Ishwardi Junction railway station is a railway station in

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 ...

, situated at Ishwardi in the district of

Pabna Pabna () is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about . Etymology * According to the historian Radharaman Saha ...

, in the division of

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 ...

. It is one of major Junction in West Zone of

Bangladesh Railway Bangladesh Railway () is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains all railways in the country, and is overseen by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway. The Bangladesh Railway is governed by the Mi ...

History

From 1878, the railway route from

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 called Calcutta, to

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

was in two laps. The first lap 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 lap of the journey. A 336 km metre gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri. It was during this period that Iswardi came up as a railway station. The Kolkata-Siliguri main line was converted to broad gauge in stages. The Shakole- Santahar section was converted in 1910–1914, when

Hardinge Bridge Hardinge Bridge is a steel railway truss bridge over the Padma River located at Ishwardi, Pabna and Bheramara, Kushtia in Bangladesh. It is named after Lord Hardinge, who was the Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916. The bridge is long. Const ...

was under construction. The Hardinge Bridge was opened in 1915. The Sara-

Sirajganj Sirajganj is a city in north-western Bangladesh on the right bank of the Jamuna River, located in Rajshahi Division. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirajganj District, and with a population of 500000, it is the 14th largest city in Ba ...

line was constructed by the Sara-Sirajganj Railway Company in 1915–1916. Consequent to the construction of the long Bangabandhu Bridge in 1998, there was reassessment of the requirements of the railways. First, a long new dual gauge line was to be constructed from Joydebpur to Jamtoil, to connect the eastern part of the Bangladesh railway system to the western part. The problem of two different gauges in two different parts of the country was solved by introducing dual gauge. Second, a length of broad gauge track from Jamtoil to Parbatpur was similarly to be converted to dual gauge.

References

Railway stations in Pabna District Railway junction stations in Bangladesh Railway stations in Bangladesh opened in the 20th century {{Rajshahi-geo-stub