South Dinajpur, a district on the India-Bangladesh border, will finally get a direct train to Calcutta from next year.

The Railway Board has approved a proposal to run a train between Balurghat and Sealdah, officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said.

Train services had started in Balurghat way back in 2004. However, till date, there has been no direct train to Calcutta. Residents of Balurghat, and South Dinajpur in general, take a link train to reach Malda, where the coaches are attached to the Gour Express.

Sources said the train would run all seven days a week. Every day, the train will depart from Balurghat at 7pm and reach Sealdah at 4.20am. It will leave Sealdah at 10.30pm and reach Balurghat at 8.30am.

“The service is likely to commence from the middle of January,” said Sukanta Majumdar, the MP of Balurghat and BJP leader.