Gede is the last railway station on the Indian side of the

Bangladesh–India border The Bangladesh–India border, known locally as the International Border (IB), is an international border running between Bangladesh and India that demarcates the eight divisions of Bangladesh and the Indian states. Bangladesh and India share ...

in Krishnaganj CD Block in

Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influentia ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is . It is the terminal station on the

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 wa ...

–Gede section of

Kolkata Suburban Railway The Kolkata Suburban Railway is a suburban rail system serving the Kolkata metropolitan area and its surroundings in India. It is the largest suburban railway network in the country with the highest number of stations. It is also the 7th larg ...

system. There is a

border checkpoint A border checkpoint is a location on an international border where travelers or goods are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders ofte ...

at Gede.

History

Gede was one of the stations on the Sealdah–

Goalundo Goalundo Ghat (also spelled Goalanda and Goalondo; bn, গোয়ালন্দঘাট) is a small town and pourasabha in Goalandaghat Upazila, Rajbari District, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh, South Asia. There are two railway stops one a ...

route of

East Bengal Railway The Eastern Bengal Railway (full name: "Eastern Bengal Railway Company"; shortened EBR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1857 to 1942, in Bengal and Assam provinces of British India. History Formation The Eastern ...

. With the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947, it became a border town. Thereafter there were three trains from Sealdah running into

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

: the

East Bengal Express The East Bengal Express was one of three trains operated between India and East Pakistan. 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 Pa ...

, the

East Bengal Mail The East Bengal Mail was one of three trains operated between India and East Pakistan (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 betwe ...

and the Barisal Express. The services all ceased after the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

. Freight trains ran on

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 in ...

–

Benapole Benapole ( bn, বেনাপোল) is a township in Sharsha Upazila in the Jessore District of Bangladesh. The Petrapole Customs station of India is situated across the border and since 1971 (some sources say 1947), many people have travell ...

, Gede–Darshana and

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 i ...

–Rohanpur lines off and on since 1972 after the

independence of Bangladesh Independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, celebrated as Independence Day, from Pakistan. The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh ...

, and more regularly after transport agreements were signed by the two countries in the 1990s.

Radhikapur Radhikapur is a village and a gram panchayat in Kaliaganj CD block in Raiganj subdivision of Uttar Dinajpur district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a border checkpoint on the Bangladesh-India border. Geography Location Radhikapur i ...

–Birol section was another section for movement of goods traffic. As of 2002, the Gede-Darshana section accounted for the bulk of the exports handled by the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

(both the Eastern Railway and the

Northeast Frontier Railway The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the Zones and divisions of Indian Railways, 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and e ...

together) for Bangladesh. A direct train between Dhaka and Kolkata, named

Maitree Express The Maitree Express train ( bn, মৈত্রী এক্সপ্রেস), pronounced ''Moitree Express'' is the first modern day, fully air conditioned, international, express train service connecting Dhaka in Bangladesh to Kolkata in th ...

(Maitree is a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word meaning friendship) commenced on 14 April 2008. The train is managed by

and

Bangladesh Railway Bangladesh Railway ( bn, বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে) 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 Ra ...

. The approximate distance covered by Maitree Express is estimated at around , a stretch of in India and a stretch of in Bangladesh. The train follows the border point route at Gede–Darshana. The train runs on Saturdays and Sundays every week. Passengers of the Maitree Express are irked by the five-hour wait for immigration and customs clearance at the border stations of Darshana and Gede.

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 a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

in China and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

with Europe via Turkey and passes through India. The proposed route will enter India through

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 * '' Helio ...

and Moreh in

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...

bordering

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, then enter

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

through

Mahisasan Mahisasan is a border railway station and a defunct railway transit facility point on the India–Bangladesh border in Karimganj district in the Indian state of Assam. The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is Shahbajpur (also known ...

and Shabajpur 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 on ...

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

Jiribam Jiribam ( Meitei pronunciation:/jee-ree-baam/) is 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 boundary, adjoining ...

in Manipur and

in Myanmar. The rail link between Jiribam and

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...

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

{{India–Bangladesh land border checkpoints Bangladesh–India railway border crossings Railway stations in Nadia district Sealdah railway division Railway stations opened in 1862 Kolkata Suburban Railway stations 1862 establishments in India