Test run for Bangladesh India train

Wednesday sees the trial run of the first passenger train to link Bangladesh and India.

Bangladeshi officials will travel to Calcutta on a journey estimated to take around nine hours.

The Indian railway minister Digvijay Singh told the BBC that the link would boost cultural and economic ties, and that he hoped a regular servcie would be operating within six months.

On Tuesday Bangladesh and India signed an agreement to launch a new direct bus service linking Dhaka and the north eastern Indian city of Agartala In the state of Tripura.

The first bus will leave Dhaka on Thursday and regular service will begin in August.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service