Mahisasan is a border railway station and a defunct railway transit facility point on the India–

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 ...

border in

Karimganj district Karimganj district, officially Sribhumi district, is one of the 35 List of districts of Assam, districts of the Indian state of Assam. The district's administrative headquarters and largest town is Karimganj. Located in southern Assam, it shares ...

in the Indian state of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is Shahbajpur (also known as Latu) in

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

. The border station is linked to

Karimganj Karimganj, officially Sribhumi, is a town in the Karimganj district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarters of the district. Karimganj town is located at . The area of Karimganj Tow ...

away. The Mahisasan–Shahbajpur route has not been operational since December, 1996 due to lack of traffic.

History

In response to the demand of the Assam tea planters for a railway link to

Chittagong port Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

Assam Bengal Railway The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British Raj, British India. Central Railway Building, Headquartered in Chittagong, it functioned from 1892 to 1942. History Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in ...

started construction of a railway track on the eastern side of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in 1891. A track between Chittagong and Comilla was opened to traffic in 1895. The Comilla–Akhaura–Kulaura–Badarpur section was opened in 1896–1898 and finally extended to in 1903. Mahisasan was a station on this track. With the partition of India in 1947, it assumed importance as a border station.

Broad gauge

The

Railway Budget Railway budget of India was the Annual Financial Statement for Indian Railways administered by the Railway Board, which handles rail transport in India. It was presented every year by the Minister of Railways, representing the Ministry of Rail ...

for 2011–12 has approved the conversion of the metre-gauge Karimganj-Mahisasan section to broad gauge. Now this a broad-gauge single-track non-electrified line. Currently 2 passenger trains are running in this line from Silchar, Maishashan–Silchar Passenger

Metre gauge

Earlier it was functioning as a metre-gauge railway station, but after 2015, it was upgraded to BG.

Trans-Asian Railway

Currently, all freight traffic originating from Asia destined for Europe goes by sea. The Trans-Asian Railway will enable containers from Singapore, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Korea to travel over land by train to Europe. The Southern Corridor of the Trans-Asian Railway is of prime interest to India. It connects

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

in China and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

with Europe via Turkey and passes through India. There is a general understanding between India and Myanmar that their railways will be interconnected via a 346-km line section that will extend from

Kalay Kalay (; , ''Kalü''), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located upstream from Mandalay and Monywa on the Myittha River, a tributary of the Chindwin River. The town is the district headquarters of the Kalay Distr ...

in Myanmar to

Jiribam Jiribam ( Meitei pronunciation:/jee-ree-baam/) is a town governed by a municipal council in the Jiribam district of the state of Manipur, India. It is one of the fastest-growing towns in Manipur. The town is located on the state's westernmost ...

in India via the border point at

Tamu Tamu may refer to: * Texas A&M University or TAMU * Tamu, Myanmar ** Tamu District, Myanmar ** Tamu Township * Ta'mu, rice cooked in woven coconut leaves from the Philippines * Tamu Massif, an inactive underwater volcano in the Pacific * ''Helioph ...

/ Moreh. The proposed route will enter India through

and Moreh in

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

bordering

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, then enter

through Mahisasan and Shahbajpur and again enter India from Bangladesh at Gede. On the western side, the line will enter Pakistan at

Attari Attari, also spelled Atari, is a village of Amritsar district in the Punjab state of India, 3 km from the Indo-Pakistani border at Wagah. It is situated 25 km west of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and is the last Indian station o ...

. There is a missing link on this route in the India–Myanmar sector; of this, , in India, is between

in Manipur and Tamu in Myanmar. The rail link between Jiribam and

Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...

has been sanctioned by Indian Railways, but that is unlikely to be completed before 2016. At present construction work is in progress in a stretch between Jiribam and Tupul.

References

{{Railway stations in Assam Bangladesh–India railway border crossings Railway stations in Karimganj district Railway stations in India opened in 1898