It is the gateway of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal to the rest of the country. Developed towards the early part of the twentieth century, it has become one of the most important transitpoints for passengers and goods movement in the country. The present station building will be completing its glorious 100 years in 2006.

Howrah is the terminus of the first Indian Railway system namely East Indian Railsays. A survey for the East Indian Railway was taken up in 1845 and construction began in 1851. The section of the Railways, a Broad guage railway 5’6’’ was opened in 1854 from Howrah to Hooghly. In 1855 the line was extended up to Ranigunj and in 1862 up to Benares. After construction of the first Howrah Bridge in 1874, the Howrah Station was remodeled and improved. The other great line, the Bengal Nagpur Railway also a Broad gauge Railway, was extended to Howrah in 1900, thus connecting it with Nagpur and Bombay on the west Cuttak, Puri and Madras on the South. After this the station was further remodeled and became a joint station for E.I. Rly. and B.N. Rly. The old station was made over to the B.N. Rly. The E.I. Rly and B.N. Rly were subsequently renamed as Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway respectively. Howrah station has now become a large imposing building facing the river with clock Tower and twenty long platforms for the passenger trains and three for the goods trains.