sahib station a few years ago, a plaque bearing 'PATNA 1861' embedded on a wall of its building was visible from the platform.

Several old maps also depict this historic station as Patna City station, reflecting the name of this older region of Patna.

The then East Indian Railway (EIR) system laid the line from Howrah to Delhi, and operations on it begun phase-wise from early 1850s to late 1860s, which included construction of the iconic bridge over Sone river at Koelwar and a bridge each over Yamuna at Allahabad and Delhi, all major feats of civil and railway engineering.

A team at the Danapur DRM office is currently busy scouring through old files and records, searching for old photographs, correspondences and other archival material which can be used in the planned exhibition and the coffee table book.

"While we have found some old photographs and documents, we are also relying on contributions from people if they are in possession of any old records, photos, etc., whose soft copy they can send to us. We will acknowledge the contributions," Raj said.

A senior railway official, who is part of the team, said an idea is being explored to permanently display these archival photos and material after the exhibition in a room at the old DRM office, whose building itself is a heritage structure nearly 100 years old and has a vintage steam engine displayed on its premises.

The charming red-and-white building located near Danapur station is the centrepiece of a quaint railway colony at Khagaul, dotted with many handsome British-era structures such as the official residence of the DRM, 'Rail Sadan', old railway school and hospital, and a few beautiful churches, besides humble railway colonies.

Many houses in the colonies and other old buildings constructed before Independence and in later years, such as the famous Railway Cinema that abutted a beautiful EIR-era railway institute building, have been demolished over the past few years as part of a redevelopment project.

Few other British-era structures are marked for demolition to make way for an elevated road project, people familiar with the matter said.

After Independence, various railway systems operating in India were reorganised into one centralised Indian Railways with few region-specific zones for its management.

Danapur Division was put under the Kolkata-based Eastern Railway (ER) established in 1952. From 2002 onwards, it came under East Central Railway (ECR), carved out of ER, with headquarters at Hajipur in north Bihar.

The old Jagjivan Stadium was inaugurated by the then Railway Minister Jagjivan Ram, originally as a stadium of the Eastern Railway at Khagaul.

According to old publications, after the government of India took over the management of EIR, with effect from 1925, it was split into six divisions -- Howrah, Asansol and Dinapore, known as lower divisions, and Allahabad, Lucknow and Moradabad, known as upper divisions.

"While searching for old records and photographs, we also felt that the history of Danapur Division and documentation and preservation of its heritage should have been done long ago," a senior official said.