The need for a rail link between Panskura and Tamluk was conceived at the beginning of the 20th century, almost at the same time the rail link between Howrah and Kharagpur was opened. The railway company received offers for construction from two Agencies, M/s Martin & Company and M/s Babu Nibaran Chandra Dutta, the former against a guaranteed return of 3.5% while the latter with none. Although the offer of the latter was lucrative, 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 the Haldia Port. The rail link between Panskura – Durgachak via Tamluk completed in 1968, which was later extended to Haldia in 1975. Extension of the rail link to Digha from Tamluk was sanctioned in 1984; it took 20 years to complete, set in two phases. The first phase linked Tamluk and Contai in November 2003, and the tourist destination Digha was connected to Howrah in December 2004.