Begunkodar railway station is a railway station of Ranchi railway division of the South Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It serves the nearby area of Begunkodor and Jhalda town in the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[1] Passengers deserted the station and it had come to be known as haunted in Railway records.[2] The station was listed by Railways as one of its 10 most haunted stations in India.[3]
Begunkodor railway station | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Railways station | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | Begunkodor, Purulia district, West Bengal India | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 23°23′15″N 86°01′18″E / 23.3875°N 86.0217°E | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 308 metres (1,010 ft) | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | Double electrified BG | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||
| Parking | Not available | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Status | Functional | ||||||||||
| Station code | BKDR | ||||||||||
| Zone(s) | South Eastern Railway | ||||||||||
| Division(s) | Ranchi Division | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 1960 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 1967 | ||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 2009 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
History
editBegunkodor station was set up by the joint efforts of the queen of Santals, Lachan Kumari and Indian Railways in the year 1960.[4][5]
Controversy
editAccording to the villagers of Begunkodor, in 1967, a railway employee reported the sighting of a woman's ghost, and it was rumored that she had died in a railway accident. The next day he told people about it but they ignored him.
The real trouble started when the dead bodies of the station master and his family were found in their quarters. The station was subsequently closed as trains stopped making halts here due to alleged paranormal phenomena.
In the late 1990s the villagers formed a committee and asked the officials to reopen the station. In 2007, local villagers wrote to then Railway minister Smt. Mamata Banerjee and CPIM leader Basudeb Acharia, who belongs to Purulia and was member of the parliamentary standing committee on Railways at the time. the begunkodar haunted tag remains. Acharia said that railway employees had made up the story to avoid being posted there. After 42 years, in August 2009, the railway station was finally reopened as a passenger train halt, by former Railway minister Mamata Banerjee.[6]
Although 10 trains halt here regularly, passengers avoid using the station after sunset. It is believed that twice a week, a girl is seen running at with the train on the same day when she died. Presently, Begunkodar railway station is being touted by certain people as a ghost tourist spot to attract visitors.[3][7]
In Literature
editA seemingly accurate first-hand account of the events that took place at the station in 1967 is found in a historical fiction story published in 2022 [8]
References
edit- ^ "BKDR / Begunkodor". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "A station where trains never stop". Orissa Post. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
- ^ a b "West Bengal's Begunkodor no longer a haunted railway station". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "The ghost and the darkness". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Begun Kodar popularly known as Ghost Station". railnews.in. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Now, take a tour of Bengal's haunted railway station". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Myth of West Bengal's 'haunted' Begunkodar railway station busted after 50 years". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Fox, Jon M. (April 2022). "Noorie". Night to Dawn 41. Night to Dawn Magazine and Books, LLC.