Kolkata: India and Bangladesh have agreed, in principle, to expand the existing railway links between the two countries and to start a second international passenger train to further strengthen the friendly ties between the two neighbouring countries.
According to Indian railway officials, the new Maitree Express (Friendship Express) is being proposed to start from Kolkata and connect the town of Khulna and Jessore in Bangladesh running through the Petrapole-Benapole border on the Indian side.
“There were a series of meetings with Bangladesh Railway officials about the running of the second international express to Khulna and Jessore. We are also keen to see that this train runs to strengthen the relationship between the two countries. The required infrastructure is ready and we are awaiting permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are hopeful to start the train on the coming Bengali New year on April 15,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, minister of state for railways.
“We are also looking at increasing the frequency of the existing Maitree Express or Dhaka-Kolkata International Express as well as the introduction of the system of return tickets,” the minister added.
This is the only railway link between the cities of the two nations and was revived on April 2008 after being closed for 43 years. According to Enamul Haque Chaudhury, spokesperson of the Bangladesh High Commission, here in India: “Our Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina personally requested Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the second Maitree Express during his visit to Dhaka in 2011. After that there was a series of meeting between the home, railways and foreign ministries of the two countries and then it was decided to run the train.”
“The new train will certainly help to increase trade and strengthen the people-to-people relationship between the two countries,” added Chaudhury.
As of now, there are four ongoing rail link projects being funded by the two countries, these are Chilahati (Bangladesh)-Haldibari (India), Birol (Bangladesh)-Radhikapur (India), Akhaura (Bangladesh)-Agartala (India) and Shahbazpur (Bangladesh)- Mahishashan (India). There is also an ongoing feasibility study to examine the establishment of a rail link between Feni (Bangladesh) and Belonia (India).
Both governments are also looking at removing roadblocks for the existing international express which has been losing popularity among passengers on both sides of the border. Presently the train takes eight to nine hours to complete a journey of 95 kilometres; the train has to wait for three to four hours at both borders for customs and immigration checks.
Recently India and Bangladesh signed “revised travel arrangements” under which New Delhi as well as Dhaka eased their visa regimes under several categories, which officials feel will reduce some of the existing delays.
“A journey of 95 kilometres should not take more than four to five hours. We have requested the customs and immigration departments of both the countries to do checking inside the train while it keeps moving. We hope to remove the road blocks soon and increase passenger interest on this train,” said an Indian railway ministry official.
Source: Gulfnews