rative, the dilemma of whether to offer the work of construction to a native or not forced the project to be abandoned. After Independence, the requirement of rail link connecting Panskura and Durgachak came up primarily for the purpose of constructing Haldia Port. The rail link between Panskura – Durgachak via Tamluk completed in 1968, which was later on extended to Haldia in 1975. Extension of rail link to Digha from Tamluk was sanctioned in 1984 and it took 20 years to complete this project in two phases, the first phase of linking Tamluk and Contai completed in November 2003 and the tourist destination Digha got connected to Howrah in December 2004.
Geographical location of Kharagpur and its rail links with the rest of the country favoured construction of a centralized workshop with facilities to carry out major repairs of all broad gauge stock. In 1900, the work was sanctioned and the construction of the workshop was completed in 1904
