Are there rail connections to Bangladesh from India?

19-07-2019

Passenger services have been running on a trial basis between the two countries, commencing with the running of the Maitry Express ('Friendship Express') on the 117km stretch between Sealdah and Bongobandhu East in Bangladesh. A 60km stretch from there to Dhaka is under construction (it existed earlier but washed away in a flood in 1978). Prior to this, there have never been any scheduled passenger services between India and Bangladesh since the latter country came into being in 1971. Recently passenger and freight services have been proposed between Sealdah / Kolkata terminal (Chitpore) to Joydebpur / Dhaka in Bangladesh, and some trial runs have been made. The proposal is for a 10-coach

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Why are mail trains so called? What’s the RMS?
July 17, 2019

Mail trains originally were trains that actually carried bags of mail to be delivered between their termini or at intermediate stations, under special contracts with the Post Office. In many cases that was in fact the main or only reason for running these Mail trains, and some of the famous mail trains got their reputation for speed and

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What’s a ‘superfast’?
July 17, 2019

This just means that the train was classifed in that category, nothing more or less; its actual commercial speed may be above or below that of other trains classified as 'passenger' or 'fast passenger' trains. However, tickets for a 'superfast' train carry an extra surcharge. Nominally, a superfast train should have a commercial speed in excess

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What are ‘Ladies Special’ trains?
July 17, 2019

Ladies Specials are trains that have some or all coaches reserved for women. A 'Complete Ladies Special' is one with all coaches reserved for women passengers (Mumbai suburban EMUs). A 'Semi-Ladies Special' is a train with a few (e.g., 3) coaches reserved for women (also on Mumbai EMUs). These designations can be combined with 'fast', 'slow',

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What’s a ‘fast’, ‘semi-fast’, or ‘double-fast’ train?
July 17, 2019

Mumbai suburban services have various such designations (not all of them official, but in wide use). A 'fast' train or 'fast local' is essentially one that is fast (runs express, skipping stops) until a certain station, and from that station onwards runs like a local, e.g., the Virar Fast runs express to Borivli, and thence is a local. The Karjat

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What are ‘Passenger’, ‘Ordinary’, ‘Express’, and ‘Fast Passenger’ trains?
July 17, 2019

In general, Passenger trains (also 'ordinary passenger trains', or 'stopping passenger trains') are the ones that stop at all, or nearly all, of the stations along a route. Most of these tend to be quite slow. Express trains skip many stations and stop at only selected ones. An express train need not be a particularly fast train, although there is

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What are ‘slip coaches’ and ‘through coaches’?
July 17, 2019

In India slip coach refers to a coach that is designated to terminate its journey at a station prior to the final destination of the rest of the train. The more accurate term is sectional carriage. The coach or coaches are left behind after being detached from the rest of the train. In India this is done only after the train comes to a halt; the

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