[1][2] From 1878, the railway route from Kolkata, then called Calcutta, to Siliguri was in two legs through the eastern part of Bengal.
A 336 kilometres (209 mi) metre-gauge line of the North Bengal Railway linked Saraghat on the northern bank of the Padma to Siliguri.
Presently, it is between the Paksey and Bheramara stations on the broad-gauge line between Khulna and Parbatipur in Bangladesh.
[4] In 1926 the metre-gauge section north of the bridge was converted to broad gauge, and so the entire Calcutta – Siliguri route became broad-gauge.
Santahar is another important junction, with a metre-gauge connection to many places in the northern part of Bangladesh.