The first lap was a 184.9 kilometres (114.9 mi) journey along the Eastern Bengal State Railway from Calcutta Station (later renamed Sealdah) to Damookdeah Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma River, then across the river in a ferry and the second lap of the journey.

A 363.1 kilometres (225.6 mi) metre gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri.

[2] In 1916 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta - Siliguri route became broad-gauge.

The southern portion through Gede is still functional and Maitree Express runs to Kolkata on this track.

[3] As of 2010, the 72.9 kilometres (45.3 mi) long Chilahati - Parbatipur line in 2010 was re-laid to connect Siliguri with Dhaka.