Headquarters of South Eastern Railway (SER), Garden Reach, formerly Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR)

South Eastern Railway (SER) Headquarters, Garden Reach

formerly Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR)

The opening of the Mumbai-Thane line in 1853 marked the beginning of railways in India. The Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) was formed in 1887 for the purpose of upgrading the Nagpur Chhattisgarh Line and then extending it via Bilaspur to Asansol, in order to develop a shorter Howrah-Mumbai route than the one via Allahabad.

Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Office, Headquarters of the South Eastern Railway (SER), Garden Reach

The BNR main line from Nagpur to Asansol was opened for goods traffic on 1 February 1891. It was only after Kharagpur was linked from the west and the south that it was connected to Howrah in 1900.

In the footsteps of Wajid Ali Shah, Walking tour of Metiabruz

In the footsteps of Wajid Ali Shah

Walking tour of Metiabruz, an initiative of ITC Sonar, Kolkata

See also: Metiabruz Dawat, ITC Sonar, Kolkata

On 13 May 1856 a steamer, name McLeod, docked at the Bichali Ghat in Metibruz, in the southern fringes of Calcutta (now Kolkata). On board was the disposed king of Oudh (or Awadh) Wajid Ali Shah.

Group shot at the grand staircase of the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Office, headquarters of South Eastern Railway (SER), Garden Reach, Kolkata

Little did he know that he would never return to his capital Lucknow and it started the beginning of a home in exile.