The Barishal Express was a

railway train A train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by l ...

that was one of three train services running between India and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

(then

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

History

The Barishal Express launched in 1884. The train connected the Indian city of

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

(then Calcutta) with the city of

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

in Bangladesh, with a link train from Rupsa to Bagerhat for connecting Barishal. The train used to take 4 hours to complete the journey. The link train used to take another 1 hrs 45 minutes to connect Bagerhat, away from Khulna. The railway link was suspended at the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. In 1972, the route reopened for 2 years for goods train service. An agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh in July 2000 to re-establish the train link. Feasibility studies had been going on since 1994. The

Bandhan Express The Bandhan Express train () is an international express rail service which runs between the Indian city Kolkata and the Bangladeshi city Khulna every week. It is the second modern day, fully air conditioned passenger train link between the In ...

is a new train recreating this route in the 21st century. The immigration checks have been moved to Calcutta train station to avoid losing hours waiting at the border. New Railway line to Barishal is being constructed, the line will bifurcate at Rupsanagar from the Mongla Port railway line & then head eastward towards Jatharpur, Sakambhuj, Bagerhat & then end at Barishal.

References

Benapole Petrapole International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Bangladesh Named passenger trains of India Railway services discontinued in 1965 Transport in Kolkata Defunct trains in India Rail transport in Khulna {{India-express-train-stub

History

See also

References