Petrapole_railway_station

Petrapole railway station

Petrapole railway station

Railway station in West Bengal

Petrapole railway station is a railway station of the Indian Railways located in the North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal. Its station code is PTPL.[1] It is located near the Indo-Bangladesh border and serves as a major border crossing point for freight trains to Bangladesh, with Benapole being the Bangladesh Railways counterpart.[1][2][3]

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History

The Bengal Central Railway Company constructed a broad gauge line connecting Dum Dum with Khulna (now in Bangladesh), via Bangaon (108 miles (174 km)) which opened in stages and was completed in 1884. These lines were merged with Eastern Bengal Railway in 1904.[4]

After partition of India in 1947, Petrapole railway station was created as the terminus on the Indian side while the Benapole railway station became the terminus on the Bangladeshi side of the line. The Barisal Express, launched in 1884, from Sealdah to Khulna continued post-partition until rail services between the two countries were suspended due to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[5] Freight services between the two countries were restored for a brief period of two years in 1972 but closed again due to a lack of goods.[6] India and Bangladesh signed an agreement in July 2000 to resume freight services and the first freight train ran across the link on 21 January 2001.[6]

Services

Petrapole serves as the major transit point of goods from India to Bangladesh. It directly connects to the Benapole land port, the largest land port in Bangladesh which is responsible for 90% of the Indian goods imported to Bangladesh.[7][8][9]

While initially handling only freight traffic, it became a border checkpoint for passengers after the Bandhan Express was introduced on this line in November 2017. It is a weekly service which traces the old route of the Barisal Express except for having its terminus in the Kolkata railway station instead of the Sealdah railway station.[10]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "BNAA/Bibhuti Bhushan Halt railway station". India Rail Info.
  2. [2]
    "Benepole Railway Station Map/Atlas BR/Bangladesh Zone - Railway Enquiry". indiarailinfo.com. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. [3]
    "With tractors from Madurai, goods train chugs to Bangladesh". The Hindu. 31 December 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  4. [4]
    "Bengal Central Railway". fibis. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  5. [5]
    "Thapliyal, Sangeeta. "India-Bangladesh Transportation Links: A Move for Closer Cooperation". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses". Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  6. [6]
    "India, Bangladesh reintroduce rail link". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  7. [7]
    "Trade through Benapole land port resumes after 10 weeks". The Financial Express. Dhaka. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. [8]
    Bangladesh Land Port Authority
  9. [9]
    "Procurement Details". World Bank. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  10. [10]
    "Prime Minister of India & Prime Minister of Bangladesh Jointly along with Chief Minister, West Bengal Flag off New Cross-Border Train between India & Bangladesh, "Kolkata-Khulna Bandhan Express" from Kolkata through Video Confencing. Two Rail Bridges in Bangladesh and International Rail Passenger Terminus at Kolkata Station also Inaugurated". Retrieved 5 October 2021.


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