Bangladesh, India to restore train links after four decades

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh and India will restore direct passenger train services after a gap of more than four decades, the government said Thursday.

The Bangladesh Cabinet, led by interim government chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, gave the go-ahead for the resumption of the service, a government statement said..

The train will run between Sealdah, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, and Joydevpur, near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, it said.

The Cabinet also decided to extend until 2010 the experimental train service agreement the two countries signed in 2001. The agreement, which lays the groundwork for the service to run, was to end in July this year.

Passenger train services between the two countries were suspended after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. Bangladesh was then part of Pakistan. Bangladesh became independent in 1971.

While passenger services remained suspended, cargo links between the countries continued and in the 1990s a passenger bus service was launched between Dhaka and Kolkata, which share the Bengali language in common.

Bangladesh railway chief Belayet Hossain said the cabinet decisions meant the last hurdles had been cleared in the drive to restore the passenger train service.

The foreign ministers of Bangladesh and India agreed to resume the service in a meeting last month. But it still needed formal cabinet backing.

“We can now start the service in less than three months’ time. There are some technical problems such as tariff and immigration, which needs to be settled. But they won’t take time,” Hossain said.

The state-run Bangladesh Railway chief said at first it was hoped to run a train a day from either side.

“It will initially carry some 600 passengers. But if it attracts more passengers we will add more trains,” he said, adding there was huge potential for the service.

Dhaka, Friday, AFP