northwards bisecting Dhaka into old and new cities, and these railway lines intersected with roads at various points, blocking the flow of north-south road traffic. Also the old Dacca railway station on the northern side of the city was incomplete, consisting of a platform, a small yard and a locomotive shed. Relocating the station to a less congested area is expected to facilitate unhindered north-south vehicular flow, and also bring old and new Dhaka cities together. In 1948, experts suggested shifting the station to Kamalapur. After 10 years in 1958, the provincial government entrusted the implementation of the scheme. Before the construction of the station, there was a paddy field at the construction site. From Tejgaon the railway line was diverted to Khilgaon, and then to Kamalapur. The station was inaugurated by Pakistani president Ayub Khan on 27 April 1968. Its construction cost was . A year after that, the headquarter of railway mail service of the province was moved here. Post-independence On 11 April 1987, after sixteen years of the independence of Bangladesh, the first inland container depot in Bangladesh was opened in the railway station. In the 2010s, the government proposed to shift the railway station to Gazipur District. But the ministry of Railways opposed the proposal considering the inconvenience of the city dwellers. Multimodal transport hub In 2018, a public-private joint investment (PPP) project with Kajima was approved to create a multimodal hub around Dhaka Airport and Tejgaon railway station along with Kamalapur Railway Station. Under this infrastructure will be built around Kamalapur Railway Station; There will be multi-storied residential buildings, hotels, shopping malls, subways and runways. In 2019, the Bangladesh Railway authority objected to the construction of a multimodal hub in front of the station building. In 2020, Bangladesh Railway and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited have decided to connect Kamalapur railway station with MRT Line 6 of Dhaka Metro Rail. But as the current station could not match the proposed route of MRT Line 6, it was decided to demolish the Kamalapur station and construct a new one 130 meters north. Various architects and individuals of the country opposed this decision. On 30 January 2021, the Prime Minister's Office gave permission to demolish the railway station, but in February, the Railway Ministry withdrew its decision to demolish Kamalapur. However, related authority said that the railway station may be shifted in the near future if required.