The East Bengal Mail was one of three trains operated between India and

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 ...

(now Bangladesh). The rail link was suspended at the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Overview

Prior to 1965, when armed conflict broke out between India and Pakistan, rail links existed between India and East Pakistan. Three trains ran between the two countries carrying goods and passengers: (1) East Bengal Express between

Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata ...

and

Goalundo Ghat Goalundo Ghat (also spelled Goalanda and Goalondo; ) is a small town and Municipality#Municipalities as lower-level governance structures, pourasabha in Goalandaghat Upazila, Rajbari District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. There are two railway ...

via Gede– Darshana, (2) East Bengal Mail between Sealdah and Parbatipur Junction via Gede– Darshana, and (3) Barisal Express between Sealdah and

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 ...

via

Petrapole Petrapole is the Indian side of Petrapole- Benapole border checkpoint between India and Benapole of Bangladesh, on the Bangladesh-India border, near Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Petrapole border is the only land port ...

–

Benapole Benapole () is a town at Sharsha Upazila in the Jessore District of Bangladesh. The Petrapole Customs station of India is situated across the border and since 1947, many people have travelled between what is now Bangladesh and India through Ben ...

History

From 1878, the railway route from Kolkata, then called Calcutta, to Siliguri was in two legs through the eastern part of Bengal. The first leg was a 185 km journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of the

Padma River The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the banks ...

, then across the river in a ferry and the second leg of the journey. A metre-gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri. The Hardinge Bridge across the Padma opened for trains in 1915. Presently, it is between the Paksey and Bheramara stations on the broad-gauge line between

and Parbatipur in Bangladesh. In 1926 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta – Siliguri route became broad-gauge. East Bengal Mail used to cover the distance of in 7 hours 50 mins in up direction & in 8 hours in down direction, running at . Train used to leave Sealdah at 21.10 hours, reaching Parbatipur at 05.00 hours. In return used to leave Parbatipur at 21.30 hours, arriving Sealdah at 05.30 hours. In the pre-independence days, two legendary mail trains used the Sealdah–Parbatipur line. The

Darjeeling Mail The 12343 / 12344 Darjeeling Mail is one of the oldest running legendary trains in India which connects Kolkata with New Jalpaiguri via Barddhaman, Malda Town and Kishanganj. This is a major train for Kolkata–Siliguri route. It is also t ...

linked Kolkata, then known as Calcutta, and Siliguri. The Assam Mail originally ran from

to Santahar by broad gauge, and onwards by metre gauge from Santahar to

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

(then spelt Gauhati).

Branch lines

Not only was the mainline an important one but a cursory glance at the route map shows important links. The

Maitree Express The ''Maitree Express'' (13109/13110) train (), often pronounced Moitree Express, was the first express train service connecting Dhaka in Bangladesh to Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The Bengali name ''Maitree Express'' means ''F ...

uses a part of the route in Kolkata to Iswardi journey. The

Mitali Express The ''Mitali Express'' (13131/13132) train () is an international express rail service which connects the Indian city of Siliguri with the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka every week. Together with the Maitree Express train and the Bandhan Express t ...

uses a part of the route from

New Jalpaiguri New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (station code NJP) established in 1960, is an A1 category broad-gauge and narrow-gauge railway station under Katihar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. It is the largest and the busiest ...

to Iswardi journey. Abdulpur is an important junction with links to

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

and the India–Bangladesh border at Rahanpur-

Singhabad Singhabad (also spelled Singabad) is a village in Habibpur CD block in Malda Sadar subdivision of Malda district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a railway transit point on the Bangladesh-India border. Geography Location Singhabad ...

. In olden days, it was the route for travel between Malda and Kolkata. Santahar is another important junction, with a metre-gauge connection to many places in the northern part of Bangladesh. In pre-independence days, there was a metre-gauge line:

Katihar Katihar (; ), is the tenth largest city in the state of Bihar in India in terms of population, Along with being one of the largest economic, educational and administrative centre in the eastern part of Bihar. The city situated in the eastern ...

– Radhikapur– Biral– Parbatipur–Tista–Geetaldaha– Golakganj–

Fakiragram Fakiragram is a railway station on the New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of Barauni–Guwahati line and is located in Kokrajhar district in the Indian state of Assam. A branch line from Fakiragram connects to Dhubri. Trains Major Trains: ...

References

{{International trains from India Named passenger trains of India Named passenger trains of Bangladesh International named passenger trains Defunct trains in India History of rail transport in West Bengal Railway services discontinued in 1965 Transport in Kolkata