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<refname=Admin1918>[https://archive.org/stream/BombayBarodaAndCentralIndiaRailwaySystem/Bombay_Baroda_And_Central_India_Railway_System#page/n161/mode/2up 1up " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 153]; Retrieved 17 20 Dec 20152017</ref>[[File: Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909.png|thumb|Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909]] ==Survey and Construction==The [[Government of India]](GoI) carried out surveys for the route between 1882 and 1887; one of these being the [[Chittagong, Chandpur and Comilla Railway Survey]]. The GoI started the construction of the railway in 1891 from [[Gauhati]] to Dimapur. In 1892 the ‘Assam and Bengal Railway Co’ was formed in London to construct and operate the railway. The line was 740 miles long and the construction was divided into three sections numbered I, II and III. *Section I, 303½ miles(490km), ran from [[Chittagong]] to [[Badarpur]]; and included the ‘[[Laksham]]-[[Chandpur]] Branch' and the ‘[[Badarpur]]-[[Silchar]] Branch’*Section II, 115 miles(185km), from [[Badarpur]] to [[Lumding]]*Section III, 321½ miles(517km), from [[Lumding]] to [[Makum]] where it joined '[[Tinsukia]] Branch' of the [[Dibru-Sadiya Railway]]; and included the ‘[[Lumding]]-[[Gauhati]] Branch' The construction of Section I and III was straightforward. Work commenced on Section I in 1892-93, and completed by 1899. Section III had been commenced by the GoI in 1891 and the ABR commenced work in 1893-94, and fully completed by 1903 <ref name =RC01>“Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry RC01 page ....</ref>. Section II was a more complex section of the line to construct and was not completed until the end of 1903. Work commenced in 1895 and a contract was given to ‘Lewis Jones & Co’ for the construction of the earthworks and tunnels <ref name =RC01/>.<br> The Imperial Gazetteer <ref>[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V06_084.gif “mperial Gazetteer of India”, v. 6, p. 78]; Retrieved 20 Dec 2017</ref> gives the following account:-''“This section runs through shale of the worst description, often intermixed with bands of kaolinite, which swells when exposed and causes heavy slips, or exerts immense pressure on the sides of tunnels. To counteract this pressure, very heavy masonry was required, cuttings had to be arched in, and special measures taken to allow drainage to escape. Though the hill section was only 113 miles in length, it container 24 tunnels, 7 covered ways, and 74 major bridges, the longest being 650 feet, and the highest 113 feet above the river bed; while many of the banks and cuttings approach 100 feet in height and depth respectively. Apart from the special engineering difficulties, great inconvenience was experienced owing to the absence of local labour and food-supplies, and to the unhealthiness of the country traversed. At one time, in addition to the railway materials, food for more than 25,000 men had to be carried into the hills on elephants, bullocks, ponies and other pack animals. The result is that the cost of construction of the hill section has been extremely heavy.”''<br>By the end of Apr 1901 track had been laid 36 miles(58km) north from [[Badarpur]] and 40 miles(64km) south from [[Lumding]]. Track was laid throughout Section III ib May 1903 when goods trains started running. The line opened to passenger traffic on 16 Feb 1904 <ref name =RC01/>.

[[File: Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909.png|thumb|Assam-Bengal Railway Map 1909]]==Development of the ABR=====Branch LinesABR Initial Line and Branches===*Main Line from Chittagong Port to [[Tinsukia]], 574 miles(924km) where it joined the [[Assam Valley Branch Dibru-Sadiya Railway]], fully opened in stages 1897-1900*1903. Some records refer to this as the '[[Bhairab Bazar Assam Valley Branch Railway]] , opened 1910'*[[Chandpur Branch Railway]], 32 miles(51km), opened 1895. This is the ‘[[Laksham]]-[[Chandpur]] Branch'.

*[[HajiganjSilchar Branch Railway]], 19 miles(30km), opened 1898. This is the ‘[[Badarpur]]-Shatnal [[Silchar]] Branch’*[[Gauhati Branch Railway Survey]], 113 miles(181km), opened 1897-99. This is the ‘[[Lumding]]-[[Gauhati]] Branch line surveyed ' ===Later Extensions===The following extensions were in place by ABR1918 <ref name=Admin1918/>:-*[[Noakhali Branch Railway]], 1897; still pending 1906; apparently not constructed30 miles(48km), from [[Laksham]] to [[Noakhali]]*[[Naginimora Bhairab Bazar Branch Railway]], under construction 191119 miles(30km), opened 1910), from [[Akhaura]] to Ashuganj on the banks of the Meghna opposite the village of Bhairab Bazar , the commercial centre of the District and site of a cattle market.*[[Silchar Tangi Branch Railway]], opened 1899an extension to the above via the wagon ferry to connected through to Tangi, 1916, 61 miles(98km), from [[Akhaura]] to meet with the [[Eastern Bengal Railway]] near [[Dacca]]..*[[Sylhet Branch Railway]], 31 miles(50km), under construction 1911, completed 1916 to Fenchuganj Ghat 1912, to [[Sylhet]] with opening of Kusiyara Bridge, 1916.*[[Dikhow Extension Railway]], 6.7 miles(10.7km), from Sibsagar Road to [[Bihubar]], opened 1913*[[Naginimara Branch Railway]], 2.3 miles(3.7km), a further extension to the [[Dikhow Extension Railway]] above, from [[Bihubar]] to Naginimara, opened 1917

*[[Noakhali (Bengal) Katakhal Lalbazar Railway]], opened 1902; Worked Under construction 1921 by private company; worked by ABR until merged into , 1923 ===Routes Surveyed by ABR 1906===*[[Pandu GhatHajiganj-Gauhati Shatnal RailwaySurvey]]. Branch line surveyed by ABR, opened 1908, Link 1897; still pending 1906; apparently not constructed by  ===The end of ABR===On 1 January 1942 the ABR combined with the [[Eastern Bengal Railway]](EBR) from to form the [[AmingaonBengal and Assam Railway]]. At time of partition in 1947 the Bengal and Assam Railway was split up <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam_Bengal_Railway Wikipedia “Assam-Pandu Train FerryBengal Railway” ]] to ABR network; worked by ABR; transferred to ABR 1922Retrieved 20 Dec 2017</ref>.

*[[Boswell Parkinson Milsom]], Executive Enginner, '1893-96, on loan to the Assam-Bengal Railway Company <ref>[https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en_GB&pg=GBS.PA560 Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 560 (pdf page 523)] Retrieved on 29 May 2016</ref>.