Staff Reporter :
As part of the expanding vision of connectivity between Bangladesh and India on road, river and railway in a bid to garner benefits out of it, the Indian government has proposed Bangladesh to mull over another train service between Dhaka and Kolkata.
Currently, there are three railway services – Maitree, Bandhan and Mitali – between Bangladesh and India and the demand for more services is growing as citizens from both friendly countries are demanding connectivity.
The Indian proposal for the fourth inter-country rail services was placed by the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami when he paid a courtesy call to Bangladesh Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan at the Railway Bhaban on Monday.
Sources said that both of them talked about elaborately on the ongoing projects financed by the Indian government and the future projects.
During the meeting the High Commissioner said, “At present, Maitree, Bandhan and Mitali Express trains are running between Bangladesh and India. Considering the passenger’s demand, one more train may run on the Dhaka-Kolkata route via Darshana.”
In reply to it, the Railways minister said that during his Indian tour, he visited the factories of manufacturing modern coaches and Bangladesh was interested in importing modern tourist coaches for running between Dhaka and Chattogram.
Sujan also mentioned that apart from purchasing these coaches, the government has interest to purchase engines and baggage vans under Line of Credit (LC).
About the connectivity, the Minister also underscored the enhanced connectivity with Nepal and Bhutan including the strengthening of the Chilahati-Haldibari Section.
Talking about the construction of a new railway line from Panchagarh to Banglabandha, the Railways Minister said that the connection point with India has not been constructed yet.
The minister urged India to expedite the matter.
Apart from this, the minister also talked about the setting up of railway links between Sirajganj and Bogura being financed by India.
He further mentioned the problems of the construction of railway lines between Khulna and Mongla and third and the fourth railway lines between Dhaka and Tongi and all of these are financed by India. The minister also requested India to provide training facilities for the assistant locomotive masters.
Among others, Railways Secretary Dr Md Humayun Kabir, Director General of Bangladesh Railways Dhirendranath Majumder, Additional Secretary (rolling stock) Monjurul Alam Chowdhury and Additional Director General (operations) Sardar Shahadat Hossain, were present.
