A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that no train has stopped at West Bengal’s Begunkodor Railway Station in the last 42 years. The video mentions that the place is haunted, and the train doors and windows are closed while passing through that station. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: No train has stopped at West Bengal’s haunted Begunkodor Railway Station in the last 42 years.
Fact: While it is true that the Begunkodor Railway Station was shut for around 42 years, it was reopened in 2009. Many news agencies have reported that multiple trains stop at the Begunkodor Railway Station. However, due to the decades-old rumours, people still prefer to use the station before it gets dark. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched about the Begunkodor Railway Station on the internet, many news reports regarding that station were found in the search results. In ‘The Hindu’ article, it can be read that – “Begunkodor station, had earned the distinction of being a “ghost station” after 1967, the year its stationmaster reportedly died after seeing a woman clad in a white sari walking along the tracks at night.….The station was reopened 42 years later in 2009 by Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as Railway Minister. Since then, trains have stopped here but passengers use it only till 5 p.m., fearful of encounters with the ghosts.” In 2017, a group of rationalists camped at the railway station the entire night and busted the myth of ghosts.
‘The Indian Express’ has reported that there is a ticket counter at the Begunkodor Railway Station which “opens at 4.30 am, and closes at sundown, around 5.30 pm. At 9 pm, the counter opens again for a few minutes, for the last train of the day, though there are never any ticket buyers. The 10-12 passengers who arrive are mostly daily wagers returning home. Only about half a dozen other local trains halt at the station, though it is located on the main line between West Bengal and Jharkhand, most of them before sunset, and it doesn’t figure on the computerised ticketing system of South Eastern Railways”.
Some of the visuals of a train stopping at that station can be seen here. Also, several websites have listed the trains which halt at that station.
To sum it up, the Begunkodor Railway Station has been reopened more than a decade ago. Also, a few trains stop there.
