Asansol --- In order to capture the lucrative coal transport business, East Indian Railway, extended the railway track that had been laid between Kolkata and Hooghly to Raniganj in 1855 and up to Asansol in July 1863. Subsequently, Asansol gained further in importance. What was later known as the Sahibganj Loop was the first line from Kolkata to Delhi and the first direct train started in 1866, but the shorter line via Asansol and Jhajha came up in 1871. It was initially called 'the chord line' but as it attracted more traffiic, was renamed as 'the main line' and the earlier main line became Sahibganj loop. With the completion of the Sitarampur-Gaya-Mughalsarai Grand Chord in 1901 the Kolkata-Delhi rail distance became even shorter, and Asansol started functioning as the junction station of the main and chord lines, as Sitarampur, the actual junction, near Asansol, is a comparatively smaller station. But Asansol is also junction in its own right as it connects to the SER via Burnpur, Adra. The station is equipped with seven platforms & one loop line. As many as 46 trains originates from & terminates at this station. Asansol is home to the oldest electric loco shed of Indian Railways which currently houses the only working WAM1 class locomotive of India. Apart from that it also houses 10 nos. of WAM4 class locos, about 98 nos. of WAG5 class locos & its variants, and 34 WAG7 class locomotives. Station code - ASN.