India Hopes to Launch Kolkata-Dhaka Rail Service by July

India says it hopes to launch a train service from the eastern city of Kolkata to Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, by July after an absence of 36 years.

Indian railway authorities discussed plans for the railway link at a meeting in Kolkata Tuesday. Kolkata and Dhaka are currently connected by air and bus services.

The train service stopped in 1965 because of a war between India and Pakistan, of which Bangladesh was then part, as East Pakistan. Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Before the rail link can be re-opened, authorities on both sides of the border have to move villagers whose homes have encroached on the railway tracks.