Gede is the last station and border checkpoint

Border checkpoint

A border checkpoint is a place, generally between two countries, where travellers and/or goods are inspected. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders often have a limited number of checkpoints where they can be crossed without legal...

 on the way to Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

 in Nadia district

Nadia District

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

 in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

. The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is Darshana. It is the last station on the Sealdah

Sealdah

Sealdah is one of the major train stations serving Kolkata in India, the others being Howrah Station, Shalimar Station and Kolkata Railway Station. Sealdah is one of the busiest rail stations in India and an important suburban rail terminal...

-Gede section of Kolkata Suburban Railway

Kolkata Suburban Railway

The Kolkata Suburban Railway is the rail system for the suburbs surrounding the city of Kolkata . Railways such as this are important and heavily-used infrastructure in India....

 system.

Gede was one of the stations on the Sealdah-Goalundo route of East Bengal Railway. With the partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

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

East Pakistan

East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...

: the East Bengal Express

East Bengal Express

The East Bengal Express was a railway train that was one of three train services running between India and Bangladesh . The railway link was suspended at the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965....

, the East Bengal Mail

East Bengal Mail

The East Bengal Mail was a railway train that was one of three train services running between India and East Pakistan . The railway link was suspended at the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965....

 and the Barisal Express

Barisal Express

The Barisal Express was a railway train that was one of three train services running between India and Bangladesh . The train connected the Indian city of Kolkata with the city of Barisal in Bangladesh. The railway link was suspended at the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965....

. The services all ceased after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...

. Freight trains ran on Petrapole

Petrapole

Petrapole is the Indian side of Petrapole-Benapole border checkpoint between India and Bangladesh. It is also referred to as Haridaspur border check post.-Location:...

-Benapole

Benapole

Benapole 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 , a large number of people have travelled between Bangladesh and India through Benapole Customs station...

, Gede-Darshana and Sinhabad-Rohanpur lines off and on since 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh, and more regularly after transport agreements were signed by the two countries in the 1990s.Radhikapur

Radhikapur

Radhikapur is a border checkpoint on the India-Bangladesh border in Uttar Dinajpur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The corresponding station on the Bangladesh side is Biral in Dinajpur District. The rail link between Radikapur and Biral is used only for goods traffic.-References:...

-Biral 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

Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

 (both the Eastern Railway

Eastern Railway (India)

The Eastern Railway is one of the 17 zones of the Indian Railways. Its headquarters is at Fairley Place, Kolkata, and comprises four divisions: Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol. These are the financial departments and each has an assistant divisional financial manager , divisional railway...

 and the Northeast Frontier Railway

Northeast Frontier Railway

The Northeast Frontier Railway abbreviated as N F Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. Headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam it is responsible for rail operations in the entire Northeast and parts of West Bengal and Bihar...

 together) for Bangladesh.

A direct train between Dhaka and Kolkata, named Maitree Express

Maitree Express

The Maitree Express or Dhaka-Kolkata Express is an International passenger train serving the railway connecting the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and India's West Bengal province's capital Kolkata.This is the only railway link between the cities of the two nations and has been revived after being...

 (Maitree is a Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 word meaning friendship) commenced on 14 April 2008. The train is managed by Indian Railways and Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway

Bangladesh Railway is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains the entire railway network of the country...

. The approximate distance covered by Maitree Express is estimated at around 538 kilometres (334.3 mi), a stretch of 120 kilometres (74.6 mi) in India and a stretch of 418 kilometres (259.7 mi) 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.