Completion of the much-awaited Padma Multipurpose Bridge will not only efficiently connect the southern region to the capital, it will herald a new horizon of railway communications in the country. The rail line via Padma bridge will cut short the travel time between Dhaka and south-western districts like Khulna and Jashore by half, creating scope for expanding rail networks in these and other southern districts -- crisscrossed by rivers -- earlier thought to be too logistically challenging. The government has already undertaken a project titled "Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP)" to connect the capital and Jashore with a 169km rail line via the bridge. The link is a part of the Trans-Asian Railway Network.