and the proposed highway will bypass Raiganj by about 6 km. The roadway connectivity suffers due to the traffic jam caused at Dalkhola on a regular basis. Raiganj also lacks in railway connectivity because the station is on a branch line. In the 1960s, the broad gauge line was shifted to Malda-Barsoi-Dalkhola, thus bypassing Raiganj. Roadways Raiganj is connected by buses to a few major cities through NBSTC and private bus services. NH 12 and SH 10A are its lifelines. SH 10A connects it to Kaliaganj, Balurghat, Hili. Buses are available all day long to Balurghat, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Malda, Kolkata, Maharaja Hat and a few other important cities. Overnight bus facilities are available mostly to Kolkata and Dhubri. Railways Raiganj railway station is on the Barsoi-Radhikapur branch line. One express train, Radhikapur Express, is available for reaching Kolkata, and a link superfast express train, Radhikapur-Anandvihar Express, is available for going to New Delhi. A couple of Katihar bound local passenger trains and a Siliguri bound DMU passenger can also be availed. Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as the union railways minister announced railways projects for Raiganj which boosted the communication. The Radhikapur Howrah Kulik Express is also available in morning from Raiganj Railway station inaugurated by MP Debasree Chaudhuri. Raiganj-Dalkhola line (43.43 km) Raiganj-Itahar-Gazole line Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur line Airways Raiganj has no airport of its own. The government announced an airport in Raiganj named as Raiganj Airport. The nearest operating airport is Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri, about 166 km from Raiganj. IndiGo and SpiceJet are the major carriers that connect the area to Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangkok, Paro, Chandigarh and Balurghat airport. Tourism Raiganj Bird Sanctuary Situated along the National Highway and by the side of the Kulik river is the Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary with an area of 35 acres and a buffer area of 286 acres. The forest and water bodies attract migratory birds like the open bill stork, night heron, cormorant, little cormorant and egret from South Asian countries and coastal regions. Local birds like dove, bulbul, sparrow, kingfisher, woodpecker, owl, duck and cuckoo, can also be seen in large numbers. The migratory birds arrive from the end of May to the first week of July, and depart from mid-December to the end of January. The nesting time is from July to August, and egg laying from August to September. The flying training to